New NJIT Committee Tackles Gender Imbalance in Faculty
A new committee aims to accelerate gender equity among faculty members at New Jersey Institute of Technology.
The Women Faculty Advisory Committee, chaired by Nancy Steffen-Fluhr, will hold peer forums to examine key issues based on the testimony of junior faculty members. It also intends to poll women faculty to gather quantitative data. Both will fuel an action plan and create a foundation for measuring progress toward faculty gender diversity.
Women are particularly underrepresented among full-time faculty at NJIT, most starkly at the level of professor, where they represent just 11% of the total. Their representation rises in the ranks of associate professor (21%) and assistant professor (41%), but still trails that of their male counterparts. Tasked with identifying the reasons for this imbalance and ultimately proposing solutions is the 14-person committee.
“The intent is to make data-driven recommendations for action and that data needs to include an understanding of how women faculty experience the climate within their departments and within the university as a whole,” explained Steffen-Fluhr, an associate professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences and director of the Murray Center for Women in Technology.
The new committee complements the Women Employee Resource Group and the Committee on Women’s Leadership. But it’s designed to think more broadly about the issue of gender representation among faculty and how it intersects with other identities, given that its members work at five of the university’s colleges, including department chairs and deans. To that end, Chief Diversity Officer David E. Jones will work closely with committee members.
“This group will be key in reviewing policy and practice and help us develop more inclusive policies and practices,” said Provost John Pelesko, to whom the committee reports. “A good example is our faculty hiring process.”
Retention is another concern, as NJIT can ill afford to lose women professors.
“Strategies to achieve faculty diversity goals regarding gender need to be based on a deep understanding of the needs of women research faculty as they advance in their careers,” Steffen-Fluhr said. “Women faculty themselves are the best source of this expertise.”
To that end, the committee will hold its first peer forum on Dec. 13 (from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Room 112 of Eberhardt Hall) and at least two peer forums during the spring 2024 semester. In announcing the committee, Pelesko and Jones described the forums as “safe spaces in which junior faculty and lecturers can share their experiences, needs and concerns.”
And based on those experiences, needs and concerns, the committee will develop a list of priorities. It’s expected to be a busy first year.
Who’s who on the committee
The committee includes three department chairs and two deans. Here’s the full group:
- Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering Tara Alvarez
- Distinguished Professor of Informatics Julie Ancis
- Chair and Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering Lisa Axe
- Professor of Mathematical Sciences Linda Cummings, who’s also an associate dean for graduate education and research at the College of Science and Liberal Arts
- Interim Dean of Hillier College of Architecture and Design Gabrielle Esperdy, who’s also a professor
- Associate Professor of History Alison Lefkovitz
- Chair and Professor of Mathematical Sciences Eliza Michalopoulou
- Chair and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Environmental Science Wunmi Sadik
- Professor of Management Hindy Schachter
- Associate Professor of Humanities Nancy Steffen-Fluhr, who’s also director of the Murray Center for Women in Technology
- Professor of Design Georgeen Theodore, who’s also coordinator of the master of urban design program
- Associate Professor of Marketing Ellen Thomas
- Martin Tuchman School of Management Dean Oya Tukel
- Distinguished Professor of Computer Science Guiling Wang, who’s also an associate dean for research at Ying Wu College of Computing
