Thursday, March 17, 2011

Senior Women: A Comparison of Astronomy Departments


% Women # Women # Men University Department Joint Appts.
42.9 3 4 Indiana Univ. Astronomy
33.3 4 8 Univ. of Washington Astronomy
33.3 1 2 Case Western Reserve Univ. Astronomy
29.2 3.5 8.5 Caltech Astronomy
28.0 1.75 4.5 Univ. of Wisconsin Astronomy 1 at 0.75; 1 at 0.5
23.8 5 16 UCSC Astronomy & Astrophysics
23.1 3 10 Univ. Michigan Astronomy
23.1 3 10 Columbia Univ. Astronomy & Astrophysics
22.4 3 10.4 Ohio State Astronomy 1 at 0.25; 3 at 0.05
20.0 2 8 Univ. of Minnesota Astronomy
20.0 4 16 Univ. of Arizona Astronomy
19.0 2 8.5 Princeton Univ. Astrophysical Sciences 1 at 0.5
16.7 3 15 UCLA Astronomy & Astrophysics
15.0 3 17 Univ. of Colorado Astrophysical & Planet. Sci.
14.3 2 12 Univ. of Florida Astronomy
14.3 2 12 UMass Astronomy
12.5 1 7 Univ. of Illinois Astronomy 2 at 0.5
12.5 2 14 Penn State Astronomy & Astrophysics
11.8 2 15 UC Berkeley* Astronomy
10.0 2 18 Univ. of Texas, Austin Astronomy
9.5 2 19 Cornell Univ. Astronomy
8.3 1 11 Harvard Univ. Astronomy 4 at 0.5
7.7 1 12 Boston Univ. Astronomy
7.4 1 12.5 Univ. of Maryland Astronomy 1 at 0.5
4.7 1 20.5 Univ. of Chicago Astronomy & Astrophysics 3 at 0.5
0.0 0 13 Univ. of Virginia Astronomy

Senior woman in astronomy provide us with mentors and role models. They can sometimes change or even transform the culture, dynamics, and environment of a university department. They can stand with us and fight for us if we find ourselves the victim of gender discrimination, sexual harassment, or unconscious bias. They can make a department more female friendly.

CSWA has compiled a list of % women on the senior faculty (tenured professors only) for PhD astronomy departments in the US. For joint appointments, we attempted to include the % time devoted to the astronomy department. Numbers and percentages were confirmed by a member of each department except where noted. Please feel free to contact me with any changes, updates, and questions.

For comparison, 18% of full members of the AAS are women. In addition, 30% of named postdocs have been women for the past 20 years; these represent some of the most highly qualified potential candidates for faculty positions.

From: Joan Schmelz [jschmelz_at_memphis.edu]

1 comment :

Pieter said...

That is a useful list! Interesting to see the large range. It leads one to wonder where one's own department ranks; at Yale University we currently have 3 senior women and 5 men in the Astronomy department; next year the numbers will be 3 and 4.