by Joy Esiemokhai
The importance of a fair and pleasant work environment for faculty cannot be overemphasized. Teacher happiness and institutional progress are symbiotic and institutional effort is necessary to ensure the satisfaction and advancement of faculty. According to White House data, women earn 41 percent of science, technology, engineering and mathematics doctorate degrees yet represent only 28 percent of tenure track faculty. The figure is even less for minority women. Women of color represent only six percent of STEM faculty in the United States. One major contributing factor is institutional workplace condition.
As part of its efforts to identify barriers to the work life satisfaction of women and minority faculty at the University of West Georgia, the College of Social Sciences recently presented the results of a survey of STEM faculty, as well as faculty of science related disciplines, particularly social sciences. The presentation was titled “Gender, Race and Work Life at UWG: Results of a Survey of Faculty” and was the fifth installment of the third annual College of Social Sciences Lecture Series. Dr. Lee Michael Johnson, UWG associate professor of criminology, presented the analysis of the survey, which was conducted in the spring 2013 semester by Dr. Catherine Jenks, the founding director of the UWG Survey Research Center and the current associate vice president for institutional effectiveness and assessment. The primary investigator of the study was Dr. Jane McCandless, dean of College of Social Sciences and there were several co-primary investigators.
The goals of the survey were to assess the presence of women faculty in UWG STEM and SRD fields, identify the barriers to recruitment, retention and promotion and develop a master plan for institutional transformation for a more equitable workplace. The pre-survey research analyzed employee information of 157 faculty members from the College of Science and Mathematics and the College of Social Sciences.
The survey itself involved 74 respondents with a response rate of 60 percent. There was some missing data as not all the respondents provided information and only 10 of the respondents identified as racial minorities, limiting the ability to conduct any concrete analysis. According to the survey, most of the instances in which there were considerable racial differences saw minority faculty having positive perceptions of workplace culture at UWG. In addition, survey findings also showed critically even opinions of the workplace environment at UWG among genders in some areas such as tenure and commitment to diversity at UWG. However, there were certain aspects in which women were more likely to respond with dissatisfaction such as number of women faculty in their departments, career progression, recruitment and hiring process and fairness.
The study was conducted as part of a large project made possible by the ADVANCE Institutional Transformation-Catalyst grant from the National Science Foundation. The prestigious grant promotes institutional self-assessment to identify specific issues of recruitment, retention and promotion of women and minority faculty and administrators in STEM and SRD.
