Equity

There is increasing reliance on STEM higher education as a source of innovation, and on faculty as knowledge producers. Simultaneously, universities are systemically changing internal structures to increase equity and inclusivity to attract and retain more STEM women. Women remain underrepresented in specific STEM disciplines and are missing from upper faculty ranks. The research corpus on STEM women lacks studies on women on tenure tracks, and on the relationships among climate, fit, and job satisfaction, and the extent to which job satisfaction aids retention of STEM women. Also sparse is research on leadership’s roles in women’s advancement and retention at the departmental level. The purpose of this study was to understand how the climate within a STEM college contributed to the professional development and sense of belonging of women faculty at a research institution with a National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE grant. This study also explored leadership’s role in fostering a climate of support toward women’s advancement. NSF ADVANCE funds institutions working toward systemic change, but even with an ADVANCE grant, it can be difficult to make climate changes in academic departments where women are historically underrepresented. Thus, we don’t know, a priori, what we might find in such a setting. Gendering organization theory guided this study. Two overarching questions were formulated to address the problems associated with low numbers of women in STEM departments. The methodology utilized a qualitative single instrumental case. The sampling plan included leaders, faculty, and documents; and data sources included interviews and document review.

The history of the United States is rooted in differences and actions that has culminated in the current reality of culturally incompetent behaviors with a lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion prevailing in organizations and society. Through a cultural competence conceptual framework, this research highlighted an action-oriented approach for organizations seeking to engage in efforts to support and integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion.
To conduct this research, I developed a cultural competence conceptual framework with eight types of initiatives derived from the scholarly literature on diversity, equity, inclusion, and cultural competence. The types of initiatives point to organizational efforts to engage in developmental and action-oriented strategies that: facilitate leadership engagement, sensitivity, and responsiveness to diversity, equity, and inclusion; specify strategic and operational goals; incorporate cultural awareness and sensitivity in policies, practices, programs, and procedures; integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion into human resource management to build a diverse and representative workforce; cultivate a supportive, inclusive, and equitable organizational culture/climate; reinforce and sustain a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion; employ sensitive and inclusive communications; and implement targeted training and professional development on diversity, equity, and inclusion. The cultural competence framework presented ways for organizations to actively engage in setting action-oriented goals targeting ingrained, systemic, and institutionalized disparities.