Lack of female faculty

To increase gender diversity within the faculty, Stevens has implemented initiatives to help with female faculty retention. Historically, women have been widely underrepresented in STEM fields. Since Stevens primarily specializes in STEM, this stark gender gap affects the establishment. With an undergraduate male-to-female ratio of 71 to 29, there is an evident lack of representation.

However, the undergraduate population is not the only group with a lack of females. Out of the 290 full-time faculty members, only 25% were women as of Fall 2018. In President Farvardin’s 10-year strategic plan, the Culture and Governance subsection addresses the faculty gender gap and outlines the lack of female and minority faculty members. The target percentage of female faculty members by 2022 is at least 30%. Provost Christopher Pierre and Executive Director Susan Metz are overseeing this goal. They claim that Stevens “will foster an inclusive institutional climate to ensure the retention of all faculty and staff, particularly female and underrepresented minority members.”

One initiative that Stevens has taken to retain and attract new female faculty members is conducting a workplace satisfaction study with the support of the Stevens National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant. The study asked faculty members about their feelings regarding their work environment, hoping to use the data to improve their experiences. Exit interviews are also being conducted to help determine the satisfaction of employees, thus helping the retention of female faculty members. Additionally, Stevens has recently started tracking diversity statistics (both gender and racial) in order to more effectively monitor progress. They have also been increasingly aware of unconscious bias when hiring underrepresented groups.

The impact that the faculty gender gap has had on students must also be considered. According to a freshman engineering student who is enrolled in 19 credits, they only have one female professor. She claims that “I feel as if I do not have many opportunities to connect with strong female scientists and engineers. Female faculty members are very obviously outnumbered at Stevens.”