HR: 1330h
AN: ED22D-1257    [PDF]
TI: Advancement of Women Through the Academic Ranks of the Columbia University School of Arts and Sciences: Where are the Leaks in the Pipeline?
AU: * Kastens, K A
EM: kastens@ldeo.columbia.edu
AF: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Rt 9W, Palisades, NY 10964
AU: Commission on the Status of Women, C
EM:
AF: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Rt 9W, Palisades, NY 10964
AB: The Columbia University Commission on the Status of Women has examined the progress of women through the academic ranks of the university from PhD student through tenured faculty. The methodology of this study can serve as a model, and the results can provide context, for studies more explicitly focused on the geoscience career pipeline. We approached this problem as a system of reservoirs (e.g. graduate student body, junior faculty) with fluxes (e.g. attrition, hiring) into, out of and between the reservoirs, and then examined the femaleness of each of the reservoirs and fluxes. Among Ph.D. students, we see a higher rate of attrition among women than men in all divisions of Arts \& Sciences. Female-rich attrition occurs both early and late in the graduate student career, among both funded and unfunded students. Attrition rate varies from division to division, with Natural Sciences having lower attrition than either Humanities or Social Sciences. Although Natural Sciences has a reputation as an inhospitable arena for women, in fact, a women beginning a PhD program in Natural Sciences has a better chance of graduating than her classmate studying Humanities or Social Sciences, because of the difference in attrition rate between divisions. For the tenure-eligible faculty ranks, we see a leak in the pipeline at the entrance to the applicant pool. Compared to national availability data, or to Columbia's own Ph.D. production, Columbia's applicant pool for junior faculty positions is female-poor. Once within the applicant pool, however, women are hired at an equitable rate, a rate comparable to their representation in the applicant pool. For entry into the tenured ranks, we find that external hires into tenured positions in Social Sciences and Natural Sciences are only half as likely to be female as are candidates promoted from within the University. The imbalance is particularly bad for "targets of opportunity" (applicant pool of one) within the Natural Sciences; eleven male and zero female scientists were hired through this mechanism over the decade studied.
UR: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/senate/
DE: 6605 Education
DE: 6630 Workforce
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting