University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 12-2019 Women in STEM: Strategies and Recommendations for Academic Women and Institutional Leaders Sarah Jensen University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Gender Equity in Education Commons, Higher Education and Teaching Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Citation Jensen, S. (2019). Women in STEM: Strategies and Recommendations for Academic Women and Institutional Leaders. Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/3473 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Women in STEM: Strategies and Recommendations for Academic Women and Institutional Leaders A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Higher Education by Sarah Jensen Webster University Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, 1997 Webster University Master of Business Administration, 2003 December 2019 University of Arkansas This dissertation is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. _____________________________________ John W. Murry, Jr., Ed. D. Dissertation Director _____________________________________ Ketevan Mamiseishvili, Ph.D. Committee Member _____________________________________ Michael T. Miller, Ed. D. Committee Member Abstract Women still comprise a small number of full professors in STEM disciplines in research universities, which have historically been male dominated. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has recognized the challenge of getting more women to enter the professoriate, earn tenure, and advance to full professor. These women can then encourage more women to enter into STEM as educators and researchers. The purpose of this study was to recognize, explore, and depict strategies used by women full professors to overcome obstacles they faced while advancing in academic STEM fields. The study participants also offered recommendations for women faculty desiring to become full professors and university academic leaders on how to help women in STEM achieve the top academic rank. This study used a qualitative collective case design to collect data and to aid in forming an understanding of the women participants’ experiences in earning promotion from associate professor to full professor in STEM academic departments. The participants were selected using purposeful sampling. Semi-structured interviews conducted with 13 full professors in various stem fields comprised they primary source of data. A pre-survey questionnaire and review of documents provided further information for the study. The findings from the study suggest that women associate professors are motivated to seek promotion primarily because of the status, prestige, and recognition that accompanies the rank. The study’s participants offered several strategies to associate professors in how to overcome barriers blocking the path to promotion. Among these strategies were understanding promotion criteria and standards, building academic credentials, focusing on research and external funding, protecting research time, and establishing research collaborations. The participants’ principal recommendation to associate professors on how to advance to full professor was to build a national reputation, while the participants advised academic leaders to develop flexible promotion criteria and standards, provide targeted professional development workshops for associate professors, encourage the availability of mentors and advocates, facilitate faculty collaborations, and better accommodate work-life balance for women faculty. ©2019 by Sarah Jensen All Rights Reserved Acknowledgements To all my friends and family, your encouragement and understanding while completing this degree, I will be forever grateful. To the 13 individuals that took the time out of their busy schedule to answer my questions. I appreciate your willing to be open and candid in your answers and being so generous with your time. Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my friends and family who listened to me when I needed to vent and encouraged me through this process. I also want to dedicate this to all the women in the world. Do let anyone get you down and speak out for yourself. Table of Contents I. Introduction 1 A. Statement of the Problem 2 B. Purpose of the Study 4 C. Research Questions 5 D. Delimitations and Limitations 5 E. Significance of the Study 6 F. Definition of Key Terms 10 G. Summary 11 II. Literature Review 13 A. STEM Academics 13 Women as students 14 Women as faculty 16 Importance of women in STEM 16 B. Promotion Expectations at Research Universities 18 C. Barriers to Gaining Promotion to Full Professor 19 Lack of Tenure-Track Lines 19 Retention 21 Gender Bias 22 Personal Barriers 28 Lack of Promotion Criteria Transparency 33 D. Strategies for Women 35 E. Implemented Institutional Strategies 36 F. Importance of Mentorships 40 G. Recommendations from Women STEM Faculty 44 H. Summary 46 III. Methodology 47 A. Research Design 47 Case Study 48 B. Sampling 49 C. Participants 50 D. Data Collection 52 Researcher as Instrument 53 Field Test 53 Interviews 54 Journal Entries 55 Document Analysis 55 E. Data Analysis 56 Coding 56 Themes 57 F. Research Rigor 57 Credibility 57 Transferability 58 Dependability 58 Confirmability 58 G. Summary 59 IV. Data Presentation and Analysis 60 A. Description of Participant Cases 61 B. Research Questions 61 C. Data Analysis 62 D. Coding results 63 Research Question 1 64 Research Question 2 69 Research Question 3 75 Research Question 4 78 E. Summary 88 V. Conclusions and Recommendations 90 A. Overview of the Study 90 Research Question 1 92 Research Question 2 92 Research Question 3 93 Research Question 4 94 B. Discussion of the Findings 94 Research Question 1 94 Research Question 2 99 Research Question 3 102 Research Question 4 103 C. Conclusions 109 D. Limitations 110 E. Recommendations for Future Research 111 F. Recommendations for Improved Practice 112 G. Summary 114 VI. References 116 VII. Appendices 126 A. Informational Email 126 B. Informed Consent Form 127 C. IRB Approval 130 D. Request for Participation 131 E. Interview Guide 132 F. Participant Profile Demographic Questionnaire 133 G. Member Checking Correspondence 134 List of Tables Table 1 Demographic Data Profile of Study Participants 62 Table 2 Themes from Research Question 1 64 Table 3 Themes from Research Question 2 70 Table 4 Themes from Research Question 3 75 Table 5 Themes from Research Question 4 78 Chapter I Introduction Women are vastly underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) postdoctoral and faculty positions compared to men, despite decades of efforts to lessen bias and increase opportunities for women (Fisher et al., 2019). The disciplines associated with STEM are mathematics, physical sciences, biological and life sciences, engineering/technologies, and computer and information sciences (U.S. Department of Education, 2015). Increasing the number of women in the STEM fields, namely in the higher ranks of academia, such as full professor, is crucial. Women in senior faculty ranks of academia can improve working conditions for all women (Sandberg, 2013) “by improving women’s performance and sense of belonging in STEM” (Drury, Siy, & Cheryan, 2011, p. 265). Additionally, women full professors can mentor other women faculty and students, which could lead to additional women entering the STEM fields (Cullen & Luna, 1993). The number of women entering the STEM disciplines has been increasing, however, the number of women in STEM, predominantly at higher levels of academia, is still well below that of men. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (2016), women earned 34.4% of doctoral degrees in STEM disciplines during the year of 2008-2009. This percentage increased to 40.7% in 2016 (National Science Foundation [NSF], (2019). Women have made progress, over the years, in achieving the ranks of assistant and associate professor, especially in the STEM fields. According to the (NSF), 2019, 51.8% of assistant professors were women in all disciplines of STEM, as well as 45.4% of the associate professors. The percentage of women full professors increased from just below 10% in 1993 to 32.8% in the fall of 2017. This increase is 1 substantial. However, at 68% of full-time, full professors in STEM, men still greatly outnumber women (NCES, 2018). Statement of the Problem According to the National Science Foundation (NSF) (2014), there have been significant increases in the proportion of women pursuing STEM doctoral degrees. However, women are significantly underrepresented as faculty, particularly in the senior ranks, such as full professor, in almost all STEM disciplines. The ADVANCE program was developed to increase the participation and advancement of women in academic STEM careers and was designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers (NSF, n.d.). As stated on the NSF ADVANCE program website: The goal of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) ADVANCE program is to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers,