NSF-ADVANCE Mission
To increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers, thereby contributing to the development of a more diverse science and engineering workforce. NSF-ADVANCE Site.

The MU-ADVANCE Program Mission
To increase recruitment and retention of female STEM faculty at Marshall through faculty development initiatives, enhanced recruitment efforts, and improved institutional climate.

MU-ADVANCE Program Summary:
The goal is to empower a strong core of administrators and female science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty to initiate and maintain institutional climate change, and to improve the recruitment and success of female faculty.

The Program provides a unique setting in which to test an important model of faculty-administrator partnerships for implementing change at a primarily undergraduate institution and within the West Virginia (WV) higher education system. The MU-ADVANCE Program will impact STEM faculty in four of Marshall's colleges through an integrated approach comprised of three initiatives: 1) Recruitment and Networking; 2) Faculty Development; and 3) State and Institutional Policy. 

Broader impact: Designed to spark institutional transformation, MU-ADVANCE, if successful, will create institutional change that will benefit all faculty, men and women, across disciplines and colleges.   Marshall predominantly serves WV residents (~83%), many of whom are first generation college students from Appalachia. Of Marshall’s student population, 53% of undergraduates and 69% of graduate students are female. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, “WV women are among the least likely to work as professionals and managers, have the lowest levels of educational attainment in the country, and are much more likely to live in poverty than women nationally.” Therefore, increasing the number and success of female faculty at Marshall will provide greatly needed role models and increase the number of female professionals in the area, thus improving the status of women in WV.

Overall, the MU-ADVANCE Program will have a far-reaching impact, strengthening the infrastructure for integrating research and education at Marshall and within WV. Participating faculty will benefit from professional development activities, such as fellowships, mini-grants, and grant-writing workshops. Appalachian STEM students will benefit from interactions with female STEM faculty, both in the classroom and in the research lab. Faculty CoPIs will benefit through their partnerships with MU administrators in overseeing the Program, while being empowered by effecting change at Marshall.

Marshall as a whole will benefit from the campus-wide activities to help new faculty balance and integrate their teaching, service, and research, build competitive research programs, and form interdisciplinary collaborative networks, as well as from best practices for improving recruitment, retention, and campus climate. Statewide higher education institutions will benefit from new policies, which are more flexible regarding family issues and are compatible with research productivity.  Furthermore, these policies have potential to help increase the number of female faculty at those institutions as well, subsequently increasing much needed female role models. 

As Marshall transitions into a more research-oriented institution, with successful, consistent externally funded research, the transition will provide the state of WV, and the metropolitan area of Huntington, desperately needed economic development opportunities.

The Appalachian Region will benefit from best practices developed by the Program. Masters-granting colleges and universities can use MU-ADVANCE's successful practices and outcomes as a model for positive change. The region will also benefit from potential economic impact of the local research, and from successful female role models.