This book describes the origins and evolution of Canada’s 30-year Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Chairs for Women in Science and Engineering Program. The book starts literally with a bang, right as Montreal and all of Canada were rocked by the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique Massacre of 14 women, describing how the Chair program took on a frenetic pace as a single Chairholder, Monique Frize, tried to respond to an entire country’s concerns about women in engineering, both as students and as professionals. The authors first cover the program from 1989 through 1997, when the program was expanded to five regional Chairs, of which there have been over three generations by now. The book then provides synopses of each Chairholder’s comprehensive regional program to recruit, retain and advance girls and women in STEM, organized by generation, providing a unique historical view of the changing landscape for research and outreach programs to increase the participation of women in male-dominated scientific fields. Readers will find an effective model for national programs addressing equity, diversity, and inclusion in STEM and be inspired by the 16 strong role models who pioneered blended careers in STEM and gender equity advocacy.

Careers in science, engineering, and medicine offer opportunities to advance knowledge, contribute to the well-being of communities, and support the security, prosperity, and health of the United States. But many women do not pursue or persist in these careers, or advance to leadership positions - not because they lack the talent or aspirations, but because they face barriers, including: implicit and explicit bias; sexual harassment; unequal access to funding and resources; pay inequity; higher teaching and advising loads; and fewer speaking invitations, among others. There are consequences from this underrepresentation of women for the nation as well: a labor shortage in many science, engineering, and medical professions that cannot be filled unless institutions and organizations recruit from a broad and diverse talent pool; lost opportunities for innovation and economic gain; and lost talent as a result of discrimination, unconscious bias, and sexual harassment. Promising Practices for Addressing the Underrepresentation of Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine reviews and synthesizes existing research on policies, practices, programs, and other interventions for improving the recruitment, retention, and sustained advancement into leadership roles of women in these disciplines. This report makes actionable recommendations to leverage change and drive swift, coordinated improvements to the systems of education, research, and employment in order to improve both the representation and leadership of women.

The United States economy relies on the productivity, entrepreneurship, and creativity of its people. To maintain its scientific and engineering leadership amid increasing economic and educational globalization, the United States must aggressively pursue the innovative capacity of all its people—women and men. However, women face barriers to success in every field of science and engineering; obstacles that deprive the country of an important source of talent. Without a transformation of academic institutions to tackle such barriers, the future vitality of the U.S. research base and economy are in jeopardy. Beyond Bias and Barriers explains that eliminating gender bias in academia requires immediate overarching reform, including decisive action by university administrators, professional societies, federal funding agencies and foundations, government agencies, and Congress. If implemented and coordinated across public, private, and government sectors, the recommended actions will help to improve workplace environments for all employees while strengthening the foundations of America's competitiveness.

Although more women than men participate in higher education in the United States, the same is not true when it comes to pursuing careers in science and engineering. To Recruit and Advance: Women Students and Faculty in Science and Engineering identifies and discusses better practices for recruitment, retention, and promotion for women scientists and engineers in academia. Seeking to move beyond yet another catalog of challenges facing the advancement of women in academic science and engineering, this book describes actions actually taken by universities to improve the situation for women. Serving as a guide, it examines the following: Recruitment of female undergraduates and graduate students. Ways of reducing attrition in science and engineering degree programs in the early undergraduate years. Improving retention rates of women at critical transition pointsâ€"from undergraduate to graduate student, from graduate student to postdoc, from postdoc to first faculty position. Recruitment of women for tenure-track positions. Increasing the tenure rate for women faculty. Increasing the number of women in administrative positions. This guide offers numerous solutions that may be of use to other universities and colleges and will be an essential resource for anyone interested in improving the position of women students, faculty, deans, provosts, and presidents in science and engineering.

In 2001, the National Science Foundation's ADVANCE Institutional Transformation program began awarding five-year grants to colleges and universities to address a common problem: how to improve the work environment for women faculty in science and engineering. Drawing on the expertise of scientists, engineers, social scientists, specialists in organizational behavior, and university administrators, this collection is the first to describe the variety of innovative efforts academic institutions around the country have undertaken. Focusing on a wide range of topics, from how to foster women's academic success in small teaching institutions, to how to use interactive theater to promote faculty reflection about departmental culture, to how a particular department created and maintained a healthy climate for women's scientific success, the contributors discuss both the theoretical and empirical aspects of the initiatives, with emphasis on the practical issues involved in creating these approaches. The resulting evidence shows that these initiatives have the desired effects. The cases represented in this collection depict the many issues women faculty in science and engineering face, and the solutions that are presented can be widely accepted at academic institutions around the United States. The essays inTransforming Science and Engineeringillustrate that creating work environments that sustain and advance women scientists and engineers benefits women, men, and underrepresented minorities. Abigail J. Stewart is Sandra Schwartz Tangri Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan and author or editor of several books, includingTheorizing Feminism: Parallel Trends in the HumanitiesandSocial Sciences and Feminisms in the Academy. Janet E. Malley is a psychologist and Associate Director of the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan. Danielle LaVaque-Manty is Research Associate at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan. Cover photo: Joanne Leonard With a foreword by Mary Sue Coleman, President of the University of Michigan "If you have thrown up your hands in despair after trying to retain women science and engineering in the academy, read this book. It offers detailed descriptions of a wide array of tried-and-true programs that have been tested out by the NSF ADVANCE program." ---Joan C. Williams, 1066 Foundation Chair & Distinguished Professor of Law Director, Center for WorkLife Law University of California "Solid and practical, this volume details the first years of NSF funded institutional change to remake gender dynamics inside U.S. science. What works? What doesn't? And why?" ---Londa Schiebinger, John L. Hinds Professor of History of Science and Barbara D. Finberg Director, Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, and author ofHas Feminism Changed Science? "This book's time has come.Transforming Science and Engineeringis important, and lots of people can learn from what has happened in the ADVANCE universities." ---Lotte Bailyn, Professor of Management, Behavioral and Policy Sciences Department, Sloan School of Management, MIT; author ofBreaking the Mold: Redesigning Work for Productive and Satisfying Lives; and coauthor ofBeyond Work-Family Balance: Advancing Gender Equity and Workplace Performance "This collection profiles 16 NSF ADVANCE grant successes, sandwiched between an interview with Dr. Alice Hogan and Dr. Lee Harle's summary of cost-effective practices from ADVANCE programs, giving so many 'biggest bang for the buck' examples in so few pages that it will easily justify both the cost of the book and the reading time. These accounts do not continue the too-c

Based primarily on a conference, this book examines the need for interventions to increase the number of U.S. students, both males and females, pursuing careers in the sciences and engineering and describes interventions supported by the private and public sectors at the undergraduate and graduate levels of education. The individually authored chapters also describe actions taken by employers of scientists and engineers to retain their technical work force.