Formative Evaluation — ADVANCE Council Retreat, June

Members of the ISU ADVANCE Council held a half-day retreat on June 8, 2007, to review the status of the program at the end of Year 1 and to plan for Year 2. As a result, a series of program changes were put in place that has guided ISU ADVANCE during Year 2.

The retreat program was based on issues identified via detailed feedback received from the ISU ADVANCE External Advisors and NSF Program Directors during April 2007 (summary included in Year 1 report). This retreat proved to be a key turning point for the program and led to the following key refinements in the program:

• Program structure was streamlined to include a Steering Committee, an Internal

Advisory Board, and an Equity Advisor/ADVANCE Professor (EA/AP) working group (see section C.1).

• Role of the co-PIs was clarified and this group collaborated in intense group training

in the late summer of 2007. A key discussion item was the comparative advantageF5 of working in a multi-disciplinary team.

• Working principles for the program were adopted, including transparent communications.

• A set of goals was established for Year 2 as follows:

ISU ADVANCE Program: Goals for Year 2, 2007-08

• Institutional Transformation. Make progress with our multi-pronged approach. Be known, be visible on campus for the quality and effectiveness of the program (good communications will be essential). ADVANCE needs a clear identity.

• Make steady progress in the efforts of departmental transformation.

• Establish strong operations in three colleges and three focal departments.

Establish “best practices” that can be used throughout college operations.

• Establish a strong system of gathering, correlating, and sharing data (Institutional

Research data, program materials and documents, surveys, scholarly research and training).

• Prepare for an influential national conference to take place in October 2008.

• Maintenance. Ensure continued operations in external mentoring, networking and retreats, coordination with partners both at Iowa State University and at other institutions, reporting to NSF.

In addition, the Council decided to focus on unintentional bias during Year 2 events. Throughout the year, these goals provided clarity for decision-making. A retreat planned for June 2008 will allow for the same kind of evaluation of Year 2 and planning for Year 3. C.6. External Evaluator Visit, January 2008

On January 15-16, 2008, ISU ADVANCE hosted the visit of two external evaluators, Dr. Klod Kokini (Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Purdue University) and Dr. Irene Padavic (Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology, Florida State University). Dr. Lotte Bailyn (Professor, Department of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) had been schedule to attend, but had to cancel at the last minute due to a winter storm.

As background, ISU ADVANCE prepared a “Report for External Evaluator Site Visit”

including 27 appendices. The two-day visit allowed the external evaluators to meet with key participants and partners in the programs, including the Executive Vice President and Provost, the deans and associate deans of partner colleges, PI and co-PIs, STEM department chairs, Equity Advisors and ADVANCE Professors, diversity partners, and STEM faculty involved and not involved in the program.

The “External Evaluation Report of the NSF ADVANCE Program at Iowa State University” prepared by the evaluators and dated January 22, 2008, is attached as appendix 1. The report affirmed the program’s visibility on campus and its clarity and ambition. Special mention was made of the Executive Vice President and Provost’s support and the enthusiasm of the program’s key participants. Key recommendations were as follows:

• Consider reorganization into more clearly defined “units” and re-budget to allow

additional funding for the Collaborative Transformation work in focal departments.

• Ensure that associate professors working in the program are appropriately mentored

• Bring recommendations about department climate to all STEM departments, including work on mentoring, work-life balance, and recruiting.

• Increase internal and external dissemination.

• Create additional partners among those on campus who are working on women’s

and diversity issues.

• Consider a broader leadership training component to the program, including the

possibility of making college Equity Advisors into assistant deans.

From February through April 2008, key program changes were made in response to the report. While many of these changes are detailed in other sections of this report, the most notable of the responses are these:

• PI met with deans and associate deans of the three partner colleges to discuss and

agree to adjustments in the support provided for Equity Advisors and to enhance funding for Collaborative Transformation.

• The Collaborative Transformation component of the program was given additional

autonomy and funding to partner with focal departments.

• Discussions are ongoing among co-PI associate professors, the PI, deans, and

department chairs about creating the right conditions for these co-PIs to be advanced in the near future.

• To enhance dissemination of our work, we have created a numbering system for all

scholarly products and program reports.

• The spring 2008 work of the Administrative Fellow has focused on disseminating

materials on faculty recruitment to all STEM and non-STEM departments.

• ADVANCE training has been integrated into other university training as appropriate.

• While ISU ADVANCE has not made leadership training a key focus, the Executive

Vice President and Provost is supporting a new “Emerging Leaders Program” set to begin in spring 2009, with a focus on diversifying university leadership.

C.7. Evaluation of Workshops and Networking Events