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Washington State University

Announcing a New Peer Mentoring Program!

We are excited to announce a new peer mentoring program for faculty women and gender minorities in STEM. The program is designed to connect faculty from different colleges and departments through co-working and social events. This program will foster a community of STEM faculty women and improve career satisfaction and retention. The central piece of the program is monthly “Study Hall” events; participants meet at local restaurants for one hour of co-working followed by an hour of networking and socializing. There is also a Slack channel for WSU faculty women and gender minorities in STEM. If you are interested in joining for future events, please contact Vivienne Baldassare (vivienne.baldassare@wsu.edu) or Anya Guy (anya.guy@wsu.edu) to be added to the mailing list

Calling for WSU Women* of Distinction Nominations

The WSU Women* of Distinction and Woman* of the Year Awards are presented annually, usually during National Women’s History Month. This award is for people who identify as women and their allies, who have worked to elevate the status and equality of women. This year, we are presenting the awards in April via webinar to recognize the achievements and contributions of our distinguished faculty, staff, alumna, graduate students, and undergraduate students across to the WSU system and our society.

Women* of Distinction awardees usually include an alumna, a faculty member, a staff member, or a student (undergraduate or graduate). Individuals not affiliated with WSU but who work with WSU in community engagement, development, student engagement, or other areas can also be nominated.  All nominees for Women* of Distinction awards are eligible for the Woman* of the Year award, and nominations from all WSU campuses and locations, as well as self-nominations, are encouraged. See the website for more information and to find the nomination form: https://womenofdistinction.wsu.edu/.

The deadline to submit nominations is Friday, March 18th at 5:00pm.
Award ceremony date and time to be determined. 

Women as Leaders Panel Recording

On Friday, November 20th, the ADVANCE at WSU Liaison hosted a Women as Leaders Panel featuring our distinguished panelists, Laura Hill, Dori Borjesson, Laura Lavine, and Rebecca Craft. Topics included the impacts of COVID 19 and pathways to leadership. Click here to view the recording of this panel.

Supporting Faculty During & After COVID-19: Don’t let go of equity

The following excerpt was published by Aspire: The National Alliance for Inclusive and Diverse STEM Faculty and discusses how to support faculty throughout and following the COVID-19 pandemic. Download the full article here.

COVID-19 has upended health, education, and work systems. People are balancing new work, familial and personal care routines, coping with feelings of uncertainty and grief, and wondering how they are going to make it all work. College and university faculty are no different. Faculty, like educators everywhere, are expressing concerns about their ability to provide instructional, academic, and emotional support to students, adapt to online teaching environments, maintain research, grant and publication activity while managing personal, child, and sometimes extended familial care. Recent budget and hiring freezes and furlough announcements have only heightened faculty concerns about the stability of their appointments and their current and future workloads.

Thankfully, institutions are responding to faculty concerns. And although there are several overarching concerns, COVID-19 presents distinct challenges to differently situated faculty members, calling attention to and potentially widening individual and institutional equity gaps. Thus, as campuses set about problem-solving they must keep equity1 front and center. Below, we draw on various news sources2 to describe how institutions are responding to COVID-19 in relation to faculty support and evaluation. We also take the liberty to suggest responses that have not been widely discussed, but that we view as worthwhile considerations.

Social Science Research Program Update

The Social Science Research Program provides funds for proposals aimed at generating publishable research on factors affecting the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women and diverse faculty in all disciplines. At this time, we are particularly interested in supporting research examining potential gender imbalances in the effects of COVID19 on professional productivity in academia. Read the program guidelines. 

Academe Is a New Green Pasture for Consultants

The following article was featured on July 15, 2018 on The Chronicle of Higher Education and discusses the benefits of supporting faculty in the NCFDD Faculty Success Program.

Julia Fox was in a rut. After 17 years at Indiana University at Bloomington — including 10 years as a tenured associate professor in the Media School — her scholarship had stalled. She felt overwhelmed by service obligations and family responsibilities and guilty about neglecting her research. So when a unit director there approached her last fall to suggest she enroll in an intensive mentoring program offered by a private consultancy, Fox was “a little leery” about making yet another commitment. But colleagues told her the course had helped them restart their own research, so she decided to give it a try.

The 12-week “faculty success program” was offered by the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity, which provides training and mentoring to grad students, postdocs, and faculty members. The program did take time — it required participants to take part in a 75-minute group call once a week, a five- to 10-minute check-in daily, and an hourlong homework video. But Fox says she “drank the Kool-Aid” from the start, soaking up the tips on time-management and planning. She began scheduling her days and weeks in greater detail and devoting at least 30 minutes a day to her writing.

“It sounds so obvious: Make a plan, write every day,” she says. “But this makes you commit to doing it.”

NFDD Bootcamp

NFDD Bootcamp

March 25, 2017

24 hours. That is all we get in a day, and in that time span we are expected to sleep, eat, take care of ourselves, lecture, mentor, grade, be a mother, be a father, be a friend, be a daughter, be a son, conduct our research, engage in meetings that roll over into your next meeting. The rest tend to pile on. 24 hours, that is all we get to succeed and with life in Academia, there can never be enough hours.

NCFDD offers a program that helps you, become a more successful faculty member. This program is designed to transform your personal and … » More …

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Motherhood in Veterinary Medicine Discussion Panel this Thursday, April 27 Noon-1 in Wegner G50

Motherhood in Veterinary Medicine Discussion Panel this Thursday, April 27 Noon-1 in Wegner G50

April 26, 2017

“Join us this Thursday to discuss how pregnancy and parenthood affect the veterinary profession. Share your advice and personal experiences through an informal discussion panel.
Current Discussion Panel Participants:
Dr. Jennifer Ronngren, Alpine Animal Hospital
Charlie Powell, Senior Communications Manager WSU CVM
Bethany Colaprete, WSU CVM Counseling and Wellness Services
YOU!

Soon, students will be interviewing for our first jobs as veterinarians and many of us aspire to be veterinary practice owners someday. Many of us have already started a family or plan to … » More …

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