Sciences lacking in female faculty

While 49 percent of Penn undergraduates are women, none of the Science, Mathematics or Engineering departments has a female chair.

In fact, only 11 of the 104 Engineering professors, two of the 37 Math professors, seven of the 29 Biology professors, three of the 33 Physics and Astronomy professors and three of the 41 Chemistry professors are female.

According to a Princeton University report released last month, lack of female representation among the science faculty is not a uniquely Penn problem.

At Princeton, only 13.9 percent of faculty in the Natural Sciences and Engineering are women. The report delineates a specific action plan on how Princeton can attract and retain more female scientists.

While gender equality in the sciences may be a seemingly insurmountable national issue, Penn is paying special attention to balancing the composition of its faculty.

"It's critical to have women in all of the departments at Penn, and certainly women in the sciences are critical," University President Judith Rodin said, adding that "they serve as both mentors and role models.... We know that they have the skill to lead fields and achieve, and we need to have successful faculty members, women and men, at Penn."

A psychologist herself, Rodin added that Penn has made hiring female faculty a priority in past years, especially after a 2001 Penn report revealed that the University has more room for improvement than the administration may have realized.

"The issues that we've been trying to address have been a long time developing at Penn," University Provost Robert Barchi said. "They aren't going to disappear overnight."

Still, Barchi said that the percentage of female faculty at the University has increased by 2 percent in the past year.

Also, the School of Arts and Sciences has hired two female physicists, one female biologist, two female psychologists and two female mathematicians in the past year, SAS Dean Samuel Preston said, adding that efforts in Math and Physics have been especially deliberate.

Engineering Dean Eduardo Glandt said that the School of Engineering and Applied Science has hired seven female Engineering professors over the past four years.

"It's obvious that for engineering, that's a way of life: a battle to bring in women at all levels," Glandt said, adding that he is optimistic because the fastest-growing departments, such as Bioengineering, are traditionally more attractive to women than other Engineering departments.

"I think we're trying to get the most talented and best scientists that we can," Chemistry Chairman Larry Sneddon said. "The fact is that more and more women are going into science, and they should be represented as faculty."

Moreover, administrators and professors stressed that bringing more women into teaching positions will inspire young women to pursue academia.

Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor Andrea Grottoli said that having a female post-doctorate adviser as a role model helped her realize that it is possible to succeed as an academic while balancing family life.

"We have to have our students, who are from all backgrounds, all cultures, male and female, taught by faculty and have role models who are from" similarly diverse backgrounds and genders, Barchi said. "It's just as crucial to creating a strong educational environment as having a culturally diverse population in our faculty, or in our student body for that matter."

To help level the field at Penn, the provost has set up a fund to enable departments to make more substantial offers when recruiting and retaining female faculty. Barchi has also been speaking with the faculty in each department about the importance of hiring women, and is monitoring each search in every department.

"A top-notch woman is being recruited by lots of institutions.... I would like to see Penn continue to try and try even harder," Chemistry Professor Marsha Lester said.

Since many schools are trying to boost their female faculty numbers, promising women are heavily recruited, making it difficult for schools to hire them but easier for women to obtain faculty positions.

"When I was applying for a faculty position, [gender] played in my favor," Grottoli said.

According to gender equity guru and Dental School Professor Phoebe Leboy, progress at Penn has been spotty at best, with some departments, such as Biology and Psychology, making substantial progress and some, like Math and Physics, lagging far behind.

Leboy said Penn's faculty culture should be more family-friendly.

"Women are just not willing to sacrifice that much to have a faculty position at Penn," Leboy said, adding that faculty in the sciences work 60 to 70 hours per week early in their careers.

"This is also the time period when faculty are in their 30s, and it should be their childbearing years," she said. "Figuring out a way to... still be an appropriate parent is a very difficult job for both young men and women."

Leboy added that Penn needs to have better childcare facilities, though both Rodin and Barchi stressed that Penn has several high-quality childcare programs.

Lester noted that female faculty often feel that they receive less in terms of resources and that less is expected of them.

"I think that everyone agrees that there's not overt discrimination, but there's rather more subtle differences in how people are treated," she said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.