Astronomy
- Aaswomen January 17, 2014
AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women Issue of January 17, 2014 eds. Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, Nick Murphy, & Nicolle Zellner SPECIAL EDITION: CSWA Climate Site Visit Program for Astronomy Departments...
- Cswa Climate Site Visit Program For Astronomy Departments - A Department Chair's Perspective
In 2009, the MIT Physics Department hosted a Climate Site Visit for Women and Minorities from the APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics and Committee on Minorities. As a relatively new department head with interest in improving the status...
- Cswa Climate Site Visit Program For Astronomy Departments - Benefits
As a graduate student, I participated in a Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) joint site visit of the physics departments at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs and University of California, Berkeley. The site visit was very valuable...
- Cswa Climate Site Visit Program For Astronomy Departments - Policy
At the AAS meeting in Indianapolis, IN in June 2013, the AAS Council approved a proposal by CSWA to implement Climate Site Visits for astronomy departments. These site visits are modeled on the highly successful visits done by the Committee on the Status...
- Site Visits
Do you think your department could use an external review of its climate for women? The American Physical Society (APS) has a whole program set up for conducting site visits. There's also a similar program directed toward the climate for minorites....
Astronomy
CSWA Climate Site Visit Program for Astronomy Departments - Procedure
CSWA Climate Site Visits for Astronomy Departments will be initiated by an invitation from the department chair and will ordinarily last one day. The CSWA chair and the department chair will decide upon a convenient date for the visit. The CSWA chair will select a visiting team of three senior astronomers, usually from among current and former CSWA members.
Prior to the visit, CSWA will administer survey questionnaires to department members and alumni. Surveys will be done using SurveyMonkey. The results of the surveys, as well as any written comments, will then be provided to the site visit team to assist them in preparing for the visit. All survey results will be confidential. CSWA will model their surveys on those of CSWP.
The department will also be asked to provide information, including enrollment statistics by gender, faculty roster, recent hiring activity, recruiting brochures, and family leave policies. The department chair will set up a schedule of meetings for the site visit team.
On the day of the visit, members of the site visit team will meet (not necessarily in this order) with the astronomy department chair, groups of faculty/staff, administrators responsible for faculty appointments or hiring, women postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates. The goal of these meetings is to provide the site visit team with the quantitative and qualitative information they need to assess the climate for women in the host institution.
The team will write a confidential report for the department chair, detailing the findings of the visit and offering practical suggestions on improving the climate for women. No information specific to the institution, including the survey results, will be made public. The chair will be encouraged to share the report with the rest of the department. Approximately 18 months after the visit, the department chair will be asked to respond in writing to the team, describing actions taken to improve the climate.
Expenses for the visit (i.e., travel, lodging, and per diem for the team) will be the responsibility of the host institution. All members of site visit teams will serve as volunteers. Department chairs will be encouraged to request support for the visit from the administrative officer responsible for the recruitment and retention of under-represented groups.
Prior to the visit, CSWA will administer survey questionnaires to department members and alumni. Surveys will be done using SurveyMonkey. The results of the surveys, as well as any written comments, will then be provided to the site visit team to assist them in preparing for the visit. All survey results will be confidential. CSWA will model their surveys on those of CSWP.
The department will also be asked to provide information, including enrollment statistics by gender, faculty roster, recent hiring activity, recruiting brochures, and family leave policies. The department chair will set up a schedule of meetings for the site visit team.
On the day of the visit, members of the site visit team will meet (not necessarily in this order) with the astronomy department chair, groups of faculty/staff, administrators responsible for faculty appointments or hiring, women postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates. The goal of these meetings is to provide the site visit team with the quantitative and qualitative information they need to assess the climate for women in the host institution.
The team will write a confidential report for the department chair, detailing the findings of the visit and offering practical suggestions on improving the climate for women. No information specific to the institution, including the survey results, will be made public. The chair will be encouraged to share the report with the rest of the department. Approximately 18 months after the visit, the department chair will be asked to respond in writing to the team, describing actions taken to improve the climate.
Expenses for the visit (i.e., travel, lodging, and per diem for the team) will be the responsibility of the host institution. All members of site visit teams will serve as volunteers. Department chairs will be encouraged to request support for the visit from the administrative officer responsible for the recruitment and retention of under-represented groups.
Additional Information:
- CSWA Climate Site Visit Policy and Procedure;
- APS CSWP Climate for Women in Physics Site Visit Program by Susan Blessing & Deanna Ratnikova, 2013 April 23, Women is Astronomy Blogspot;
- Affecting the Climate for Women in Physics: The CSWP Site Visit Program by Meg Urry, 2007 June, STATUS magazine.
- Aaswomen January 17, 2014
AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women Issue of January 17, 2014 eds. Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, Nick Murphy, & Nicolle Zellner SPECIAL EDITION: CSWA Climate Site Visit Program for Astronomy Departments...
- Cswa Climate Site Visit Program For Astronomy Departments - A Department Chair's Perspective
In 2009, the MIT Physics Department hosted a Climate Site Visit for Women and Minorities from the APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics and Committee on Minorities. As a relatively new department head with interest in improving the status...
- Cswa Climate Site Visit Program For Astronomy Departments - Benefits
As a graduate student, I participated in a Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) joint site visit of the physics departments at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs and University of California, Berkeley. The site visit was very valuable...
- Cswa Climate Site Visit Program For Astronomy Departments - Policy
At the AAS meeting in Indianapolis, IN in June 2013, the AAS Council approved a proposal by CSWA to implement Climate Site Visits for astronomy departments. These site visits are modeled on the highly successful visits done by the Committee on the Status...
- Site Visits
Do you think your department could use an external review of its climate for women? The American Physical Society (APS) has a whole program set up for conducting site visits. There's also a similar program directed toward the climate for minorites....