Core Committee on Women

Current Projects

Core Committee for the Support of Underrepresented Ethnic Groups
Meeting Highlights
February 8, 2006

Present: Patrick Adegboyega, Sandra Garvock, Clifford Houston, Freddy Paniagua, Suzanne Peloquin, and Kathy Shingleton. Guest: Alice Speer, M.D., Chair, Core Committee for the Advancement of Women Faculty and Administrators

1. Approval of January 11, 2006 Minutes

The minutes from the January 11, 2006 committee meeting were approved.

2. Announcements

Dr. Paniagua announced that Dr. Jose Gonzalez will make a presentation during the March 8 meeting regarding his subcommittee’s work for their Proposal for Establishing a Multicultural Teaching Scholars Program at UTMB.

3. Presentation by Dr. Alice Speer, Chair of the Core Committee for the Advancement of Women Faculty and Administrators (handout provided)

Dr. Speer informed the committee that despite a well-articulated action plan by the Core Committees and the Diversity Council, little has changed for women at UTMB. In spite of recent strides to improve statistics, nothing has changed much between now and ten years ago. Because of the continued lack of advancement of women at UTMB, the Core Committee for Women decided to develop a plan that would influence the culture at UTMB.

In recent years at UTMB, a woman was appointed Dean of Medicine and there are two African-American chairs, although both of these are male. Changes in the negative direction have occurred though for women, i.e. there are no longer any women division directors in Internal Medicine, one of the largest departments in the school of medicine, and there are fewer women in leadership positions in the SOM administration than 2-3 years ago, and there are no new department chair who are women. There is still more women at the assistant professor level and a rapidly narrowing pyramid of women to associate professor and full professor. In regards to retention, women leave more frequently and are hired less often.

At the Appreciative Inquiry Process Retreat, the committee developed an action plan to strategize change. The three themes developed from the AI Process were:

• Leadership and “Right Fit” – o Committed effort to hire women at all positions but especially leadership positions •Promote our successes in enhancing women and diversity at UTMB
• Teamwork and Resources – o Develop a process that builds functional teams – what you bring to the team vs. what your position/rank is • Leadership and Recognition – o Build a faculty and leadership development program

All of the above groups had similar elements that lead to the proposal of a Faculty Excellence Center. This center would be responsible for several functions that would support not just underrepresented groups but all faculty.

1) Faculty Development programs across the spectrum of needs for educators, clinicians and researchers
2) a Mentoring program that is supported by mentoring workshops and monitoring the development of programs in each school
3) a Leadership Academy to Build Productive Community 4) an Annual Evaluation program that insures that each faculty receives an annual evaluation that can be tracked, and that includes a clearly delineated performance section, plans for future success, and links to salary decisions
5) an Ombudsperson
6) an Outcomes Program, such as supporting the Faculty Satisfaction Surveys, the Salary Studies, and Statistics on Faculty Advancement and Promotion, tracking the progress of all UTMB’s diversity programs in changing the culture, and in identifying areas for improvement of all faculty

Dr. Speer informed the committee that in making the case for faculty development, the following key concepts are crucial to the success in the development of a faculty excellence center:

● Coordinates initiatives across the institution – mentoring, faculty development, consistent annual evaluations
● Coordinates data gathering, needs assessment
● Develops and implements faculty development opportunities in collaboration with the individual schools, including leadership and management training
● Supports institutional initiatives, e.g. diversity
● Does not have to be a “bricks and mortar” center

Results of UTMB Faculty Satisfaction (2000) and the UT System “You Count!” surveys (2003, 2004) identified common faculty needs/areas for opportunity:
♦ faculty development
♦ mentoring
♦ manager and leadership skills development
♦ unsatisfactory annual evaluations – poor feedback, inconsistent application, lack of future growth discussions ♦ concern over application of policies, sense that no progress is made in enhancing diversity, difficulty bringing harassment issues to the administration

Dr. Speer also shared with the committee results from Faculty Affairs listserv questions and personal communications with leaders in AHC’s and business:
♦ improves atmosphere, morale
♦ decreases loss of faculty, increases likelihood of retention, decreases burnout, increases likelihood of keeping faculty productive longer
♦ enhances recruitment – “why come to an AHC and make less money than private practice?”
♦ businesses use development to align faculty to the missions and goals of the company, help employees deal with change, align with company initiatives (Computer Associates, IT Division of Shell Oil Co, IT Division of NASA, Leadership Rice, Sterling Bank)
♦ economically logical – costs more to replace a faculty member than to retain them (Bickel, Morahan). Especially important with leaders – department chair start up package can be as large as $12 million, and if fails this is a large expense to the school, not counting the cost in recruiting another leader, rebuilding morale and recruiting those who left the department.
♦ Businesses stress employee development, in-service training, succession planning, annual evaluations integrated with development – improves personnel productivity, retention, alignment of employees to business goals and missions, change management – all of which improve productivity and the “bottom line”. (Computer Associates, IT Division of Shell Oil Co, IT Division of NASA, Leadership Rice, Sterling Bank)

Dr. Speer shared the following outcomes measures that the Core Women committee had compiled in their research for making the case for faculty development:
● Monitor use of center
● Increase senior faculty participation (e.g. mentorship) through a reward system
● Measure mentorship program success, e.g. collaborative efforts with mentor, increased local and national recognition based on mentor activity, satisfaction survey
● Measures of junior faculty success, e.g. increased publications (quality and quantity), national recognition, local leadership activities
● Measures of program success, e.g. meet the objectives, satisfaction surveys, matching needs assessments
● Improved retention and recruitment of faculty
● Enhanced application and adherence to institutional initiatives

When the Core Women Committee was conducting their research in making the case for faculty development, one area of research was best models that the committee could use as examples. The following best models information was compiled:

● Listserv responses – several programs focused on one or more features of the center but not all, e.g. teaching academies, mentorship initiatives, junior faculty development programs
● Most responses were asking to hear more about our proposal
● One new program paired faculty development of clinicians, educators, researchers with a structured mentor program and developed outcomes measures. Appeared successful in increased satisfaction, promotion, and productivity

Dr. Speer asked the committee for support of the proposal for a faculty excellence center. Dr. Paniagua made a motion to support the Core Committee for the Advancement of Women Faculty and Administrators Proposal for a Faculty Excellence Center, Suzanne Peloquin seconded, and the motion passed unanimously. Dr. Speer would like some partners from the Core Committee and/or Diversity Council to join her in presenting ideas to Dr. Stobo for a virtual faculty excellence center at UTMB.

Meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.

Our next meeting is scheduled on Wednesday, March 8, 2006, from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. in the Ballinger Mills Room.

Recorder: Sheryl Lashway, Office of the President