Faculty Gender Equity Initiatives

In the Spring of 2017, the Provost convened a Faculty Gender Equity Taskforce charged with the following tasks:

  1. To investigate barriers to the promotion of women to the rank of full professor at Bradley, including but not limited to barriers in three main professional areas (teaching, research, and service).
  2. To review institutional policies and de facto practices that may result in differential outcomes for male and female faculty.
  3. To investigate best practices used by other institutions that contribute to the retention and advancement of women in the academy.
  4. To develop recommendations for increasing gender equity in the above areas and on issues that become apparent through the review process, and to submit those recommendations to the Provost for consideration by the appropriate administrative and/or shared governance units at Bradley University.

In the Spring of 2018, the Faculty Gender Equity Taskforce administered a campus-wide survey to all full-time and part-time faculty to investigate issues related to workload, tenure and promotion processes, administrative policies and practices, and campus climate. It also hosted a series of Faculty Gender Equity Forums to gain additional feedback from the university community. The results of the survey, the full report, and recommendations of the Task Force may be accessed through this page with a Bradley login. Based in part on the work of the Task Force, Bradley was awarded an NSF ADVANCE grant in 2023 to help increase intersectional gender equity in the faculty ranks on campus. Details of ADVANCE BU grant initiatives are available at https://bradley.edu/ADVANCEBU/.

Administrative Actions to Address Task Force Recommendations

The Task Force recommended 40 actions to increase gender equity in Bradley's faculty ranks. In addition to supporting the ongoing work of the ADVANCE BU program, Bradley's administration has taken actions to address the following Task Force Recommendations.

Task Force Recommendation Administrative Actions
Formally incorporate student engagement activities into the T&P process. In the Faculty Annual Reporting portal, fields have been added for Experiential Learning, Writing Intensive, and Interdisciplinary Learning, Faculty-Student Collaboration, and Societal Impact.
Strengthen the institution’s investment in the Office of Sponsored Programs. In Fall of 2024, Bradley received a federal grant to expand the services offered by the Office of Sponsored Programs.
Identify one campus office(r) as the contact point for non-academic student care issues. The Office of Student Affairs produced a guide to campus resources for working with student concerns.
Ensure that under no circumstances is a scheduled course of three or more semester hours taught as an uncompensated overload. The Provost reviewed all offerings, and directed Deans to ensure that this does not occur in their academic units.
Incorporate dean and college-level efforts on gender equity issues in the dean’s annual evaluation survey to the faculty. Questions on gender equity and diversity have now been incorporated into the dean's annual evaluation, and the Senate approved those changes to the survey in January of 2025.
Create a salary reporting mechanism. The Administration is currently working with ADVANCE BU to develop an Equity Dashboard for tracking a range of faculty data, including salary equity.
Clarify “tenure clock” provisions. The University Senate made provisions for tenure clock extensions clearer and more inclusive (Faculty Handbook, Section II.D.4)
Appoint a full-time Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer. A VP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion was hired and the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion was created.
Review and revise current sexual harassment and sexual discrimination policies and procedures, and consider appointing a Gender Equity Ombudsperson. The university formalized a consensual relationship policy. Annual training for all employees on harassment and discrimination was implemented.
Reward individual and unit-level activities that promote diversity, equity and inclusion on campus. Working with ADVANCE BU, the Administration provides ongoing funding for the Faculty Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, inaugurated by in Fall of 2024.

Resources

ADVANCE BU Initiatives and Resources

2018 Task Force Survey, Results and Recommendations

All resource documents require a faculty or staff BUnetID login to view.

Bradley University Report of the Committee on the Status of Women, 1990

All resource documents require a faculty or staff BUnetID login to view.

Additional Resource

Whistleblower Information