Addressing Gender Disparities in Institutional Service Workloads

Unrecognized implicit biases often result in women faculty members performing a disproportionate share of teaching, student mentoring and advising, and departmental and university service. This time-consuming work benefits the institution, yet it goes largely unrewarded. It also can negatively impact women faculty members’ career advancement because the time required to do this work takes time from other pursuits such as scholarship, or other leadership activities, that are more highly valued and rewarded. This presentation addresses these dilemmas and provides concrete solutions. Dr. KerryAnn O\u27Meara is Professor of Higher Education, Director of the ADVANCE Program for Inclusive Excellence, Affiliate Faculty in Women’s Studies and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Graduate Studies in the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. KerryAnn\u27s research examines faculty careers and academic rewards systems with a particular focus on organizational practices that support and limit the full participation of women and URM faculty and the legitimacy of diverse forms of scholarship in the academy. Dr. O’Meara will speak about her work to help faculties become more transparent about workload activities and her experience working with faculties to develop and implement organizational reforms to enhance workload equity