Exploring Factors Affecting Interest in Chemistry Faculty Careers Among Graduate Student Women: Results from a Local Pilot Study

Abstract

The minoritization of women among the ranks of faculty is well-documented in STEM fields. Prompted by the underrepresentation of women in the ranks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Chemistry faculty and postdoctoral researchers, faculty and graduate student leadership wished to explore the factors that influence the career choices of women in the department, especially regarding faculty positions with research expectations. A survey based on Social Cognitive Career Theory was developed and administered to current graduate students in the department. Responses indicated that women in the department were interested in research positions and identified as researchers but expected faculty positions to be more difficult to balance with a personal life than other careers in chemistry. There was also a perception that positions at primarily undergraduate institutions would be more desirable, less challenging, and more able to accommodate a balance with personal life. Lastly, when comparing women who hold a low interest in faculty positions with women who hold a high interest in faculty positions, most of the significant differences between the two groups fell under two categories. First, the high-interest group held stronger identities as researchers, teachers, and academics. Second, the high-interest group was more confident and expected to feel more positively about five central aspects of faculty positions: research, teaching, mentoring, writing grants, and navigating the tenure process. In contrast to prior work that indicated women's hesitance to enter faculty positions was partly due to childcare and family responsibilities, no meaningful differences were found between the expected difficulty or personal value placed on those responsibilities for the high-and lowinterest groups. While further work is necessary to develop an instrument that can support more specific comparisons between groups, this work provides a valuable description of the department in question and several areas that may be of interest in future work.

Graduate Student Women’s Perceptions of Faculty Careers: The Critical Role of Departmental Values and Support in Career Choice

“…While both interviews and our previous work 3 suggested that women view R1 and PUI faculty positions differently, we elected not to add additional survey items that would differentiate between these two settings. As such, some survey items may be more applicable to one type of position over another (e.g., forming relationships with students you teach).…”

“…Namely, this was not an appropriate study design to elicit the stories of women with intersecting marginalized identities. Furthermore, similar to our previous survey work, 3 this survey also was not designed to address the experiences of women who hold many other marginalized identities, including indigenous women, queer women, trans women, and disabled women. All these groups face unique struggles in graduate school, but there was not sufficient literature regarding those narratives as the apply specifically to the experiences of people holding each intersectional identity in chemistry faculty positions to incorporate them into this study.…”

“…A more comprehensive quantitative review of the minoritization of women in chemistry and STEM faculty positions can be found in our previous work. 3 …”

“…The project reported here explores graduate student women’s perceptions of faculty careers to gain greater insights into what may contribute to those choices. A more comprehensive quantitative review of the minoritization of women in chemistry and STEM faculty positions can be found in our previous work …”

Best Practices to Diversify Chemistry Faculty

“…It is now recognized that for higher-education institutions to function and be competitive, a broad range of diverse faculties is an important factor in their success. − This is especially true given the role that faculty play in creating a learning environment that directly impacts the students’ persistence, retention, sense of belonging, integration, and academic success. − Although this affects many disciplines in academia, when it comes to chemical sciences the disproportionately low representation of women, minoritized ethnicities, LGBTQ+, and people with disabilities is strongly apparent. , Indeed, the current trends in student demographics compared to the United States population demographics showcase the need for more drastic measures to improve the educational environment for these students that often lack a critical mass to extend a sense of self-empowerment and scientific identity . For example, even as measures have been made to improve gender parity in completing chemistry graduate degrees, the persistent low representation of women in the training environment faculty ranks and perception of efforts toward improving scientific identity furthers the cycle of low representation in faculty ranks. − Furthermore, it is also recognized that the successful diversification of the student body calls for a diverse representation in the faculty and research ranks. Hurtado showed a positive correlation with gender and ethnic faculty diversity with the diverse student classroom experience and education growth .…”