Hello women faculty! As the spring semester ends, we are enthusiastic to recap recent times for the Association of Women Faculty and look to the times ahead! As always, we are a go-to source for COMMUNITY and ADVOCACY.
Community
AWF provides a rare opportunity to meet other women faculty informally across schools and job tracks.
· September reception, where we met our new Vice Provost Kia Caldwell and Provost Beverly Wendland in person.
· Monthly happy hours, typically the first Friday of every month (including summer), from 3:30-5:00pm at the Clayton Winehouse.
· Workshop on women in negotiation.
Advocacy
AWF provides a confidential voice to the administration on women faculty issues.
· We ‘break bread’ while discussing shared concerns.
o Chocolate tasting in March
o Lunch series in April
· Policy advocacy: AWF initiated a clarification to the parental leave policy.
Joint advocacy with other campus bodies:
· Pay Equity study (commissioned by the Faculty Senate Council, chaired by the president of AWF): Most Danforth schools have closed the gender gap since the last study in 2016.
· Fertility benefits (advocated jointly with the LGBTQ+ Committee): Benefits started at zero and increased to $10,000 and now $45,000…wow!
New for next year:
· We will start including allies. Anyone who wants to come to an event about women faculty can engage with us.
· Course evaluations working group: Integrating academic research with new data collection, we will make recommendations to the university for maximally fair and useful teaching evaluations.
· Benefits review: We will begin conducting an audit of medical benefits, including mental health services, for faculty and their family members. We will also consider equity between fertility benefits and adoption or surrogacy.
· We are planning a follow-up session on negotiating work-specific issues affecting women faculty.
Please get involved! We are always looking for new board members and new faces at events.
2021-22 AWF Board:
Deanna Barch, Arts & Sciences
Arpita Bose, Arts & Sciences
Emily Boyd, McKelvey
Seema Dahlheimer, McKelvey (Incoming President)
Hillary Anger Elfenbein, Olin (President)
Amy Eyler, Brown School
Jenine Harris, Brown School
Mairin Hynes, Arts & Sciences
Katie Meyer, Law
Monica Rivera, Sam Fox
Claudia Swan, Arts & Sciences
Iva Youkilis, Arts & Sciences
Minyuan Zhao, Olin