Home Programs & ServicesEffective Leadership Sloan Awards

The Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Faculty Career Flexibility

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.

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 more information contact Gloria Thomas at the American Council on Education: (202) 939-9404 or gloria_thomas@ace.nche.edu.

Please direct questions about this page to:
jean_mclaughlin@ace.nche.edu

This page last updated on January 19, 2007.