ADVANCE grants designed to help recruit, retain women

The ADVANCE Steering Committee has announced that six departmental transformation grants totaling $197,250 have been awarded this year to recruit and retain women scientists and engineers on the faculty.

U-M's five-year program is supported by a $3.7 million ADVANCE grant from the National Science Foundation.

"The committee was delighted to see so many departments designing well-targeted programs," says Abigail Stewart, principal investigator of U-M's ADVANCE Project and a member of the committee. "These are efforts that address specific issues and problems and will make a real difference."

U-M's five-year program is supported by a $3.7 million ADVANCE grant from the National Science Foundation. The funding is designed to help the University improve the campus environment for women faculty in the science and engineering fields to attract and retain the best faculty.

The 2004 awards will target expenses likely to make the most direct improvements in each department's successful recruitment and retention of women faculty, as well as promotion of women faculty to leadership positions. Proposals were highly valued if they involved collaboration across departments or used resources that would benefit a large number of women faculty. These resources often benefit other members in a department, including men faculty and both women and men students, the committee says.

Departments receiving the awards are:

• Biomedical Sciences Junior Faculty Forum, Basic Science Units in the Medical School (Bioinformatics, Biological Chemistry, Cell & Developmental Biology, Human Genetics, Mental Health Research Institute, Microbiology & Immunology, Molecular & Integrative Physiology, Pharmacology, Unit for Laboratory Animal Medicine)

Partial funding to convene a Biomedical Sciences Junior Faculty Forum. Awarded $7,550.

• Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences

Teaching release time, funding for travel, and a series of seminars and mentoring sessions. Awarded $38,800.

• Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Career development program that includes teaching load reductions and travel grants, graduate student mentoring activities, and a faculty recruitment program. Awarded $47,100.

• Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Young Scientists Symposium, seminars by prominent women, an effort to increase the number of women interviewed during searches, and travel funds. Awarded $20,000.

• Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Department

Increased Recruitment of Women Faculty, individual faculty initiatives, and functions. Awarded $45,000.

• Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering

Faculty recruitment program, initiate and maintain a faculty mentoring program. Awarded $38,800.

In addition to Stewart, the committee consists of Stephen Director, dean of the College of Engineering; Dr. James Woolliscroft, acting dean of the Medical School; Terrence McDonald, dean of LSA; and Pamela Raymond, senior counselor to the provost.

For more information about each project, visit http://www.umich.edu/~advproj/departmenttransgrant.html.

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