Meetings: 2007 (4.19) | President’s Commission on Women’s Issues

Attending: Donna Wiseman, Ellin Scholnick, Cindi Hale, Debbie Yow, Barbara Goldberg, Beverly Greenfeig, Linda LeNoir, Jennifer Finch

The meeting convened at 10:05 a.m. at 2141 Tydings Hall.

Gender Issues from Middle States Report

Ellin Scholnick offered an extensive summary of the gender issues raised during the Middle States Review. The big question was what does Middle States tell us about gender? The focus was on faculty and who they are and where they are going.\

Table 5 (Appendix A) tells the whole story in that there are more men higher in rank. The females seem to not be moving up and sit at the Associate Professor positions. It seems there is a longer wait for the women to be put up for tenure.

Table 6 (Appendix B) reports a large gap between the percentage of men vs. women who withdraw or resign from the tenure process, with the female percentage being higher. Many women are withdrawing/resigning due to juggling research with the mundane daily tasks and small jobs handed to them.

Table 9 (not available) indicates the tenure and tenure-track female are significantly low in the Physical Sciences field, which is a national trend and not only specific to the University of Maryland.

Table 10 (Appendix C) illustrates the age distribution of the instructional faculty vs. the tenure/tenure-track faculty. Two issues were raised when discussing the age distribution table; 1) the trend is aging faculty raise an issue of replacement and 2) many due to retire do not know what the next-step is after retirement and see the transition as difficult. The commission suggested collaborating with other groups on campus and conducting two workshops per year to discuss these issues and offer guest speakers

For years women have been underrepresented and appear to be seen as support for leaders rather than able to lead. It seems the University of Maryland does not foster or retain women in their careers as faculty. The commission suggested asking the women nominated for past Women of Color and Woman of the Year awards to act as mentors to the young female faculty members on campus. The number of female Deans vs. the number of Associate and Assistant Deans is not good. If women are given the appropriate environment they can make it. The tenure clock policy is changing.

The Middle States Review is not meant to bring the issue to light or make recommendations, only to report the facts. In the past PCWI has created a sort of “report card” for issues such as this. It has been dropped and no one is familiar with the reason why. The commission needs to recreate this project if it has the resources to do so. It is the responsibility of PCWI to follow-up on the report and to include the staff as well. A small committee will be set-up next year to look at the issues and to make recommendations to the new Provost. Some suggested areas to focus on are 1) looking at why the women are leaving and 2) retirement issues.

Woman of the Year Award Ceremony

Donna announced the two recipients, Dr. Denise Gottfredson (Dept of Criminology and Criminal Justice) and Ms. Laura Nichols (Dept of Women’s Studies) and expressed a positive response from the selection committee. The award ceremony will be held on Wednesday, May 9, 2007, from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. in the Maryland Room at Marie Mount. Josephine Withers has accepted the commission’s invitation to speak about the history of the commission. It was also reported that Dr. Mote would attend the event to speak and present the awards to the recipients.

Celebration of Women 2008 Proposal Update

Donna was happy to report that Rob Waters is extremely supportive of the trial run of this event. The commission has agreed to try it and if it does not receive a positive response to go back to the original award format. Debbie Yow reported that Kevin Plank (President, Under Armour) and Bill Krause (Senior Vice President of Marketing, Under Armour) are eager and willing to work with the commission in sponsoring the event. Debbie expressed the need for a proposal to further develop the event and sponsorship. Donna and Cindi Hale have agreed to meet and develop a proposal and budget. Debbie has offered the use of the marketing individual to assist in writing the proposal. The proposal will need to be submitted to Dr. Destler soon in order for it to be included in the budget for next year. This event will assist the commission in developing a logo. One of the awards suggested was for an outstanding mentor and the gift of one month’s summer salary.

PCEC Update

Cindi Hale reported on the progress of the event as “cooking with gas”. The committee is a nice group of people and has stepped to the plate and taken ownership of the event. Dr. Destler has approved a $5000 contribution in FY08. Due to the large donation from the Provost the event will be free! This is the first time this has occurred. Dr. Destler has also agreed to speak top the committee of Dean’s and encourage them to allow their staff to attend the event. A big publicity push is expected and FYI and Outlook will be used as venues for promotion.

The event is set for June 22, from 8:30 – 10:00 a.m. in the Colony Ballroom at the Stamp Student Union. The proposed schedule of events is:

• 8:30 – 9:00 a.m. Arrival and networking
• 9:00 – 9:15 a.m. Welcome
• 9:15 – 9:30 a.m. Award presentation
• 9:30 – 9:45 a.m. Guest Speaker - Brenda Frese
• 9:45 – 10:00 a.m. Door prizes
• 10:00 a.m. Networking and Complete

UPDATE!! Since the April 19 meeting the PCEC has been canceled. Please see Appendix D for an explanation from Cindi Hale.

Additional Items

• PCWI Logo - Donna presented the four logos (Appendix E) created by the Department of Business Services and it was concluded that none of them “pop” or “spark”. The ultimate goal is to “brand” PCWI and include the logo in everything the commission is involved in. Debbie Yow suggested using Terry Flannery, Assistant VP for University Marketing and Communications, to create a new logo.
• PCWI Campus-Wide Women’s Issues Forum – This has been suggested as an event for September 19, 2007 to announce issues at hand and to recruit new members. The event would be open to the campus community and resemble the new employee orientation by including several campus organizations. This event will help put PCWI “on the radar”. Debbie has agreed to book the Heritage Hall for 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. on September 19, as well as providing the food and drink from the Athletic Department.

The meeting convened at 11:30 a.m. There is not currently a meeting scheduled for the summer months.

Appendix A

TABLE 5

Gender Composition of Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty

Appendix B

TABLE 6

Percent of Faculty Hired Between 1993-1999 with Different Tenure Outcomes

Appendix C

TABLE 10

Age Distribution of Tenure/Tenure-Track Faculty

Appendix D

FROM: Cynthia Hale

Hi All,

I have drafted something, but would absolutely welcome your feedback, edits, etc. How about something like this:

The members of the Women's Commission decided in the Fall of 2005 (following the last PCEC held in June, 2005) to re-design this event. This was due to the relatively low attendance (less than 100 staff attended), the relatively high cost (over $10,000), and some confusion about the purpose of the event.

A group of non-exempt staff have worked with a facilitator and PCWI members since last summer to develop a meaningful way for the PCWI to honor and support non-exempt staff. They are somewhat constrained in what they can do by terms of the AFSCME MOU with the campus.

We would welcome your input, and if you would be willing to leave your name and campus phone number, we will contact you during the summer to discuss this with you.