CEW Staff Contribute On and Off Campus, CEW Spring News 09

CEW Staff Contribute On and Off Campus

Beth Sullivan has been appointed for a three-year term to the board of the College and University Work Life Association, starting in January 2009. This national association supports the work of professionals who research or develop work-life programs and policies within higher education. Sullivan is CEW’s Senior Associate for Advocacy and Policy.

CEW Director Gloria Thomas has been appointed by University President Mary Sue Coleman as the Chair of the President’s Advisory Commission on Women’s Issues.

In March 2009, Dr. Thomas conducted a workshop with Estela López, Director of the Latino Policy Institute, at the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) annual conference “Preparing Latina Leaders: Surmounting Challenges, Creating a Personal Vision. “

At the April 2009 Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) conference “Shaping Faculty Roles in a Time of Change,”
Dr. Thomas presented the keynote address, along with Dr. Gary Rhoades, Secretary General of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).The topic of their presentation was “Restructuring Academic Work: New Career Paths for Faculty.”
At the same conference, CEW researchers Dr. Jean Waltman and Dr. Louise August presented “The Contingent Faculty Win-Win Equation: Using Research Findings to Develop Effective Practices for Non-Tenure Track Faculty.”

“Black Female Faculty: Role Definition, Critical Enactments and Contributions to Predominately White Institutions,” by Dr. Venice Sule, CEW Post-doctoral Fellow, will be published in the 2009 issue of Journal About Women in Higher Education. The article explores how Black females, the largest community of women of color faculty, simultaneously define their professional roles and contribute to predominately White research institutions through a series of critical enactments.

The Women of Color Task Force, a project staffed by CEW Program Coordinator Janice Reuben, has won an inaugural U-M Distinguished Diversity Leaders team award. The Award was established to shine a light on those staff members who work toward achieving a welcoming, supportive and inclusive working environment. It is intended to celebrate those who embrace the value of diversity and recognize how it helps set the University apart.

Dr. Ellen Kossek, Professor of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior at Michigan State University, joined CEW for the month of March as a Jean Campbell Visiting Scholar.

Along with Kathleen Donohoe of University Human Resources, CEW Associate Director for Advocacy Susan Kaufmann has launched a cross-campus collaboration to ensure a comprehensive, coordinated response to dating, domestic and sexual violence affecting members of the University community. Sponsors of the effort include Laurita Thomas, Associate Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer; Dr. Robert Kelch, Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs; and Dr. Lori Pierce, Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs.

Carol Hollenshead, CEW Director Emerita, was named an Institutional Champion of Diversity Awardee by the National Center on Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan.

Data collection has been completed for “Contingent Faculty in a Tenure Track World,” a CEW research project investigating the work lives of non-tenured teaching and research faculty. “Satisfaction and Discontent: Voices of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty,” an article by CEW researchers Jean Waltman and Inger Bergom, appeared in the April 2009 edition of the online journal On Campus with Women.

Susan Kaufmann presented her research paper, Michigan Women in the High-Tech Knowledge Economy, to the Federal Women’s Program at the Environmental Protection Agency in Ann Arbor in March 2009. In October, she will speak to the Wolverine Caucus, a group of UM alumni employed in and around state government, many of whom hold legislative staff positions.

Kaufmann will also join the staff of the Imagine Fund in discussing the impact of Proposal 2, the 2006 anti-affirmative action amendment, at the June 9, 2009 conference of the Michigan American Council on Education Network for Women Leaders in Higher Education. The Imagine Fund is a private non-profit organization dedicated to advancing diversity in Michigan higher education by supporting scholarship creation.