A "Grass Roots" Mentoring Model To Create Change

For more than fifteen years the women faculty in the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University have built a community through social activities, seminars, and outreach programs that have served well as a mentoring mechanism between junior and senior faculty and peers. What started as social activities during lunch or after work has evolved into the formation of the Women Engineering Faculty Interest Group (WEFIG), a university recognized organization that serves in an advisory capacity to the Dean of the College. WEFIG also has a formal relationship with the Women’s Faculty Network (WFN), a university-wide women’s group that sponsors events in support of women faculty across the campus. This grassroots approach to a mentoring group was initiated by one of the early women administrators in the college who would share insights on the administration of the college and university, thereby fostering a sense of inclusion in the community that might have otherwise seemed unwelcoming. This administrator’s staff would periodically organize gatherings where attendance was voluntary and meant to be a time to be with other professional women in a relaxed atmosphere. It was an effective way to introduce new engineering female faculty to female engineering faculty working in separate buildings, programs, departments, many of whom one might not ever encounter otherwise. With a recent change in administration at both the university and college levels and new priorities being set, WEFIG has become more formalized in structure. As diversification of the faculty has become increasingly important, WEFIG has been called upon by the Dean to assist in meeting this goal. As a first step, WEFIG has initiated, with support from the Dean’s office, an expanded version of the MIT self-study (MIT, 1999) to include issues of gender and ethnicity in assessing the college climate for recruitment and retention of new faculty. This study is expected to expose weaknesses as well as strengths in meeting the diversification goals and providing the supportive environment necessary for faculty retention, particularly for women and minorities. In this paper a model will be presented that other faculty/administrators can implement to both mentor faculty and create change at their institutions. Introduction From a handful to a roomful, the faculty women in the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University are increasing in number and visibility. TAMU officially allowed women to attend the formerly male only college in the 1960s. The first woman joined the TAMU faculty also in the 1960s. In 1986 there were but four women in the College and today there are 2323 tenured or tenure-track women faculty. Although most of these women are tenure-track assistant professors, several have advanced to become fullprofessors and a few advance into administrative positions. Being such a minority has its P ge 9.7.1 “Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education” challenges, one of which can be isolation. However, these women have developed a special network that provides support and friendship that many of the male faculty wish they had! As at most institutions of higher education, TAMU is working to diversify its student body. Nationally, the face of engineering is changing and at TAMU as well. Between 1991 and 2001, enrollment of women in engineering at the B.S. level increased 5.1%. Graduate school enrollment of women increased 4.7% for M.S. and 5% for PhDs. However, in B.S. and Ph.D. degrees awarded to women there was no significant increase indicating a problem with the retention of undergraduate women in engineering. The dramaticdramatic increases in the M.S. degrees awarded that occurred during this time (up 10.8%) was greater than seen in the sciences (9.4%), but may be attributed largely to successful recruiting of women from countries other than the U.S.. Some departments have increased the number of women students while others have fewer today than in 1991. Efforts to recruit and mentor young women comes through several programs sponsored byby organizations such as the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and the Women in Engineering, Science and Technology (WEST) for which the women faculty in the college frequently participate in various events. There is a long list of special programs in which the College participates which can be accessed through the TAMU website (http://eapo.tamu.edu//). Efforts to diversify the engineering student population are intensifying at the present time. 0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% Full/Assoc Level National 4.8% 7.8% 10.2% 23.8% 22.6% 27.1% Full/Assoc Level TAMU 5.1% 5.7% 1.7% 10.5% 16.2% 15.6% Asst Level National 11.1% 21.6% 29.2% 16.7% 39.5% 47.7% Asst Level TAMU 16.95% 10.7% 30.4% 0.0% 30.6% 42.1% Engr Physical Science Math& Related Computer Science Life and Related Sciences Social & Related