Five Research Universities Awarded $250,000 Grants to Demonstrate
Innovative Faculty Career Flexibility Programs
Sept. 25, 2006
Duke University, Lehigh University, University of California
(Berkeley and Davis campuses), University of Florida, and University of
Washington have been named recipients of the 2006 Alfred P. Sloan Awards
for Faculty Career Flexibility.
Each award includes a $250,000 accelerator grant that will enable the
universities to expand and enhance flexible career paths for faculty.
The Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Faculty Career Flexibility recognize
research universities for their leadership and accomplishments in
implementing groundbreaking policies and practices supporting career
flexibility for tenured and tenure-track faculty. The awards program was
sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and conducted by the
American Council on Education (ACE) with support from the Families and
Work Institute (see below for a selection of
news stories on the announcement).
In addition, Iowa State University and the University of Wisconsin,
Madison, each will be awarded $25,000 grants in recognition of
innovative practices in career flexibility.
“Flexible career paths can meet the needs of an increasing
diverse faculty and advance institutional goals, such as improved
recruitment and retention and maintaining academic competitiveness in a
global market,” said Kathleen Christensen, program director for
Workplace, Workforce and Working Families at The Alfred P. Sloan
Foundation. “The winning institutions demonstrated the ability to
accelerate existing programs, quickly implement creative new approaches
and model best practices in faculty career management.”
“One in five eligible research universities applied for the
2006 Sloan Awards,” said Claire Van Ummersen, ACE vice president,
Center for Effective Leadership. "The high level of participation
reflects a nationwide trend and is evidence of the significance that
college and university leaders are placing on career flexibility as a
positive factor in influencing the recruitment and retention of valued
faculty, particularly women and underrepresented minorities.”
The awards program was open to the 259 research extensive and
intensive universities as defined in the 2000 Carnegie
Classifications. In all, 55 institutions participated in the first
round and 25 institutions advanced to the second round.
Duke University was recognized for plans to establish a Flexible Work
Arrangements Policy, A Pre-Retirement Planning/Post-Retirement Work
Program, and A Dual Career Recruitment/Retention Program that will
utilize a variety of resources at Duke and neighboring institutions
To accommodate faculty shifts to and from full-time status, Lehigh
University plans to establish an Integrated Faculty Career Transition
Program, which will provide funds for boosting research productivity,
attending conferences, and collaborative efforts for faculty working
less than full time. A newly appointed Career Transition Advisor will
oversee the program and help facilitate smooth and productive
transitions.
Working together, the University of California (UC) campuses at
Berkeley and Davis will initiate a system-wide comprehensive educational
campaign to promote equitable use of existing flexible career policies
throughout the entire 10-campus UC System. As part of an effort to share
best practices across the campuses, UC Berkeley will create and
disseminate a comprehensive Family-Friendly Toolkit for department
chairs/managers and deans, detailing family accommodation policies and
laws, benefits, and resources, while UC Davis will create an innovative
Family-Friendly Advisor Program for faculty considering having a
family.
The University of Florida will introduce initiatives designed to
establish additional policies, stimulate cross-campus discussions,
standardize practices, and encourage career flexibility choices. A
centralized administrative leaders’ academy, a Presidential
Council on Diversity and the Status of Women, and a Dual Career Services
Program are among the additional initiatives.
“Eight by ’08” is the title of an ambitious
eight-point program to be launched by the University of Washington.
Plans include expanding the Leadership Development Workshops developed
for department chairs and emerging leaders in the sciences as a result
of a National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant to all university
departments to increase both awareness and participation. Other
aspects of the programs include implementing a pilot paid parental leave
policy for faculty, creating a tracking mechanism for policy use and
faculty career outcomes, creating a peer support group for “new
mom” faculty members, and increasing the number of infant and
toddler childcare slots available to faculty.
Iowa State University was selected for a creative database and
tracking system to quantify the benefits that can accrue from flexible
career policies and to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of these
policies, particularly as they relate to faculty career decisions and
productivity. The University of Wisconsin, Madison, was recognized for
the Vilas Life Cycle Professorship Program, which provides financial
support and personal attention to faculty who encounter critical
junctures in their careers that affect both their research and their
personal lives.
Applicants were evaluated in a two-part process. During the
first round, an institutional survey about the career flexibility
offered to tenured and tenure-track faculty (excluding medical schools)
was completed. The second round included a faculty survey and
development of a university-wide plan for accelerating the development
and use of career flexibility programs among faculty. Among the
issues considered were faculty recruitment and retention; strengthening
faculty commitment, engagement and morale; achieving institutional
excellence; and maintaining academic competitiveness in a global
market.
A blue ribbon panel of retired university and higher education
association presidents, chancellors, and chief executive officers
reviewed and rated the plans, including Molly Corbett Broad, former
president of the 16-campus University of North Carolina; Rita Colwell,
former director of the National Science Foundation; John DiBiaggio,
former president of Tufts University (MA), Michigan State University and
the University of Connecticut; Stanley Ikenberry, former president of
ACE and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; C. Peter
Magrath, former president of the National Association of State
Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, the University of Missouri System,
the University of Minnesota, and the State University of New York at
Binghamton.
For further reading:
Awards Boost University Career Flexibility
The Christian Science
Monitor (September 25, 2006)
6 Universities Win New Grants to Foster Flexible,
Family-Friendly Faculty Policies
The Chronicle of Higher
Education (sub. req.) (September 25, 2006)
Campus Briefs: Duke Awarded for Its Flexibility
The Durham Herald News (September 25, 2006)
Quick
Takes: Grants for Flexible Work Policies
Inside Higher Education
(September 25, 2006)
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