Yale University

  

Calendar

A-Z Index

Working Groups

WFF Working Groups function as catalyst think tanks, bringing together concerned faculty, staff, and students to generate activist programs and recommendations for the WFF and other stakeholders in the University.

 

40th Anniversary of Coeducation at Yale College

WFF 40th Anniversary Working Group will coordinate with other interested individuals and organizations to create plans for the celebration of the 40th anniversary of coeducation at Yale in the 2009-2010 school year.

Co-Chairs: Laura Wexler and Paula Kavathas

 

Care-Giving Working Group

The Caregiving Working Group has worked to generate a discussion about caregiving issues, both child care and elder care, at Yale. Its plans for next semester include working with the WorkLife office to support the Yale Babysitting Service, bringing in speakers on caregiving issues, encouraging departments to take caregiving into consideration when scheduling meetings and other events, and making the West Campus child care facility as convenient for as many members of the Yale community as possible.

Co-Chairs: Caren Gundberg and Amy Hungerford

 

Gender and Globalization

To explore the ways in which globalization and gender intersect. As the IARU conference notes indicate this is a pervasive question in diverse fields of thought. Research and advocacy directed towards fulfilling the goals set out and agreed to in the IARU president’s meeting, specifically: to gather and share statistical data related to gender equity, as well as to how equity may be affected by citizenship status and migration, to understand the effects of gender and nationality on educational and faculty opportunities, and to appoint a contact person on this project; to pool each institution’s experience regarding the initiatives they have undertaken to attract and retain women faculty. The goals are to understand more of the role gender plays in the construction of curricula, disciplines, and scholarship and to support more related joint academic ventures among IARU institutions.


Institutional Change

The Institutional Change Working group focuses on issues of hiring, promotions, tenure, mentoring, and other points at which structural impediments to career advancement may occur. This past semester, Institutional Change discussed and elaborated on issues generated in Steering and Council meetings, including data collection on women on service committees, data on women in endowed chairs, and data on the proceedings of department and divisional committees; and issues surrounding search committee processes and the new tenure process. Some members of the ICWG went with the Steering committee to present a memo containing recommendations on these issues to Provost Salovey, Deputy Provost Chevalier and Dean Miller. Next semester, the group will continue to work on hiring and promotion initiatives and plans to investigate increasing the opportunities for mentoring and informal networking for women at Yale, and to create a database of resources for organizing and self-advocacy.

This working group is devoted to issues specifically pertaining to the retention and success of female and minority faculty members including initiatives on:

  • Tenure Practice and Hearings:
    Make our presence felt in terms of demanding accountability and transparency in the tenure process; document inappropriate conduct/comments providing/designing networks meant to advise post-docs and junior faculty on the advising process (see below)
  • Mentoring and Networking:
    Researching, creating, and building upon previously effective informal networking and mentoring opportunities for women members of the university, from undergraduates to senior faculty.
  • Data collection and monitoring of issues pertaining to gender equality at Yale and beyond (IARU initiative)
  • Institutional response to the 2007 WFF report and the faculty satisfaction survey

Co-Chairs: Hannah Brueckner and Shirley McCarthy

 

Sexual Misconduct

The Sexual Misconduct Working Group seeks to examine university policies and practices on sexual harassment and sexual assault and offer recommendations for improvement. This semester, the group has begun to conduct research on University policies and best practices from peer institutions and to design a survey concerned with Yale students’ utilization of university procedures, with the intention of compiling a report with recommendations for the administration by the end of next semester.

Co-Chairs: Connie Bagley and Priya Natarajan

 
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