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Session 2592

Institutional Self-Assessments as Change Agents: Georgia Tech’s Two Year Experience

April Brown, Donna Llewellyn, Marion Usselman Georgia Institute of Technology

In January 1999, the results of two institutional self-assessments were reported at the Georgia Tech President’s Cabinet meeting. This marked the culmination of a five-year effort to evaluate the status of women at Georgia Tech and to help warm up a climate perceived to be inhospitable by many female students and faculty. These self-assessments, the InGEAR Report on the Status of Women at Georgia Tech, 1993-19981, and Enhancing the Environment for Success: Report from the Task Force for Opportunities for Women in Engineering2, established baseline data that now allow us to evaluate changes that have occurred in the subsequent two years. They also helped to raise the awareness of gender issues on campus, and to establish an agenda for institutional change. In this paper we report the findings and recommendations of these two institutional self-studies, and review the progress Georgia Tech has made over the intervening two years.

Integrating Gender Equity and Reform (InGEAR) In 1995, the National Science Foundation awarded a research grant to a consortium of five institutions of higher education in the State of Georgia3 to transform teacher education programs that prepare K-12 teachers in the areas of science, engineering and mathematics (SEM). The title of the NSF sponsored project, InGEAR (Integrating Gender Equity and Reform"), suggested its purpose:

To promote equal access to quality science and mathematics education for boys and girls across Georgia. Equal access includes encouragement to explore and discover, intellectual challenge, and success that is born out of these opportunities. Access also includes awareness of career opportunities associated with science, mathematics and related technical fields, such as engineering.4

The Georgia Institute of Technology was designated the lead institution in the consortium due to its reputation and service as the major educational institution in the state vested with the responsibility to educate and train students in the technical fields, and also because of the existence and track record of its Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC). The Georgia Tech InGEAR staff convened an Advisory Committee consisting of over 20 Georgia Tech faculty and staff who were instrumental in designing and reviewing initiatives taking place on the Georgia Tech campus. It was crucial that this Advisory Committee consist of members of the Georgia Tech community who had sufficient influence to effect meaningful change. It therefore included senior representatives from the various Deans’ offices, academic faculty, Human Resources, Institutional Research and Planning, Admissions, Career Services, Counseling Center, and the Office of the Dean of Students.

“Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright 2001, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Brown, A., & Llewellyn, D., & Usselman, M. (2001, June), Institutional Self Assessments As Change Agents: Georgia Tech's Two Year Experience Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9398