A recent analysis of survey data assessing the work environment for all U-M faculty suggests substantial improvement in science and engineering faculty experiences, and significant positive change in the climate for all groups of faculty in those fields.
The findings by U-M ADVANCE Program researchers, led by Janet Malley, director of research and evaluation, compare results of a fall 2012 survey with responses from surveys in 2001 and 2006, when relatively modest changes were found.
Specifically, faculty described a more civil work environment in 2012. White women as well as white men and men of color reported overhearing fewer disparaging comments about women, and all faculty reported overhearing fewer disparaging comments about racial-ethnic minorities or religious groups.
“I am delighted with the findings from this study,” said President Mary Sue Coleman. “U-M policies and initiatives designed to address climate issues for underrepresented groups are beginning to yield positive change — change that all faculty are benefitting from.”
The analysis also showed:
• Both white women and women of color rated their general department climate more positively than they had previously. The general department climate is a measure of such aspects as scholarly isolation, collegiality, and felt surveillance.
• White women and faculty of color (both men and women) reported an improved department climate for diversity — a measure of climate issues specifically related to gender and/or race-ethnicity, including tolerance, gender egalitarianism, tokenism and commitment to racial-ethnic diversity.
• Women of color also reported higher levels of job satisfaction by 2012 — at a level similar to that of white women — and all women reported more satisfaction with the level of social interactions they share with their department colleagues and with their sense of being valued as a mentor by their students. They also were less likely to report a desire to leave the university.
• White male science and engineering faculty also reported an improved department climate, higher satisfaction and decreased interest in leaving U-M compared to the earlier data collections.
The data also suggest areas where there continue to be clear and consistent gender and racial-ethnic differences in how the climate is experienced at both the university and the department level.
Women still report more felt gender discrimination than their male colleagues, and faculty of color report unchanged rates of racial-ethnic discrimination. In all instances differences between groups cannot be accounted for by differences in respondents’ experiences — such as rank or years at U-M — or by school.
The ADVANCE Program was initiated on campus in 2002 with a five-year Institutional Transformation Grant from the National Science Foundation, and since 2008 the program has been fully funded by the university.
The program aims to improve the campus environment for faculty in four general areas: recruitment, retention, climate and leadership. Its initial focus was institutional transformation with respect to women faculty in science and engineering fields. The program has expanded since 2006 to address necessary institutional changes to support the needs of a diverse faculty in all fields.
“U-M ADVANCE has always emphasized the importance of tying institutional change efforts to data, both in terms of identifying key issues requiring intervention and assessing the success of institutional change efforts,” said ADVANCE Director Abigail Stewart.
She emphasized that the diffuse positive changes that these analyses reveal are the result of many people’s efforts on campus — institutional leaders including the top leadership, deans and department chairs, as well as many faculty who have worked hard over a decade to create a more inclusive environment for all faculty.
“The findings from this important study demonstrate that transforming the work environment for faculty requires consistent, hard work, but positive results can be achieved,” said Provost Martha E. Pollack. “The success of the ADVANCE program is enormously encouraging, and we need to maintain the momentum that has been established by it.”
Over the next few months additional reports — focused on analyses of other groups of faculty — will be released as they are completed. They will all be posted on the U-M ADVANCE website, in the Climate Studies section.
