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To: The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Community
From: Harvey Perlman, Chancellor
Date: November 14, 2001
Re: Progress Report on Regents’ Goals for Gender Equity
Dear Colleagues:
Beginning in the fall of 1997, each campus was to designate an administrator to be responsible and accountable for that campus’ progress in achieving the Regents’ goals in the area of gender equity. Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Evelyn Jacobson, was identified to assume these responsibilities for faculty at UNL.
I am pleased to share with you Dr. Jacobson’s fourth annual report that charts our progress in the critical area of gender equity for the fiscal year 2000-2001. As I believe you will agree after reviewing the report, UNL continued to make good progress toward achieving the Regents’ gender equity goals, although by some measures our progress was not as rapid as the year before. For example, while women hired as faculty or academic administrators declined from 46.2% in 2000 to 41.4% in 2001, the total percentage of women faculty or academic administrators increased from 24.3% to 25.2%. While we continue to make progress, it is particularly important to redouble our efforts in this regard during a period when our hiring of new faculty overall will be reduced due to the budget reduction we are experiencing.
I was also pleased to see that the percentage of academic/administrative personnel leaving UNL who reported unfair treatment by a supervisor dropped from 35.3% in 2000 to 20.3% in 2001. While that does show progress, it also indicates that we still need to work on the climate at the local level. As research by the Gallup organization indicates, employees don’t leave institutions, they leave supervisors.
Finally, I want to thank Associate Vice Chancellor Jacobson for her good work both in compiling this report, but more importantly for her leadership in moving us forward. |
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Report on Progress Toward the Regents' Goals for Gender Equity
Submitted by
Evelyn Jacobson, Associate Vice Chancellor
for Academic Affairs - November 2001
I. Charge
In August 1997, the President's Task Force on Gender Equity, chaired by Professor Linda Pratt, recommended that each campus identify one person to be responsible and accountable for progress toward the Regents' goals for gender equity. The Chancellor in consultation with the Cabinet concluded that, for the Lincoln campus, it would be advisable to have two persons so designated, one for faculty, the other for staff. I was the person designated to provide the Chancellor with a comprehensive report at the end of each fiscal year on the activities undertaken to accomplish the goals as related to faculty.
Recognizing that many of the strategies for improving gender equity on campus parallel the strategies to enhance ethnic diversity on campus, this report also includes as appropriate information on progress toward campus goals for diversity related not only to women faculty, but also faculty of color.
This is the fourth annual report, and it will not repeat information on continuing programs or initiatives, nor does it provide information on the large number of diversity programming events supported annually throughout the University. Information on the Diversity Enhancement Projects funded annually through Academic Affairs can be accessed at the web site address given below. The report supplements the University-wide Committee on Gender Equity: 2001 Report to the Board of Regents (April 7, 2001: Appendix A1) and the University-wide Committee on Diversity: 2001 Report to the Board of Regents (May 19, 2001: Appendix A2). It references the following (on the web at http://www.unl.edu/svcaa/priorities/diversity.html):
• Comprehensive Diversity Plan for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (June 1999)
• Plan for Increasing Diversity within the Faculty (June 1997).
II. Institutional Progress
Goal 1: Achieve gender representation throughout the University of Nebraska, including faculty, staff, students and administration, which reflects a position of leadership among similarly situated institutions.
A. Beginning with the 1997-98 academic year, UNL allocated a pool of funds for the purpose of assisting departments with bridge funding to recruit and retain a more diverse faculty. As of September 2001, this bridge funding has contributed to the hiring and retention of 39 tenured or tenure-track female faculty and faculty of color.
In July 2000, $150,000 in permanent funding was transferred from CA to Academic Affairs to be distributed as a salary match to support the hiring of female faculty and faculty of color. In August 2001, CA confirmed that Academic Affairs would receive an additional $542,886 in permanent funding for this purpose. These combined funds assisted departments in the recruitment of an additional 36 tenured and tenure-track female faculty and faculty of color, with salary matches distributed over 9 colleges and 21 departments.
B. As per the Academic Affairs Plan for Increasing Diversity among the Faculty, recruitment initiatives were meant to reach and attract an expanded pool of highly qualified applicants, so that UNL will see:
• an increase in the overall representation of tenured and tenure-track female faculty over the next five years (1997-2002) such that the percentage of female faculty exceeds the midpoint of UNL's peer institutions
• an increase in the overall representation of tenured and tenure-track faculty of color over the next five years (1997-2002) such that the percent of faculty of color exceeds the midpoint of UNL's peer institutions.
The expectation was that at least 45% of all new hires in tenured and tenure-track positions would be women, and that UNL would be able to add a net of at least five new tenured and tenure-track faculty of color each year over the next five years. UNL's plan was successful in 2 of the past 3 years. Following is the recruitment estimate for 2000-2001, as of September 15, 2001:
• Of a total of 70 faculty and tenured academic/administrative searches (deans, etc.), 29 or 41.4% were filled by females (Appendix B1).
• Of the 70 faculty and tenured academic/administrative searches completed, 19 or 27.1% were filled by faculty of color; note, however, that 5 of these 19 faculty members are currently non-resident aliens (Appendix B1).
Factoring in the 68 tenured or tenure-track faculty or academic administrators who left the University this past year, the University has seen a net gain of 11 female faculty, and a net gain of 11 tenured or tenure-track academic/administrators or faculty of color if one includes non-resident aliens, or a net gain of 6 if one only includes members of under-represented minorities and excludes non-resident aliens (B2).
C. The remaining tables in Appendix B show the trend in percentage and number of tenure-track hires according to gender and ethnicity between 1992 and 2001.
• There was a decline from last year in the number of female faculty as a percentage of new hires (from 46.2% in 2000 to 41.4% in 2001- Appendix B3), and in the number of faculty of color as a percentage of new hires (from 32.3% in 2000 to 27.1% in 2001 - Appendix B4).
• The number of tenured and tenure-track female faculty and academic/administrators as a percentage of the total number of tenured and tenure-track faculty has, however, increased from 24.3% to 25.2% (Appendix B5).
• The number of tenured and tenure-track academic/administrators and faculty of color as a percentage of the total number of faculty has increased from 10.4% to 11.0% if one excludes non-resident aliens; from 12.7% to 13.7% if one includes non-resident aliens.
In his State of the University Address, Chancellor Perlman pointed to the importance of the local culture in dictating the climate for those who work and study at the University. Success in diversifying the campus also depends in great part on efforts taken locally. It is important that those disciplines and units in which it may be more difficult to identify a diverse pool of candidates make special and even stronger efforts to do so. As the Chancellor stated, it is clear that, without active leadership at the local level, progress will be hard to achieve.
Goal 2: Facilitate hiring, career development, promotion, and retention of women faculty and staff.
Hiring has been addressed above.
A. Rank of Female Faculty:
Of the 28 faculty members promoted to Associate Professor this year, 11 or 39.2% were women, a slight increase from 10 or 35.7% in 2000. Of the 34 faculty members promoted to Full Professor this year, 6 or 17.6% were women, a decrease from 8 or 36.4% last year. Factoring in those who left the University this year, female full professors as a percentage of the total number of full professors remained almost constant - there was a minimal decline from 14.5% to 14.2% (Appendix B5).
B. Professional Development:
Three female faculty members were supported by the Chancellor's Office and a dean's office to attend the 2001 HERS Summer Institute at Bryn Mawr. Three female faculty members were selected this year for the Chancellor's Faculty Associate Program. One is working in the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, one in the Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies, and one in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.
C. Retention:
The University has seen improvement in the retention of female faculty. This year a total of 68 faculty members left the University for all reasons (death, retirement, resignation), an increase from 57 in 1999-2000. 12 females and 24 males resigned from the University to accept other positions, compared to the 16 females and 16 males who resigned last year. The percentage of female faculty who resigned as a percentage of the total number of female faculty who left the University declined for the second year in a row from 80% to 66.7%, with the number of retirements among both male and female faculty members increasing (Appendix B8 and B9). The University saw a net gain of 11 female faculty members, compared to a net loss of 9 male faculty members (Appendix B10).
Exit Surveys:
Reasons for resignations reported on exit surveys include, for both men and women, professional opportunity, family situation, and concerns about the campus environment.
Summary results of the 2000 exit survey are enclosed (Appendix C) and provide information on contributory factors. Results of the survey include the following information:
• The percent of individuals who left academic or administrative positions due to negative factors at UNL remains around 20% for a third year. This year there were 17 such individuals (p. 2).
• A large majority of women indicated that the environment for women was not important (30.9%) or not applicable (42.3%) in their decision to leave (p. 3)
• There were only slight differences between whites (13.5%) and non-whites (14.8%) in whether the "lack of a supportive environment for minorities" was an important factor in their decision to leave. These numbers are considerably more positive than recent years when 39.1% of non-whites indicated this was an important reason for their leaving (p. 4).
• A majority of those leaving Academic/Administrative positions reported their overall experience at UNL was positive (44.8%) or very positive (27.1%) (p. 8).
• As in the past, when asked to report whether they had encountered a variety of negative experiences, unfair treatment by a supervisor was by far the most widely reported problem. In the academic/administrative group, the percentage reporting unfair treatment by a supervisor as a factor in the decision to leave declined from 35.3% last year, to 20.3% this year (p. 9).
• The second most widely reported negative experience was sexual discrimination - 7.4% this year, 7.6% last year (p. 9).
• Less than 6% of respondents reported experiencing pressure against filing a grievance, 5.9%, which is down from 10.2% last year.
Exit Interviews:
Five faculty members who resigned or were separated in the past year took the opportunity to request an exit interview, down from 11 last year. 4 of the 5 were female faculty. All four of the female faculty members reported professional opportunity and/or dual career issues as contributing factors in their decision to leave. Specific components of climate that were mentioned as needing attention include the following:
• commitment to diversity not valued at the unit level
• patronizing, intimidating, and coercive attitudes on the part of supervisors and senior faculty
• different standards of behavior applied to women vs. men
• senior faculty not interested in mentoring
• expectations not clearly defined
Goal 3: Create and maintain a hospitable environment for women in the classroom and the workplace.
From the above, it appears that the University is making progress in certain areas, but that there is still room for improvement. The Chancellor has asked the campus to focus on the campus climate, and has charged deans, department chairs, and heads to make a special effort to address matters of climate within their units. Additionally, the Campus Climate Survey is under development, and will provide a baseline of the working environment for faculty and staff within each unit so that progress over time can be measured (State of the University Address: August 24, 2001).
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