ADVANCE Catalyst: Advancing Communities of Equity through Institutional Transformation at St. John's University

The Advancing Communities of Equity through Institutional Transformation (ACE-IT) program at St. John’s University will focus on assessing the climate experienced by minoritized faculty, particularly women in STEM, and improving institutional culture and structures so that all members of the faculty are treated equitably, regardless of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, ability, faculty appointment type, or any other non-merit status.

The St. John’s ACE-IT Leadership Team will engage the university community to assess the faculty experience, pilot equity and inclusion initiatives, and develop a five-year equity strategic plan for STEM faculty. While the ACE-IT program will emphasize the experiences of women faculty in STEM, it is anticipated that this work will inform diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives for faculty more generally.

A large number of St. John’s faculty are in STEM and STEM-adjacent disciplines, housed across five different schools/colleges, each with distinctive microcultures and microclimates.

The ACE-IT program will emphasize structural transformation efforts to achieve equity and inclusion in the academic workplace. This will be accomplished through a comprehensive institutional assessment, implementation of pilot programming, and the development of a five-year equity strategic plan for STEM faculty, through an intersectional and culturally responsive approach.

The ACE-IT work will be informed by literature associated with STEM faculty equity, organizational change, social location theory, intersectionality, and systems of oppression. The ACE-IT program will also focus on understanding and improving the faculty experience for our large population of contingent faculty. The ACE-IT program is designed to center the experiences of minoritized faculty and to develop an overall faculty equity plan that transforms our institutional structures, culture, and climate to ensure the success of all.

The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.

ADVANCE "Catalyst" awards provide support for institutional equity assessments and the development of five-year faculty equity strategic plans at an academic, non-profit institution of higher education.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.