Research

http://chronicle.com/article/Not-Moving-On-Up-Why-Women/47213/

Commentary

Message to deans, department chairs, and other administrators in higher education: Pay more attention to associate professors —
particularly women, for whom the path to promotion is often murky and less traveled.

That's one of several recommendations from a panel of the Modern Language Association, whose new report, released today, describes how male associate professors in English and foreign languages are routinely promoted to full professor quicker than women are. To help reverse that trend, the MLA's Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession suggested several moves, such as backing away from the monograph as the dominant form of scholarship that counts toward advancement, attaching bigger salary increases to the jump from associate to full professor, and creating mentor programs that focus specifically on preparing associate professors for promotion. The report, "Standing Still: The Associate Professor Survey," is available on the association's Web site.

"Every associate professor should be promoted at some point," said Kathleen Woodward, a professor of English at the University of

Washington and the report's lead author. "Universities have devoted so much attention to assistant professors trying to get tenure, as they should, but associate professors are important, too."

The report shows that women at doctoral institutions take two and a half years longer than men to reach full professor. The gap shrinks to one and a half years at master's institutions, and the smallest gap—a year is at baccalaureate colleges. A closer look at private independent colleges by the association revealed that women there take three and a half years longer than their male counterparts to advance to associate professor.

Over all, the average time to promotion for female associate professors is 8.2 years, compared with 6.6 years for men.

And although many studies show that female academics spend more time caring for children than do their male peers, the association's report found that such family obligations aren't the tipping point when it comes to advancement. Women are promoted more slowly than men, no matter what their marital or parental status is, according to the report, for which 400 professors were surveyed.

Shortage of Mentors

Rosemary G. Feal, the association's executive director, says more people need to be aware of the barriers that keep associate professors, especially women, from advancing to the rank of full professor.

For instance, junior faculty members can typically count on help from formal and informal mentors to navigate the tenure process. But associate professors often have few devoted resources to tap as they try to move up. And female academics, in particular, often report that they have fewer opportunities for mentorship than men. Focused mentor programs that begin the moment scholars are promoted to associate professor could help close the gap, Ms. Woodward says.

"We're not talking about going out to lunch every now and then," Ms. Feal said. "We mean making it clear to associate professors what the path for promotion looks like and helping the associate professor get there. It means providing resources for the person to do the work that's required for them to advance."

Another problem is that expanding the definition of scholarship and research in English is way overdue. Tenure and promotion committees, Ms. Woodward said, shouldn't emphasize the monograph's importance at the expense of public scholarship and work that is produced and distributed digitally.

Giving more weight to service activities, too, is also key when it comes to promoting female academics, said Lisa Maatz, director of
publicly policy and government relations at the American Association of University Women. Women and minorities often "end up doing more committee work and more advisory work" that isn't credited fairly toward advancement, said Ms. Maatz, whose organization has produced its own research on the obstacles female professors who seek promotion face. "If you talk to any woman on campus, regardless of her discipline, she's going to have a disturbing story about moving forward or getting tenure, despite how many women are on campus," said Ms. Maatz, who generally agreed that the report's recommendations could make a difference at many institutions. "We need to continue to create policies that get us to equity."

Some women surveyed by the association said they have resigned themselves to a lifetime as an associate professor because they're
engaged in activities that won't be "rewarded" by their institution, such as working with students, preparing course materials, and doing
research that involves the community.

"We're hearing from associate professors that they're actively choosing to do these things," Ms. Feal said. "They're saying 'If the
university doesn't reward me, well so be it, because these are the things that matter to me.'" According to the report, female associate
professors, for the most part, are less satisfied with their jobs than are their male counterparts.

Still, more associate professors would possibly push ahead toward promotion anyway, if the pay at the higher rank was worth it. But the "increase in salary at promotion generally offers little incentive to aspire to and strive for promotion," the report said. Lobbying for more money is "a tough sell in this economy, but we're thinking about the future," Ms. Feal said.

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Copyright (c) The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc.

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June 2, 2010

Mentoring on the Equity Matters Blog

March-April 2010

1. Mentoring, gendered work and an academic career -

Sarah Wolfe, Waterloo and Ailsa Craig, Memorial University

<http://blog.fedcan.ca/2010/03/18/mentoring-gendered-work-and-an-academic-career/>.

This article explores an on line mentorship between grad students as new young mothers writing their dissertation. They share daily pacts. Their pacts needed some ‘rules’: now no daily pact can be longer than ten items and every pact must include one ‘Me’ - one thing per day that isn’t for the benefit of children, spouse, colleagues or students. Their advice? Find a kindred spirit. Make a list. Cross things off, and report in at the end of the day. How can universities marshal and retain as much female human capital as possible? ‘Family-friendly’ policies - for child and elder care - are popular options. Diversifying the tenure path is another - for example, allowing for explicit tenure-through-teaching or tenure-through-research options - without financial penalty. Dismantling the culture of ‘publish-or-perish’ in the pre-tenure period is more radical, but also a possibility. And many universities also now provide institutionally-based mentorship of new faculty. But these formal programs tend to be built on a ‘mentor/student’ model, where informal friend/mentorship may be better.

2. Much ado about mentoring (in lead up to AGM)

Malinda Smith, VP Equity

<http://blog.fedcan.ca/2010/03/23/much-ado-about-mentoring/>.

Some of the most innovative - socially innovative - developments in human history have occurred in the social sciences and humanities. I think mentoring is one of them: Mentoring is a social innovation, whose improbable beginnings can be traced to, of all things, the figure Mentor who appeared in Homer’s epic poem, Odyssey, over 3,000 years ago.

Despite the proliferation of formal and informal mentoring programs and the burgeoning literature on the topic, it is debatable whether we have a deep understanding of the practice. Consider is the value of programs designed to effect good mentoring versus, for example, the accidental mentor, someone who unexpectedly becomes an inspiring and transformative figure. The figure of the mentor often is attributed with the enviable capacities of wisdom, counseling, guidance, integrity, and leadership. One scholar who has written widely on the principles and practices of mentoring suggests a mentor is “a teacher, a role model, an approachable counselor, a trusted advisor, a challenger, an encourager.” That’s a tall order, it is on top of the usual workload, and usually seen as volunteer.

The stated functions of mentoring have multiplied over the years, and are widely believed to be institutionally desirable. Career development functions of mentoring are said to include teaching, advising, guiding, motivating, exposure and visibility, protecting the mentee, provision of information and gaining access to challenging assignments. Traditional articulation of mentor-mentee roles, the relationship is hierarchical in contrast to more recent and innovative conceptions of mentoring articulated by some Indigenous and feminist scholars who conceive it as a ‘two way’ relationship, one based on “reciprocity, empowerment and solidarity,” which entails a mentee “authentically sharing her voice with ours, while we mutually listen for answers.” Benefits are usually framed more often for the mentee. Yet few empirical studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of mentoring specifically within the social science and humanities disciplines.

It is important for us to reflect upon the myths and hypes, as well as hopes for and joys of mentoring. What are the common assumptions about mentoring, the mentor and the mentee/protege relationship or possibilities of co-mentor relationships? What are the opportunities and challenges for good mentoring? It is important not to shy away from the thorny, infrequently discussed challenges of mentoring, including the challenges of one-size-fits all approaches; cross-gender and diversity mentoring; potential risks, vulnerabilities and dangers for the mentor and mentee; and the opportunities for students, postdoctoral fellows, and especially faculty mentoring in the social sciences and humanities.

3. Mentoring and equity: women and geography

Bonnie Kaserman, University of British Columbia

<http://blog.fedcan.ca/2010/03/24/mentoring-and-equity-women-and-geography/>.

Each month, a group of women geographers, composed of graduate students, researchers, postdoctoral fellows and faculty, gather in someone’s living room. I am one of these women. We meet in order to discuss our gendered experiences in the discipline, to learn from one another, and to enhance our understanding of academic culture so that we might make positive changes in the academy. We also laugh. A lot. our group is one of several throughout Canada and the United States. These groups have formed in response to gendered departmental experiences and to inequities documented within the discipline and the academy. Groups are autonomous and differ in organizational structures, membership and activities, but we share a common goal of promoting the participation of women in Geography. As such, we share the moniker Supporting Women in Geography (SWIG).

Participating in SWIG has, for me, brought to the fore two questions regarding equity: How do we make sustainable change? How do we make sustainable the process of making change?

In my SWIG group, we primarily focus on everyday practices. Each meeting has a thematic focus, and meeting facilitators provide members with articles on related research. For example, Within the literature on academic mobbing, we find lists of specific behaviours that contribute to mobbing, and the literature suggests that individuals from underrepresented groups are at highest risk.

How do we take into account the recent findings that the stress of graduate school unevenly affects graduate students? Women, people of color, LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer) communities, and other marginalized groups are considered at the highest risk for mental health issues in graduate school due to stress and, as some researchers suggest, a chilly climate. In my SWIG group, each member simultaneously occupies the role of mentor and mentee. We reveal our vulnerabilities and celebrate our successes. We also learn early on about troublesome work-life balance, the hours of labour required in the profession, and the limits of networking only with women. The ‘hard’ sciences seem to have more formalized structures at departmental levels to mentor for equity. Do the humanities and other social sciences have these kinds of organizations? Where are they, and what are they doing? Are we networking with each other? If not, why not?

4. The 5 Ls of Mentoring (with podcast)

Minister Faust, Teacher, author, broadcaster

<http://blog.fedcan.ca/2010/03/25/the-5-ls-of-mentoring/>.

Nothing matters more than a strong personal bond between mentor and student. Favorite teachers make students feel special, more personally able to meet their goals. Shamans like the Karate Kid, Ben Kenobe, are the myths. Time, patience, sacrifice, loyalty, these are the gifts. But the mentors are yearning to find a student. Bring your mentee into the right archetypical garden.

You need to be very attuned to that person’s needs. Being a mentor is about being about the five Ls. Listening, Learning, Lending, Listing and Laughing.

Ask open ended questions. What can you take out of the experience for the next time? Be attentive to nuances. Notice. Include the personal. Learn that person’s boundaries. Jot notes after the meeting. Refer accurately to details of life shared with you. Acknowledge what you are learning. Lending. Lending means being generous with time, forgiveness and possessions. Share leisurely time without an agenda. Build trust. Find a balancing act. Make it clear what are the expectations. List the knowledge, skills, habits and attitudes needed, what when where how and even why you provide them. Finally, laugh. This will buff the jagged edges from failure. Show you can laugh at yourself. Share jokes, comic strips, sketches. Be yourself. Keep the circle of the five Ls going. Remember the Kenyan proverb: if you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

5. Live from the Annual Meeting of the General Assembly -

Liveblog of mentoring plenary (Karen Diepeveen and Ryan Saxby-Hill)

<http://blog.fedcan.ca/2010/03/27/live-from-the-annual-meeting-of-the-general-assembly/>.Adelle Blackett (McGill University), Larry Chartrand (University of Ottawa) and James Deaville (Carleton University) present their thoughts in this session moderated by Malinda Smith, VP Equity Issues.

An area often overlooked is mid career scholars. How does mentoring matter? We tend to focus beginning and end career stages. Finally, once size does not fit all. Difference is not deficit. Mentoring is not a program to correct deficits of equity seeking groups.

A review of the literatures shows this: mentoring in Canada is ad hoc. There is a patchwork quilt. There is inequity in its disciplines. There is a paradox. Seen important, but universities do not support it. Despite the rhetoric of equity, there is a drive to standardized indicators, and divergent approaches are reduced. There is still the disconnect between equity and excellence. Should programs be cross gender? Historically most mentors have been men. Now, women in senior positions, since so few, a kind of queen bee syndrome, according to the literature. Barriers in access to informal mentors. Women not always recognize themselves as mentors, and may not achieve recognition for it.

Much of the literature on diversity as making good business sense, not well addressed in the social sciences and humanities. We need to have mechanisms to deal with conflict, especially important if we do not provide training for mentess. There is unacknowledged risk for the mentee. There is also a risk of producing a kind of ideal academic type. We need to be attentive we are not producing clones, or one size fits all programs.

Adelle Blackett:

A labour lawyer from McGill.

A cultural pluralist approach to equity. The institution of friendship across an experiential divide. It destabilizes meritocratic fundamentalism. If we uncover formalization that mentoring may mask: we need to acknowledge privilege and how it may promote social change. In the legal profession 1902-1930 Wendell Holmes used mentoring to exclude newcomers, safeguard the elite gentlemen. A part of the professionalization of the legal profession. Mentoring then was a political act, for the betterment of society in a very particular view ( and Holmes wanted an anti materialist vision). Despite the odour of the old boys network, points to the danger of reifying institution of mentorship and its ideology. Mentors do tend to mentor those who remind themselves of themselves. So, this may lead to academic renewal, but not cultural change. Contrast this example with a more contemporary tribute to Dame Roslin Higgins ( first female judge to be appointed to the IJC), who felt her mentor, a minority, had done a superb job moving from student to friend. The privileging seemed to promote historically disadvantaged group in this case, but it does suggest that merit is constructed over time. It is a recognition of the need for a helping hand where reputational value is cardinal. I underscore the importance of mid career mentoring. Begin to recognize merit is mentored. To be effective, it marshals the private and puts it into effect in the public. It buts up against but may not foster workplace diversification. We do well to think of it as a continuum rather than a juxtaposition of opposites. A mix of formal and informal mechanisms. How can it be used as a transformative tool? Leaving space for the other? Relationship over difference. It requires cross-cultural training for mentors. It is not just showing the ropes, as some have said. It is not a solitary experience, but one of networks. A formalized, institutionalized system can displace the informal, and have unexpected risks. Mentoring the other requires rethinking the status quo?

Larry Chartrand

Also interested in law and health

Mentoring and aboriginal people

We need an anti assimilationist / anti colonial model. We need to be sensitive to the larger political environment. This is a very difficult condition for the aboriginal student to find themselves. I was the first Metis law professor ever tenured early this decade. It is hard to find any mentor in that kind of a situation. I never had a mentor who could identify with the issues and concerns I had to deal with. At one time it was assumed all mentoring was to assimilate. Now there is some recognition of the need to understand indigenous knowledges, aboriginal ways of knowing. You can’t just be a mentor, you need to be an activist. There are few efforts to include aboriginal perspectives and knowledges. Teaching Algonquin law, that is all too rare. But becoming more and more a part of academia. So we are in a transitional state, given the overall institution. The biggest job I have on an informal basis, is how to help them cope with alienation. You need to help them cope with how the reverse image of their identity in the law school is still faint. Our law schools are still overwhelmingly colonial. So, what can we do more for our aboriginal students? Saskatoon’s pre law program is a good start and a way to overcome some of the entry disadvantage. We can incorporate more indigenous knowledges in law school. Teach indigenous law. Recognize the different legal traditions. This is not a bi juridical country. It is multi juridical. Include more elders in meaningful ways in our institutions. Indigenous methodology in teaching would help. Use talking circles.

James Deaville

Professor in Art and Culture and Musical Professions.

Solving the dilemma of the SWM: from individual to network mentoring. I indirectly came across mentoring networks. My own mentorship consisted of a troubling personal relationship with a paranoid. In retrospective, I realized he was consolidating his power base in the university. The ‘friendship’ became co-dependence, and I was shocked when he chose not to stand again. This is the problem with top down mentorship. It changes. I was lucky to have an international network that I had to develop of my own. Then I became chair. I discovered to my dismay not only was I sole mentor, but some faction did not want them to succeed. I ran into this especially with new young women. But most of my mentoring has been informal. The progress of my career through the usual hurdles, happened at a time that attempts at redress of gender and race, meaning I had many cross cultural experiences. While the literature says these are fraught with problems, frequently there is no other choice. So what can be done by senior white males to come to a solution? Can I free colleagues to mentor? But problems of representation arise? Or is it only a matter of time? Male colleagues may be sensitive to gender, representation and power. We are much farther away from equity for other groups.

Serious problems exist with the top down one on one relationship. However, there are alternatives to that model now. Network models have multiple mentoring partnerships for specialized competences, to address specific types of academic activity. Assistant professors with multiple sources have been found to do better than those with single or no advice. (Citations of specific studies) Mentoring in a post affirmative action world study finds network models more accessible. This means you do not have to feel responsible for overall progress. But where does the responsibility for forming such networks reside? Not fair to have it reside with the mentee. In contrast, there needs to be an institutional framework, and value placed on it. But in this climate of greater downloading onto the unit, it is important to make sure these networks are not haphazard. Teaching, research and admin networks can be built, but it must be a priority of the upper university administration. As an SMW, I can endorse network approaches.

7. Mentoring is key! Success for female graduate students

Marlene Pomrenke, University of Manitoba

<http://blog.fedcan.ca/2010/04/13/%e2%80%9cmentoring-is-key%e2%80%9d-success-for-female-graduate-students/>.

How do we help graduate students find a mentor that ‘fits’ for them? How do we institutionalize the idea and value of mentoring? Only when post-secondary institutions recognize the impact that mentoring can have for females undertaking graduate studies will there be changes. Initially, this may mean finding some resource dollars for a position to help find ways to provide mentorship. For example, volunteer mentors from the community could be recruited, faculty members approached, on-line support peer mentor groups set up. Once in place, some of these ways of providing mentoring could become self-sustaining. Lobbying for these changes by students and faculty members will ensure that voices are heard and changes are made!

8. From traditional mentoring to mentoring networks

James Deaville, Carleton University (EISC)

<http://blog.fedcan.ca/2010/04/20/from-traditional-mentoring-to-mentoring-networks/>.

Studies have begun to establish the value of mentoring networks. In a 2000 investigation of mentoring that involved 430 faculty members at two U.S. universities, Joy van Eck Peluchette and Sandy Jeanquart determined that “Assistant Professors with multiple sources of mentors yielded significantly higher levels of both objective and subjective career success than did those with single sources or no mentor.” Similarly, Suzanne de Janasz and Sherry Sullivan suggest “multiple mentors of the moment,” who can give specialized advice related to specific aspects of research, teaching, service and administration, “will be better able to respond to the varied and changing needs of the protege’s careers than could a traditional dissertation advisor/mentor.” As well, a 2005 study by Jean Girves, Yolanda Lepeda, and Judith Gwathmey, entitled “Mentoring in a Post-Affirmative Action World,” examines mentoring from a multicultural perspective, and notes that network models are more inclusive of women and racialized Others than the traditional “grooming model.”

It is imperative for purposes of equity and for faculty renewal in general that such mentoring networks not be haphazard or arbitrary, but rather built around a core set of competencies. While the chair or director should make certain that a new faculty member is receiving mentoring in the crucial areas of research, teaching and service through various resources, the real impetus must come from the top: all of the consulted literature argues that mentoring must be a priority for upper-level administration for it to be most effective.

Mentoring networks will not solve all problems of equity for new faculty, but they do provide an alternative to the problematic traditional model of top-down mentoring.

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Dr. Malinda S. Smith

Associate Professor, Political Science

10-23 H.M. Tory Building, University of Alberta

Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2H4 Canada

Telephone: 780.492.5380 / Fax: 780.492.2586

http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/polisci/index.cfm

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