COMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS:

LISA COSTAS, PH.D.
USF EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

PAMELA HALLOCK MULLER, PH.D.
DEPARTMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE

Recommendations of the 1999-2000 Committee

The 1999-2000 Status of Women Committee makes the following recommendations, consistent with the charge of “advising the President of the University on matters affecting women faculty, staff and students”.  All recommendations are aimed at enhancing retention of women, although some recommendations are specific to faculty, faculty and staff, or branch-campus students.

1) Sexual Harassment Policies: The Committee recommends that USF’s sexual harassment policies be updated to conform to the 1999 Supreme Court decision and recommendations.

2) Child Care: The Committee urges continued support and increased funding for both university child care centers, that is, the privately owned USF Family Center and Children’s Center of the College of Education, which offers training and research opportunities to students as well as child care for the university community.

3) Grievance Process: The Committee urges development of a more impartial process that facilitates an individual’s request for a grievance review and avoids conflict of interests whereby the person requesting the review must seek support from the same individual (i.e., a superior) that the grievance may be about.

4) Salary Equity Process: The Committee urges development of a more user-friendly and impartial process that facilitates an individual’s request for a salary-equity review.  This would avoid conflicts of interest whereby the person requesting the review must seek support from the person/persons (e.g., supervisor, chair and/or dean) who may be responsible for the inequity.

5) Faculty Recruitment: The Committee recommends that the University provide incentives and funding for recruitment of women faculty members, particularly in disciplines in which women faculty are severely underrepresented, such as the Colleges of Business and Engineering.

6) Mentoring: The Committee recommends development or enhancement of mentoring programs, including funding and resources, that would promote development, tenure, promotion, and retention at all faculty levels.

7) Grants and Funding: The Committee recommends establishment of review committees, possibly under the Office of Sponsored Research or within Colleges, from which faculty and other researchers could seek advice on proposal preparation and other funding-related issues.

8) Resource Allocation: The committee recommends that the University conduct a study of resource allocation, similar to that carried out at MIT for faculty in the sciences, to determine if there are gender disparities in space and access to research resources such as laboratory equipment.  If so, funds should be allocated to redress inequities.

9) Health Services: At present, students at the St. Petersburg Campus must drive to the Tampa Campus to access Student Health Services. The Sarasota Campus has a nurse practitioner and contract with a local clinic. Similar services should be available for the St. Petersburg Campus.

Summary of 1999-2000 Activities

The focus activities for the 1999-2000 academic year were wellness and faculty/staff retention. These issues emerged from 1998-99 committee activities and events. Other significant activities of the committee included a) invited speakers at committee meetings, b) discussion of the future of the Status of Women Committee as the legal aspects of Affirmative Action change, and c) maintenance and improvement of the Status of Women Committee Women’s Resource Page.
 
Members of the USF Status of Women Committee believe in the fundamental value of USF’s human resources, from the students which we serve, to the staff that makes service possible, to the faculty that provide the instruction and research that contributes to our community and is bringing USF to national prominence.  We believe an institution that values its human resources will naturally value women.

Wellness

During our 1998 Women’s Awareness Event, the Committee polled staff and students on issues that concerned women at USF.  Health and wellness were the most prominent responses.  The stress of balancing educational goals, work requirements and family needs makes wellness a priority for many USF women. “Women and Wellness – Dimensions of Health” was the theme for Women’s Awareness Month. Dr. Lisa Costas chaired the Women’s Awareness Committee.  Events (Appendix 1) included collaboration with the Student Health Center to present a Wellness Fair on March 7, 2000.  The keynote event, held on March 8, 2000, was an evening lecture by Byllye Avery, a national advocate for women’s wellness and health issues.  The final event of the Women’s Awareness Committee was the “Women in the Director’s Chair” film program, which was held Monday, April 10 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Engineering Building Auditorium. The program consisted of 9 short films, with Mary Zerkel, a film maker, featured as discussant at the end of the program.

Retention

Retention is fundamental to the vision of USF as “The Institution of First Choice for Faculty Staff and Students......”  Retention of senior women faculty, particularly in the highest-paid fields, were found by two separate reports on gender disparities in the senior faculty ranks1,2.  Despite recruitment of significant numbers of women into the lower ranks throughout the 1990s, USF data published by AAUP3 also revealed a decline in numbers of female Full Professors at USF after 1995.  Loss of senior faculty women is particularly disturbing because of their critical roles as advocates, mentors, and role models for students, junior faculty and staff. Moreover, committee discussion revealed that retention is a concern at all levels in the University: Why do students, staff and faculty leave?  What can be done to prevent the loss of valuable personnel?  What can be done to empower working students, many with parental responsibilities, to continue their pursuit of degrees?  Since women make up 58 percent of the student body and tend to be over-represented in the lowest paid, lowest security positions, issues of moral and retention are basic concerns for women.

Activities undertaken included discussing retention issues with Vice President Stryker, inviting her to speak at our December meeting, and requesting that a Retention Study be conducted by the Office of Institutional Research and Planning.  At Dr. Stryker’s suggestion, letters were drafted to several college deans offering the committee’s support in the recruitment and orientation of new faculty.  The recommendations presented in this document were the result of the Committee’s focus on retention issues.

Meeting Speakers
 
To educate committee membership concerning issues affecting women at USF, the committee invited speakers to several meetings:

• Dr. Ofelia Schutte, Chair, Department of Women’s Studies, spoke at the November meeting on her background, experience, and goals for her department.
• Dr. Laurey Stryker, Vice President for Budgets, Human Resources and Information Technology, spoke at the December meeting on recruitment and retention issues.
• Priscilla Pope, Director of the Office of Sponsored Research, spoke at the March meeting on how women can be more effective in grant writing.
• Laurie Woodward spoke at the April meeting about combining efforts with the USF Lecture Series in identifying and sponsoring speakers for future Women’s Awareness Month celebrations.

The Future of the USF Status of Women Committee

The role of the Status of Women Committee as an advisory committee to the USF President was discussed.  Historically, the committee has acted on requests from the President’s Office.  This year, with the change in administration and no specific requests from the President’s Office, the Committee was primarily pro-active.  During lively discussions, involving significant input from Ex-Officio Committee Members Dr. Jose Porteiro and Dr. Edouard Piou, Committee members reached the consensus that the Committee will continue to serve an important role in the foreseeable future and look forward to working with the new administration led by President Judith Genshaft.

Women’s Resource Page [http://usfweb.usf.edu/sowc/resources/womens.html]

Sonia Baruch, under the supervision of Shannon Bennett-Manross, a member of the Status of Women Committee, developed and maintains the Women’s Resource Page.  The goal is to provide links to resources available at USF and in the Tampa Bay area that can support women in their educational and career goals.

Endnotes
1 T. Micceri and K. Frenzel, IRP Analytical Report 9903.2, University of South Florida (1999).
2 P. Hallock Muller, Gender Disparities in Salaries of Full Professors at the University of South Florida in 1998
 (unpubl.), University of South Florida (1999).
3American Association of University Professors, Academe, volumes. 81-86 (1995-2000)