Engineering the future: How the WE@RIT programme is encouraging more women into the sector
Since its inception in 2003, the Women in Engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology (WE@RIT) programme has directly led to an increase in female students at the Kate Gleason College of Engineering at the institution, and the setting up of hugely successful projects such as the Establishing the Foundation for Future Organizational Reform and Transformation (EFFORT@RIT) and Advancement of Women Faculty (AdvanceRIT). WE@RIT continues to act today as an example for other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) departments across the United States and beyond, proving that it is possible to change campus culture through well-planned and well-led strategic policies. We caught up with Founder of WE@RIT Professor Margaret Bailey to find out a bit more.
Hi Margaret! Can you tell us a little bit more about the WE@RIT, its core mission and heritage and your previous leadership role? As the Executive Director, I advised the Dean on issues related to gender diversity within the college; created strategies with Admissions to improve recruitment of women engineering students; managed programme staff including a full-time programme manager; oversaw financial activities; created/maintained a governance body; established key partnerships; prepared successful funding proposals; and created a thorough programme evaluation system. Can you explain your current roles as the Senior Faculty Associate to the Provost for ADVANCE and Principal Investigator (PI) and co-chair for the President’s Commission on Women? The other positions you mention closely align with this effort. The AdvanceRIT project aims to increase the representation and advancement of female STEM faculty at RIT through a set of strategic initiatives focused on refining campus culture, improving career navigation and creating new institutional structures. Complementary social science research efforts adapt interventions to address the needs of key sub-populations including women of colour and deaf and hard-of-hearing women faculty. What are your personal achievements and highlights at RIT? In academic fields, going for tenure occurs at the same time as we are having children, and women remain the primary care-giver in most cases. What challenges might women face in STEM education and careers? Would you say that these challenges have dramatically changed since you were studying and starting out in your career? When I was an undergraduate at Pennsylvania State, there was no women faculty in my STEM classes. The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) had recently started but the programming was minimal. We actually thought it was strange that they had programmes for us, back then, people did not talk about it. Currently, 25% of faculty are women in my department. The numbers have changed dramatically and so have programmes and initiatives focused on work-life integration, reducing isolation and supporting building community networks for women faculty and students. What has your personal experience been as a woman in a leading role? Prior to joining the RIT, you were an Assistant and Associate Professor at the United States Military Academy located in West Point, New York. You created the first student section of the SWE to exist at West Point and served as its faculty advisor – can you tell us about your time there? West Point was created, designed and refined over the years to be a place where leadership development happens. A vital part of leadership development is the presence of role models around students. I looked around myself, to the students who were amazing young people and faculty colleagues who had been in the military for many years and I found many role models to also watch and learn from. I think I spent those five years transforming who I was, and what that model of leadership looked like for me. Cultural change efforts often challenge people to be reflective, sometimes a bit vulnerable, and open to the possibility of alternative models of behaviour. You have received many awards in recognition of leadership and significant contributions in supporting gender diversity initiatives, such as the Maria Mitchell Women in Science Award, Edwina Award for Gender Diversity, and most recently, the Isaac Jordan Award for Inclusion and Pluralism – how do these awards and events help celebrate and promote women in science? Can you tell us about the NSF Pathways Project and the research investigations in relation to the topic of gender within STEM? What did you establish with this project and how did it create an impact? How important were both the Establishing the Foundation for Future Organizational Reform and Transformation (EFFORT@RIT) and Advancement of Women Faculty (AdvanceRIT) projects at RIT? What needs to be done to ensure that women continue to enter STEM education and careers?
(http://www.wepan.org/). During my leadership, the Kate Gleason College witnessed a three-fold increase in the number of incoming female students annually (from approximately 50 to 150). In addition, external funding for the organisation reached an annual level of $400K.