SWE - Spring 2008 - (Page 26) In the Winter 2008 issue of SWE Magazine, the article “The Off-On Ramp Revolution” (page 38) discussed how corporate America has responded to the challenge of retaining talented women by offering flexible work options to those re-entering the work force. In this follow-up article, we explore academia’s response to off-and-on ramping and work/life balance issues. BY CHARLOTTE THOMAS, SWE CONTRIBUTOR T 26 SWE SPRING 2008 The calls Gloria Thomas, Ph.D., associate director of the Office of Women in Higher Education of the American Council on Education, received were increasingly common. A university administrator told her about a woman faculty member who had to take a semester off for family reasons. In this case it was to care for her dying father and settle his affairs. Though the administration allowed time off with pay, the faculty member’s tenure clock would keep on ticking. She would lose all her productivity. Chances were she might leave academia altogether. The question to Dr. Thomas was, how could this administrator handle the problem? It is a question many academic leaders and faculty members increasingly ask as more women who earn the credentials to become tenured faculty members drop out before The tenure-track route has been work/life issues. Finally, policies assuming tenured positions. Instead, they opt for careers outside of academia or return to non-tenure-track jobs. Why is this happening when women are gaining more leadership roles in academia? Women now head four of the eight Ivy League schools. National Science Foundation statistics indicate science and engineering doctoral degrees rose among women from 9,172 awarded in 2002 to 11,469 in 2006 — up 8.8 percent. With more women in leadership roles and more women getting doctorates, why are there not more women in tenured positions? What is causing them to leave? “This is a serious problem,” said Mary Ann Mason, Ph.D., currently on sabbatical as professor and dean of the graduate division at the University of California, Berkeley. The problem has been building for some time. In a “Survey of Doctorate Recipients,” Dr. Mason and Marc Goulden, Ph.D., a researcher and data analyst, tracked more than 160,000 Ph.D. recipients from 1973 until 1999 to research why women with doctorates were not continuing their academic careers. She and Dr. Goulden are not the only ones examining the dearth of women moving into tenured positions. Others note serious ramifications of the problem that surpass the diversity aspect. A 2005 report from the American Council on Education, “An Agenda for Excellence: Creating Flexibility in TenureTrack Faculty Careers,” cited that the loss of Definition of Faculty Career Flexibility For the purposes of the Sloan Awards for Faculty Career Flexibility, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has suggested these policies as examples of best practices in career flexibility: G On- and off-ramps, through leave policies G Extended time to tenure (tenure clock adjustment) G Prorated standard of productivity to reach tenure G Active service, modified duties (full-time service, with selected reduced duties) G Part-time appointments (allowing mobility between full-time and part-time work) G Phased retirement (partial appointments for finite periods of time) G Delayed entry or re-entry opportunities (including practices that foster later-than-typical career starts)
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