Faculty pleased by equity report

Penn administrators and faculty say they are optimistic about the progress made and the measures described in the University's first annual report on gender equity issues.

The update -- which was released yesterday and based off of the original Gender Equity Report from last December -- outlined actions which have been or are scheduled to be implemented to increase gender equity within Penn's faculty.

"I think it is very useful for [University officials] to have issued the report," Biochemistry Professor Phoebe Leboy said.

The former co-chairwoman of the original gender equity committee explained that "it keeps the campus community aware and it reinforces the idea that the president and provost are concerned with the problem."

The update cited measures such as the creation of a fund to financially support the recruitment and retention of female faculty, an increase in focus on both the environment in which female faculty work and issues which concern them while at Penn, the encouragement of deans and department officials to actively search for senior women in their fields who are available for recruitment and the tracking of data concerning gender equity within every hiring process.

Through such measures, Penn officials hope not only to alleviate faculty inequities, but also to create hiring, employment and retention rates which compare more favorably to those released by peer institutions.

While Leboy explained that she was pleased with the establishment of the new fund, she noted that she "would've been happier if [officials] had endorsed the committee on the faculty's recommendation," by which officials would "pay attention not only to the process of searching, but also to the outcomes of the searches" for new female faculty additions.

Despite disagreements regarding specific aspects of the report, Penn faculty members said they viewed the update and the original report as a positive development which addresses significant problems in academia.

"The number of women in graduate programs is very high, and I think it shows a bad future for these graduate students," Religious Studies Professor Ann Matter said.

Even when prospective faculty are hired, however, the effects of gender inequalities do not cease. Matter explained that as a female professor, she frequently feels the reverberations on her professional life.

"There's a lot of pressure on senior women professors because we're often asked to be on committees where [officials] need female representatives," she explained.

Matter added that in addition to the extra work and stress that results from this limited resource pool, the low number of women makes those in faculty positions "realize that [they] are role models for female students," making each professor work even harder than they would otherwise.

She said she was pleased to see attention given to gender equity and believes that improvements can be made to remedy problems "if the administration is encouraging and makes it worthwhile for departments to be thinking about [equity] as an issue."

School of Arts and Sciences Dean Samuel Preston echoed fellow faculty members' concerns on the issue, noting specifically that the actions taken by SAS greatly affect Penn due to its large faculty size.

SAS has "one of the two largest faculties in the University... so what we do... has a great impact on the University level," Preston said.

Preston noted, however, that since the release of the original report, SAS has had "an outstanding year in hiring women," during which four of the nine professors hired were female.

In addition, the College made three endowed chairperson appointments, two of which went to women.

Even with this improvement, though, Preston explained that the College needs to continue to be "vigilant in all of [its] hiring and retention," and the University as a whole needs to "keep [its] foot on the accelerator."

Just as the College has made steps during the last year to improve gender equity at Penn, Engineering School officials explain that they have made progress in pulling more women into its faculty ranks.

Engineering School Dean Eduardo Glandt said that during the past year, they have hired seven professors -- three of whom are women. Through these recruitments, the Mechanical Engineering Department has added its first female faculty member.

Glandt noted that while the report has prompted some of this improvement, it merely "expresses in public something that was known" previously on the faculty level.

Although not seriously addressed before the 2001 report, Glandt explains that gender equity in Penn's faculty is something which affects all students and their future career choices.

Echoing overall faculty sentiment, Glandt said that even with the public acknowledgement made through the report and update, the University has not come far enough.

"We are not where we want to be," he said, adding that SEAS and the University need strong "introspection to make sure the environment is receptive and supportive" of female faculty members.

By having more women in teaching positions, current faculty members not only hope to achieve gender equity, but also to send a more positive message to Penn's student body.

"I think it's important for women students to be able to recognize that careers in academia are available to them, and it's a much easier connection for them to make when women are already in the classroom," Preston said.

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