Communications - February 2009

ing faculties. ²⁶Here we cite a few of these efforts’ key characteristics:

˲ Provide training for faculty search committees on best practices. Unconscious bias in academic hiring and evaluating remains widespread, ³³ but raising awareness of such bias helps reduce its influence. Moreover, training can help each committee build a more diverse pool of candidates, design an effective interview schedule, avoid common pitfalls when interviewing women candidates, and ensure that committee members have the answers to often-asked questions.

˲ Identify potential women candidates and build proactive relationships with them, even during years when the department is not conducting a search. For example, invite promising women graduate students and postdocs to give presentations or conduct seminars. Invite female researchers from industry to visit the department for, say, a week. Invite untenured women faculty from institutions (especially those with records of often denying tenure) to give colloquia.

˲ Be prepared to help find jobs for women candidates’ spouses or partners, ²⁸ many of whom are academics themselves, often in science or engineering disciplines. Some academic institutions in fact have programs to assist departments interested in hiring the spouse or partner of an especially talented faculty candidate.

˲ Establish parent-friendly practices in the department and institution. For example, do not schedule department meetings after 5 P.M. and encour-

“though female leaders have the same
technical challenges and are expected to
produce the same kind of results as
male leaders, there is often a cultural
context that influences their approach
and a different interpretation of their
performance that ups the ante.”

fRanCIne BeRman: DIReCtoR, san DIeGo suPeRComPuteR CenteR; hIGh PeRfoRmanCe ComPutInG enDo WeD ChaIR, JaCoBs sChooL of enGIneeRInG, unIVeRsIt Y of CaLIfoRnIa, san DIeGo.

age the institution to provide paid parental leave for faculty members with newborn children.

For the last 15 years, CRA-W, through its Cohort of Associate Professors Project, has maintained programs to help young women CS faculty progress successfully; and it has also conducted workshops for older female faculty further along in their careers. Significant support/programs are also offered through the NSERC-Industry WISE chairs, ADVANCE grants, and more recently the ABI TechLeaders workshops for senior academic women.

For beginning untenured faculty, important actions by the department include:

˲ Provide a lighter teaching load for the first two years and limit the num-

ber of different courses she teaches during the first four years. Encourage each new faculty member to participate in professional-development courses offered by the institution and to invite other faculty members to observe her teaching. In addition, perform informal midterm teaching evaluations in all of her courses.

˲ At research-intensive institutions: Ensure that new faculty members receive enough startup funding to support two or more graduate students for at least two years. Provide significant help in writing grant proposals.

˲ Make certain that the new faculty member understands what is expected in order to gain tenure. Provide clear and constructive feedback annually on achievements she should focus

“if we want young girls to choose to learn
how to program computers, we need to
deeply understand the kinds of programs
girls will be motivated to create and design
programming environments that make
those programs readily achievable.”

Composite screenshot from storytelling alice.

CaItLIn KeLLeheR: assIstant PRofessoR ComPuteR sCIenCe anD enGIneeRInG; as a Ph.D. stuDent WoRKInG WIth RanDY PausCh, CReateD “stoRYteLLInG aLICe“ to InsPIRe mIDDLe sChooL GIRLs to LeaRn PRoGRammInG.