Improving Gender Equity among STEM Faculty

Project Overview 

NSF ADVANCE Catalyst Grant

The Research, Educate and Value Equity at All Levels in the Sciences (REVEALS) initiative is designed to investigate equity—particularly gender equity—in the STEM fields and social sciences. With NSF ADVANCE Catalyst Track funding, the REVEALS Team is analyzing faculty experiences and underlying causes of inequity with constant consideration of intersectional aspects of identity. Preliminary data gathering led to a focus on:

  • Policy, administrative, and leadership support for parental leave and family priorities
  • Mentorship, connectedness, and community building
  • Policies and processes to encourage women into leadership roles
  • Innovations to recognize and reward invisible labor.

Institutional Context

Students majoring in traditional STEM and social science fields show an increase in the percentage of women enrolling over time. However, the faculty in traditional STEM fields are showing a decrease in the percentage of women faculty during that same time period, and faculty in the social sciences have shown a consistently low percentage of women faculty.

Graph displaying inequities in KU faculty proportion