SWE - Spring 2008 - (Page 30)

Q: Why didn’t women take advantage of some programs such as the University of California Faculty Family Friendly Edge program that has been in place since the 1980s? A: “Women were afraid to take advantage of these policies for fear of being seen as less serious about their scholarship and rightfully so.” Cathy Trower, Ph.D., Director of the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education Friendly Policies in Higher Education,” from the CEW provided information on how policies are constituted. In 2005, the American Council on Education (ACE) in partnership with the Sloan Foundation initiated an awards program to recognize leading institutions for their career-flexibility policies and practices for tenured and tenure-track faculty at research universities. Awards are continuing in 2008 for selected master’s universities. Elsewhere other developments draw input from faculty members themselves. Harvard University’s COACHE, for instance, is an electronic “Tenure-Track Job Satisfaction Survey” allowing junior faculty in participating universities to rate the work/life balance with the 30 SWE SPRING 2008 intent to effect improvements. Recently, a National Clearinghouse on Academic Worklife was set up at the University of Michigan’s CEW to amass information and resources about academic work/life policies (www.academicworklife.org). “The Clearinghouse provides people with models and examples, allowing them to compare themselves to peer institutions,” said Jeanne Miller, director of Information Services and Publications at the CEW. “The Clearinghouse has the dynamic ability for people to use it and to add feedback information on the Web site. It’s useful to administrators or faculty members hoping to find examples to help implement policies on their own campuses.” Demographics also push the progress. Dr. Thomas, at ACE, notes the impetus from incoming faculty who replace retiring professors to reshape policies. She points to some institutions such as the California State system, which is hiring hundreds of faculty because of retirement. “We do see some changes that are beginning to take place.” Work/life policies are becoming a competitive factor as younger faculty become more attuned to the existence of policies and thus will be more likely to ask for them, according to Carol Hollenshead, director of the CEW. “I do believe there is a growing acceptance of the need for flexible policies on the part of male and female faculty to meet a variety of needs,” she said. Academic institutions don’t change quickly; however, trends indicate that progress is happening. I http://www.engtrends.com/IEE/0907D.php http://www.academicworklife.org http://ucfamilyedge.berkeley.edu/leaks.html

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SWE - Spring 2008

SWE - Spring 2008 Heritage Club Contents President’s Note View from the Executive Suite Editor’s Page Readers’ Forum SWE Retention Study Part 4 Honoring Women’s History Month How Well Do You Know the Trailblazers? National Women’s Hall of Fame Academia Adds an On-Ramp to Its Off-Ramp Establishing Inclusion and Fairness in the Workplace How Do Women Engineers Bridge the Generation Gap? Membership Information & Calendar A&B Engineering World Career Toolbox: People Physics 101 Point of View: What Work/Life Balance Means to Me (and SWE) In Memory: SWE Pioneer Betty Lou Bailey, P.E. Book Reviews: Gender Designs IT; Women Don’t Ask SWE Smiles Opportunity Index SWE Scrapbook

SWE - Spring 2008

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