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Public Health - College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Wayne State University

Our team is GEARing up for Fall

Dear Colleagues,  
Our NSF WSU-GEARS team is excited to invite you to a variety of events in Fall 2022. As we begin Year 3, we are implementing programs aimed at hiring, retaining and advancing women in STEM, based on the feedback shared in the survey and focus groups, workshops, and in stakeholder meetings across campus. 

Workload Project Phase II

Hidden and uneven workload is a barrier to the retention and advancement of women STEM faculty members.Our team completed the Workload Equity Pilot Project (2020-22), which examined data on faculty teaching and service workloads from volunteer departments. Based on what we learned, we  are offering two options for faculty and administrators to learn about how addressing workload in your department can improve equity, job satisfaction, and help departments plan for future growth. 
 
Faculty and chairs are invited to RSVP for an in-person workshop on Wednesday, Oct. 12: "Faculty Workload: Challenges and Solutions." Additionally, the GEARS workload team is available to meet with chairs and faculty members to discuss workload issues that are specific to your department, and to work on implementing strategies that have proven effective elsewhere at Wayne State.

Faculty Family Advisors provide peer-to-peer support for work/family/life 

 
Through the WSU-GEARS Family Advocacy Network (FANs), seven Faculty Family Advisors are available to discuss parental leave, elder care, childcare, tenure-clock stoppage, wellness, and other work/family/life issues. FANs is designed to be a faculty-friendly resource for information on work/family/life policies at Wayne State University. 
FANS faculty family advisors
Top row, L-R: Aaron Retish, Harini Sundararaghavan, Rosie Jahng, Dan Isaksen. Bottom row, L-R: Dragana Komnenov, Cynthia Arfken, Francesca Luca. 
 
As part of a new pilot program, the FANs Faculty Family Advisors will meet with faculty search committees and job candidates during the 2022-2023 hiring cycle. The goal of this pilot program is to promote a family-friendly and inclusive campus to potential new tenured or tenure-track faculty. In a highly competitive job market and ongoing complications from the pandemic, this program offers a way to highlight the strengths of WSU and assist in our recruitment efforts.
 
Faculty can read more about the advisors and find additional contact information on the WSU-GEARS website. We have compiled a comprehensive guide to work/family/life resources in the FANs manual. Advisors are available to present a 5-minute overview of the program. Please email gears@wayne.edu to invite us to your next faculty meeting. 

GEARS Personnel Changes 

Our GEARS team has had a few recent personnel changes. Co-PI Lars Johnson, the lead on our Annual Faculty Survey, has taken a new position as Assistant Professor of Management at the University of Texas at Arlington. Lars will continue to consult with the team on a limited basis. We wish Lars well in his new role! Co-PI Shirley Papuga, associate professor of Environmental Science and Geology, is taking a leave of absence. We would like to recognize Shirley's phenomenal work in building community through the Wayne Women in STEM blog series, the WSU-GEARS website, and the Wayne Women Walks on campus. Thank you for your hard work and creativity, Shirley! 
 
Best wishes,
 
 
Krista Brumley, associate professor, sociology; Stine Eckert, associate professor, communication/journalism; Tamara Hendrickson, associate professor, chemistry; Boris Baltes, senior associate provost for faculty affairs; interim dean for the College of Education; professor of industrial/organizational psychology; Sara Kacin, assistant provost, faculty development and faculty success; director, Office for Teaching & Learning (OTL); Ece Yaprak, professor and chair, engineering

Upcoming Events

RSVP today! 
 
Stay Tuned
  • Moving from Associate to Full Professor: A Career Planning Workshop Series
    • Sponsored by NSF WSU-GEARS and the Office of the Provost. 
      • Audience: Associate Professors, with continuing tenure
      • Description: This career planning workshop is designed to provide Associate Professors with tools to support their pursuit of promotion to Professor. Participants will be expected to complete a series of activities prior to each session to promote discussion and progress. All associate professors are invited to attend the workshop, regardless of the number of years post-tenure. Participants will be grouped into peer cohorts with others who are at a similar career stage (i.e., a similar number of years since tenure) to facilitate networking and peer support outside the workshop. To benefit the most from this workshop series, we encourage faculty to attend as many sessions as possible.
      • Format: Workshop sessions will alternate between in-person and Zoom. Separate working cohort conversations to be set by each cohort. 
      • Sessions and tentative dates: 
        • Session 1: Demystifying the Promotion to Full Pathway *week of October 24, 2022
        • Session 2: Self-Assessment and Next Steps (December 2022)
        • Session 3: Controlling your Narrative (February 2023)
        • Session 4: Every Career needs a Plan (April 2023)
        • Session 5: Mapping your Support Network (May 2023) 
      • More details forthcoming, including a registration link. If you have questions, please email Krista Brumley.  
 
  • GEARS Data ReportingTown Hall: November 2022. What has our GEARS team learned about the barriers to faculty hiring, retention and advancement at Wayne State? Come hear about major themes and findings from Years 1-2 of our Annual Faculty Survey and the Focus Groups with women faculty in STEM and non-STEM disciplines. Please stay tuned for the event details and RSVP information. 
 

Get Involved!

  • "Building an Equitable Workload Plan" Workshops. Please contact GEARS PI Krista Brumley to discuss options that fit your department’s needs. 
  • Bystander Leadership Workshop – contact Tamara Hendrickson.
  • Data collection (surveys, focus groups, and interviews) – contact Stine Eckert.
  • Wayne Women in STEM Blogs – Are you a woman faculty or staff member who works in a STEM field, or whose work integrates STEM ideas? We would like to feature you on our weekly blog. It's a great way to share your work with the campus community. To sign up, please contact Nicole Gerring.
 
We look forward to continuing our work with faculty! If you are interested in learning more about any of the WSU-GEARS initiatives or would like to become more involved, please contact us: gears@wayne.edu.