The past decade has witnessed increasing interest in attracting and retaining a more diverse workforce in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, including expanding the participation of women and racial-ethnic minorities and, in fewer cases, to people with disabilities. Despite the availability of a rich collection of published research on women faculty that has increasingly used an intersectional lens, these conversations rarely meaningfully address strategies to make faculty careers more welcoming and accessible to women with disabilities. Further, as the professoriate ages, there will be an increasing number of faculty with disabilities and the pandemic has a disproportionate impact on many faculty with disabilities. In the coming years, there will also be faculty who have acquired disabilities as the result of long covid.
This paper reviews existing research and practice reported in the literature about faculty with disabilities as well as reports of people with disabilities and other stakeholders in an online community and offers practical promising practices for increasing the participation of this marginalized and underserved group in STEM fields. The paper begins with a discussion of structural barriers that make faculty careers inaccessible and unwelcoming to people with disabilities and presents two approaches to access: accommodations and universal design. Both approaches have a role in the process of increasing the participation of people with disabilities in faculty careers. Given the relatively sparse literature on the topic, we encourage researchers addressing faculty careers to ask about disability in their work and to analyze disability-related data to increase our understanding of the issues impacting this population. Moreover, we offer departments and institutions strategies that they can take related to institutional and departmental policies related to accommodation requests, hiring practices, faculty evaluation, and other relevant areas; departmental culture; physical environments; collaboration and communication, and information technology. We conclude with recommendations to researchers and practitioners regarding the development of practices that will lead to increased engagement and success of women in faculty positions in STEM.
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Diversifying the STEM Professoriate: Defining the issue at hand
This paper identifies the primary issues that have confounded efforts to increase the number and proportion of underrepresented groups within STEM faculty. Drawing on extant research, the paper establishes that despite increases in diversity and inclusion within other areas of academia, STEM fields continue to experience disproportional lags in diverse representation throughout the STEM pathway and especially within STEM academic careers. The paper argues that there are two primary foci that must both be addressed to achieve a diverse workforce: increases to the pool of credentialed candidates and a critical examination of the recruitment, hiring, and retention practices and policies. While this paper is focused within the context of higher education and the diversification of STEM faculty, its findings and argument are applicable for areas of industry beyond academic careers.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1649214
- PAR ID:
- 10041363
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- CAHSI’s INCLUDES Conference
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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The past decade has witnessed increasing interest in attracting and retaining a more diverse workforce in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, including expanding the participation of women and racial-ethnic minorities and, in fewer cases, to people with disabilities. Despite the availability of a rich collection of published research on women faculty that has increasingly used an intersectional lens, these conversations rarely meaningfully address strategies to make faculty careers more welcoming and accessible to women with disabilities. Further, as the professoriate ages, there will be an increasing number of faculty with disabilities and the pandemic has a disproportionate impact on many faculty with disabilities. In the coming years, there will also be faculty who have acquired disabilities as the result of long covid. This paper reviews existing research and practice reported in the literature about faculty with disabilities as well as reports of people with disabilities and other stakeholders in an online community and offers practical promising practices for increasing the participation of this marginalized and underserved group in STEM fields. The paper begins with a discussion of structural barriers that make faculty careers inaccessible and unwelcoming to people with disabilities and presents two approaches to access: accommodations and universal design. Both approaches have a role in the process of increasing the participation of people with disabilities in faculty careers. Given the relatively sparse literature on the topic, we encourage researchers addressing faculty careers to ask about disability in their work and to analyze disability-related data to increase our understanding of the issues impacting this population. Moreover, we offer departments and institutions strategies that they can take related to institutional and departmental policies related to accommodation requests, hiring practices, faculty evaluation, and other relevant areas; departmental culture; physical environments; collaboration and communication, and information technology. We conclude with recommendations to researchers and practitioners regarding the development of practices that will lead to increased engagement and success of women in faculty positions in STEM.more » « less
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Purpose While postdoctoral research (postdoc) training is a common step toward academic careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, the role of postdoc training in social sciences is less clear. An increasing number of social science PhDs are pursuing postdocs. This paper aims to identify factors associated with participation in postdoc training and examines the relationship between postdoc training and subsequent career outcomes, including attainment of tenure-track faculty positions and early career salaries. Design/methodology/approach Using data from the National Science Foundation Survey of Earned Doctorates and Survey of Doctorate Recipients, this study applies propensity score matching, regression and decomposition analyses to identify the role of postdoc training on the employment outcomes of PhDs in the social science and STEM fields. Findings Results from the regression analyses indicate that participation in postdoc training is associated with greater PhD research experience, higher departmental research ranking and departmental job placement norms. When the postdocs and non-postdocs groups are balanced on observable characteristics, postdoc training is associated with a higher likelihood of attaining tenure-track faculty positions 7 to 9 years after PhD completion. The salaries of social science tenure-track faculty with postdoc experience eventually surpass the salaries of non-postdoc PhDs, primarily via placement at institutions that offer relatively higher salaries. This pattern, however, does not apply to STEM PhDs. Originality/value This study leverages comprehensive, nationally representative data to investigate the role of postdoc training in the career outcomes of social sciences PhDs, in comparison to STEM PhDs. Research findings suggest that for social sciences PhDs interested in academic careers, postdoc training can contribute to the attainment of tenure-track faculty positions and toward earning relatively higher salaries over time. Research findings provide prospective and current PhDs with information helpful in career planning and decision-making. Academic institutions, administrators, faculty and stakeholders can apply these research findings toward developing programs and interventions to provide doctoral students with career guidance and greater career transparency.more » « less
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An interdisciplinary team of faculty, staff, and students at Illinois State University is partnering with the Chicago Public Schools district (CPS) and non-profit Community-Based Organizations in four Chicago neighborhoods to create a new after-school STEM program known as SUPERCHARGE. Funded by NSF, the primary purpose of the project is to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who pursue STEM fields at the postsecondary level. Faculty from STEM and STEM education program areas as well as the National Center for Urban Education at Illinois State University comprise the leadership team for the project. Guided by the National Research Council’s STEM Learning Ecosystem Model, SUPERCHARGE will contribute to the disruption of inequities that hinder access to STEM career pipelines for participants by serving as a bridge between informal high school academic experiences, STEM-related higher education programs, and STEM-related career pathways. Research to determine the impact of the program on students' interest, understanding, and self-efficacy towards STEM careers, as well as teachers and undergraduate students’ understanding of promoting change, will also be conducted. The Partnerships in Education and Resilience (PEAR) Common Instrument for students and teachers, and interviews with stakeholders are being used to support data gathering and program feedback. These data sources will be used for program assessment and future research.more » « less
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