The Department of Veterinary and Microbiological Sciences received the Advance FORWARD Department Award at the Sept. 1 FORWARD kick-off event for the year. The award is presented annually by the Commission on the Status of Women Faculty to recognize and reward significant department efforts to improve campus climate and gender equity within the faculty ranks. 

Since 2000, the department has made significant changes in its structure regarding gender. It went from a department with five women who were senior lecturers and assistant professors (except for one associate professor) to a department in 2011 that includes eight women, four of whom are associate professors and one full professor. The department has a history over the past seven years of having one-third of its PTE committee consisting of women. The department has worked hard to support faculty in all aspects of career development through strong start-up packages and course releases, and providing opportunities for leadership. The success of the department is demonstrated in the strength of the research done by women and that women supervise 75 percent of the lab space in the department.

There were two other strong nominations for the award: the Department of Accounting, Finance and Information Systems and the Department of Computer Science and Operations Research.

Another $5,000 Advance FORWARD Department Award will be given in 2012, considering department strategies that make progress in supporting and advancing the five core FORWARD goals:

• Improve climate: provide strategies to improve department climate and narrow the gap between men’s and women’s perceptions of campus climate.
• Enhance recruitment: employing recruiting strategies to recruit women, women of color, and women with disabilities.
• Increase retention: strategies to retain women in the department through the probationary period and the promotion/tenure process.
• Promote and advance women: strategies to support women associate professors as they move to full professor, and hire advanced women.
• Open leadership opportunities: strategies to promote women faculty in academic leadership positions.