CSWA Climate Site Visit Program for Astronomy Departments - A Department Chair's Perspective

In 2009, the MIT Physics Department hosted a Climate Site Visit for Women and Minorities from the APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics and Committee on Minorities.  As a relatively new department head with interest in improving the status of women and minorities, I thought it would be a good practice.  I was unsure how it might be regarded by the faculty, but I paved the way by getting from buy-in from my department's Visiting Committee.  The procedures followed were very similar to those described in the earlier blog post CSWA Climate Site Visit Program for Astronomy Departments - Procedure.  The main difference was the presence of a member of the Committee on Minorities, so that the site visit also assessed the climate for minorities.  I had specifically requested this addition and was very pleased it could be accommodated.

Our site visit experience was excellent: several esteemed physicists, both women and men, spent a day in my department meeting with faculty, staff, students and postdocs.  They came prepared with the results of the survey, so knew some of the issues facing the department and hence were able to focus their efforts effectively.  The private report-out to me was valuable in emphasizing some of the challenges we faced as a department, providing me with honest feedback and constructive advice.  This is often hard for a leader to get those who are treated unfairly don't always speak up, and it is impossible for one person to hear equally from everyone in a large organization.  Even internal surveys have limited success because, despite assurances of confidentiality, some respondents may be concerned about retaliation.  They may be more willing to speak to outsiders.  The site visit committee gave me another set of eyes and ears to the department.

CSWA Climate Site Visit Program for Astronomy Departments - Benefits

As a graduate student, I participated in a Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) joint site visit of the physics departments at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs and University of California, Berkeley. The site visit was very valuable for both departments in highlighting not only the areas where we could improve in creating supportive environments for women, but also areas where we were doing quite well.

First I'd like to say that site visits create a better department for everyone.  Women (and other underrepresented groups) tend to be disproportionately negatively affected by general climate issues within departments.  For instance, graduate student salaries effect everyone, and having higher salaries helps with recruitment and retention for both genders.  However, we found at Berkeley -- a public school that tends to pay graduate students less than our private school competitors -- that admitted female graduate students were disproportionately more likely to reject our offer based on salary than male students.  Perhaps this is because women are more likely to anticipate having a family while in graduate school, and are more concerned about finances than their male counterparts?  I don't actually know the reason.  All I know is that increasing salaries disproportionately increases the acceptance rate of women graduate students.  So even if you are a person who doesn't think you are affected by the "climate for women" and that these site visits are of no benefit or interest to you, that simply isn't true.  Most likely the outcomes of the site visit will be a better department for everyone.

CSWA Climate Site Visit Program for Astronomy Departments - Procedure

CSWA Climate Site Visits for Astronomy Departments will be initiated by an invitation from the department chair and will ordinarily last one day. The CSWA chair and the department chair will decide upon a convenient date for the visit. The CSWA chair will select a visiting team of three senior astronomers, usually from among current and former CSWA members.

Prior to the visit, CSWA will administer survey questionnaires to department members and alumni. Surveys will be done using SurveyMonkey. The results of the surveys, as well as any written comments, will then be provided to the site visit team to assist them in preparing for the visit. All survey results will be confidential. CSWA will model their surveys on those of CSWP.

CSWA Climate Site Visit Program for Astronomy Departments - Policy

At the AAS meeting in Indianapolis, IN in June 2013, the AAS Council approved a proposal by CSWA to implement Climate Site Visits for astronomy departments. These site visits are modeled on the highly successful visits done by the Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) for physics departments. The CSWP index, procedures, and summary web pages formed the basis for the CSWA proposal. Among the positive outcomes of the CSWP visits are:

• Increased efforts to recruit women faculty members;
• Increased efforts to recruit women graduate students;
• Improved communications between women and department chairs;
• Increased numbers of invitations to women speakers;
• Improved safety of the department;
• Improved facilities for students: lounges, computers;
• Improved advising and mentoring.

The goals of the CSWA’s visits are to: increase the committee’s knowledge about problems experienced nationally by women students, postdocs, and faculty in astronomy; work with departments to identify problems; suggest means by which the department might solve those problems; and improve the climate for women generally.

APS CSWP Climate for Women in Physics Site Visit Program

This week's guest bloggers are Susan Blessing, CSWP Chair and chair of the Site Visit Subcommittee, and Deanna Ratnikova, CSWP staff liaison and administrative coordinator for the Site Visit Program. CSWA is proposing to implement Climate Site Visits for Astronomy Departments, and Susan and Deanna were kind enough to write this description of the highly successful and much in demand CSWA program.

Since 1990, the American Physical Society (APS) Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) has conducted site visits to physics departments at research institutions and national laboratories to assess and improve the climate for women. Through the Climate Site Visit Program, a team of physicists visits physics departments or labs to catalogue the problems that women face and to suggest potential improvements. The site visit program has been heralded for leading the physics community to a deeper understanding of the climate for women physicists in academia.

CSWP conducts site visits at the request of a department chair or lab director. The site visit team leader assembles a team of physicists from a variety of subfields. Teams consist of typically three to five members for academic visits and six to nine members for national lab visits, and starting in 2012, men are allowed to serve on teams (but not as the team leader). The team and host coordinator decide on a date and work together on travel and lodging arrangements (which are covered by the host facility).

Prior to the visit, the team asks students and employees to complete a confidential survey for the team's use only. On the day of the visit, team members meet with individuals and groups: the physics department chair or lab director, physics faculty members, research staff members, administrators responsible for faculty appointments or hiring, postdocs and graduate and undergraduate students. The goal of these meetings is to provide the team with the quantitative and qualitative information they need to assess the climate in the host facility. At the end of the visit, the team makes a preliminary report to the department chair or lab director as part of an exit interview.

After the visit, the team writes a report for the department chair or lab director, detailing its findings and offering simple, practical suggestions on improving the climate for women and others at the facility. The team encourages the chair or lab director to share the report with the rest of the department or lab. Approximately 18 months after the visit, the department chair or lab director is requested to submit a written report to CSWP, describing actions taken to improve the climate.

After several years of the program, the CSWP compiled a list of best practices that can lead to more welcoming and female-friendly departments. The list is available for free download at here. To date, nearly 60 site visits have been conducted. A list of these site visits, as well as further details on the program, can be found here.