AND ENGINEERING: PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF ONE INTERVENTION MODEL

The repres4ntation offemale faculty members in science and engineeringjeldr lags behind that oftheir countparts in the social scienues and humanities and aho faih to keep pace with the production offemale science and engineering doctorates. Research h b shown that equity cannot be achieved by waiting for women to fill the applicantpooZ,- instead, institutions mwt intedene by changing hiring practices and retention policies. This article desm'bes and evaluates early results ofone interventidn at the University ofMichigan: the creation ofafaculty committee designed to improve the rermitment and hiring offepale faculp members through peer education. One hiring cycle ajer the committee's creation, the authors found (a) reports ofchangedpractices in some search committees and departments, (b) an increase in the number andproportion of new hit'es who were women, and (c) a substantial increase in the knowledge and motivation ofthe members ofthe remitmedt committee with respect to improving the climateforfemalefacul~y membe