The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) proposes an integrated approach to institutional factors that will support the full participation and advancement of women, and provide a model of best practices, in academic science and engineering. Georgia Tech will build upon previous activities and momentum for the advancement of women.

With this award, Hunter College will design and implement a program to improve the institutional practices and culture that affect the hiring, retention, promotion, salary, and professional development of women in the natural and social sciences.

The project goals are: * Institute changes in existing departmental policies, procedures, and practices, and develop new ones as needed, to foster a gender-equitable climate within partner departments; * Expand and enhance departmental recruitment practices to attract more women applicants and ensure that candidates are not subject to subtle bias in the search and hiring process; * Implement effective programs that foster the careers of faculty and encourage their retention through tenure and promotion; and * Propagate the successes achieved in partner departments to all SEM departments.

New Mexico State University proposes a five year program to increase by 20 percent (net) the overall number of women in faculty science, math, and engineering tenure-track positions. NMSU is a public, land-grant university with a research focus, diverse student body, and commitment to minority participation in science, mathematics, and engineering (SME).

The specific aims of the project are to increase the visibility of the problems that women face in academic science and engineering careers, to increase the number of women recruited to science and engineering positions, and to develop a campus climate in which practice and policy recognize and support the needs of women so that women are retained on the faculty of the institution.

The central administration of UCI is committed to diversity and equity and realizes that to maintain and increase its competitive edge the problems contributing to the low representation of women in academic science and engineering need to be addressed.

Through the Leadership Education for Advancement and Promotion Program (LEAP), the University of Colorado seeks to transform the makeup of the science and engineering faculties at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and to increase the number of women trained in the scientific, mathematical, engineering, and technology (SMET) disciplines serving in key administrative positions.

A long-term goal at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is to increase the number, participation and leadership status of women in academic science and engineering through institutional transformation. Fundamental to this goal is the commitment and active participation of UIC administration at the highest level, leaders working closely with faculty and staff to create and actualize individual departmental programs in the eleven disciplinary areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women at all levels of faculty and academic leadership, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate, and culture.

The University of Michigan proposes to undertake three different types of interventions to improve the opportunities and circumstances of tenure-track women faculty in basic science and engineering fields.

The University of Montana Partnership for Comprehensive Equity (UM PACE) is an alliance of central administrators, deans, department heads/chairs and faculty has been formed to bring about lasting change in the following: Institutional policy, the number of tenure-line women on the faculty, the empowerment of faculty, and the creation of a statewide network of women scientists.

Each of these goals will be reached through a coordinated series of activities. The efficacy of these activities will provide a national level model for change in universities located in small, rural communities.

The Unviersity of Puerto Rico, Hamacao proposes to implement a five year program to increase the participation and advancement of women in the natural and social sciences.

The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women at all levels of faculty and academic leadership, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate, and culture. The University of Rhode Island (URI) proposes to use the ADVANCE Institutional Transformation initiative to increase the number and facilitate the career advancement of women STEM faculty, and improve the institutional climate for women scientists.

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) proposes to implement an Initiative for Transforming Climate and Opportunities to Foster Academic Diversity with the goal to serve as a model for other institutions that desire to increase the representation and advancement of women, including underrepresented minorities, in academic science and engineering careers. Because of its talented faculty and Hispanic-majority student population, UTEP is the ideal setting to create, implement, and document interrelated processes for diversifying the academic workforce and contributing to the national goal of creating positive and sustainable change in academic climates.

The University proposes to create the Center for Institutional Change (CIC) to design and implement programs to help eliminate obstacles to women's full participation and advancement in the SEM disciplines. Many of these challenges occur in departments, so changing departmental culture will be a part of the CIC mission.

This proposal presents a comprehensive, multi-layered approach addressing the institutional barriers inhibiting the progress of women in science and engineering.