University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Women

Meeting Minutes

February 24, 2004

I. Announcements

A. Welcome to our new Ex-Officio Member - Pamela Pirtle, Assistant Director to the Office of Equal
     Opportunity and Access

B. Please mark your calendars for our next meeting date:  Tuesday, March 30, 2004, 3:00-5:00 pm
    @ 500 Swanlund Administration Building.

II. Old Business

A. Approval of January 27, 2004, Minutes with revisions.

B. Senate Equal Opportunity Committee - CCSW Representative update by Linda Beale

1. Survey on flexible tenure is close to ready.  CCSW will be asked to review it soon.

C. Portraiture on Campus follow-up

1. Carol Bresnahan reported that the Turner Fellows would not be able to assist us in
    gathering nominations of individuals to be seen in this portraiture initiative. Each of them is
    required to serve 10 hours per week and are, unfortunately, already booked.

2. Robin Kaler informed the Committee that e-mailing our letter to Deans, Directors, and
    Department Heads would be best in collecting nominations in both a thorough and timely
    manner.

3. Linda Beale noted that the Law School has already formed their own committee to act
    on this issue within their buildings.

4. Robin Kaler reported that the Chancellor is willing and able to fund portraiture additions
    to both the Willard Airport and Illini Union buildings.  This is something that should be
    included in the letter for nominations.  In addition, the letter should present the initiative as
    "first come, first serve" as a means to spur action within the departments.  Robin also
    volunteered to be the sole respondent for nominations, as well as publish the final
    outcomes in "Inside Illinois" magazine.

5. Kathryn Anthony raised a question regarding the timeline presented in the letter for
    nomination responses.  She would like to see all nominations and plans in detail by our
    last meeting in April so as the Committee may see their efforts come to fruition.

6. Robin Kaler suggested that by limiting people to 2 weeks (10 working days) in
    researching and collecting their proposals, this not only insures a satisfactory response
    rate, but also allows adequate time to research noteworthy individuals beyond those who
    are most familiar.

D. Rape Awareness and Prevention Committee update - Undergraduate Student Representative
    Annice Fisher

1. No report this month.  Will report at next meeting.

E. Follow-Up to Paul Magelli's Presentation on Wichita State University's Plaza of Heroines -
    Kathryn Anthony, Kathleen Pecknold

1. Kathryn Anthony informed the Committee that Paul Magelli and his efforts have been
    redirected to other Campus Committees more apt to handle a project of this stature.

2. Jacque Kahn has put a call into Wichita State inquiring about their Plaza in regards to
    any pitfalls, difficulties, and any other advice on pursuing the matter.  As it is tied in with
    their Women's Studies program on their campus, Jacque would like to potentially tie our
    program with our Plaza.  However, if UIUC chooses not to pursue this, the Women's
    Studies Program would like to do so.

F. Before moving on to New Business, Kathryn Anthony wished to acknowledge Chancellor Nancy
    Cantor's departure from UIUC.  She will be missed, as she has benefited the University in numerous
    ways.  It is our hope that we find a replacement that is half as capable as she.

III. New Business

A. Presentation on UIUC's Faculty Salary Information - Carol Livingstone, Associate Provost and
    Director, Division of Management Information.

1. Faculty Equity Studies by the University started in the early 1990's with the intention to
    repeat the study annually.  However, given budget cuts, last year's study was omitted and
    the study was reinstated this year.

2. The initial study, given its lack of precedence at UIUC, took a total of six months to
    complete with three people assigned.  Now, the study takes about three weeks to finish
    with the same three people working on it.

a. The time requirement for this study is the main reason why we do not see
    this effort at every school and University. A study of this scale is extremely
    labor intensive.

3. The study was designed to uncover inequities in salary amongst Professors and staff
    working at UIUC, with a focus on gender and race discrimination.  Their primary effort
    was to find the general trends that lead to salary inequities.  Second, this study is meant to
    also pinpoint individuals receiving less than sufficient compensation.

4. A multiple regression approach was used to reveal the important factors acting on salary
    inequity that may not be readily apparent.

5. Problems arise in that certain factors are unintentionally omitted from the overall equation,
    such as the quality of one's work.  A characteristic so subjective cannot by evaluated
    consistently amongst all faculty members at UIUC to effectively be included in this
    investigation.

6. Gender effects were seen quite prominently in the initial study done in the early 1990's. 
    As underpaid individuals were revealed with this, corrective action was more easily
    achieved.  The following year, no gender effects were found.

a. Gender is still an issue that floats in and out of the findings revealing that this
    survey, even after fifteen or so years of implementation, serves as a good
    check to the University and its compensation practices.

7. In addition to the regression analysis run in the survey, someone goes through the data by
    hand and investigates any other issues or patterns of interest that may have been missed.

8. Results of this study are published but only to a certain extent.  The general trends
    segment is publicly available, however, the individuals named as being under-
    compensated is kept confidential.  Making this information public may embarrass certain
    individuals as a low salary may mean low quality, making this information inappropriate
    for public perusal.

a. Nevertheless, faculty may rightfully approach their Dean or Department
    Head and ask if he or she was named.

9. Cheryl Bullock asked if academic professionals would ever be included in this study, as
    they make up a significant portion of the University's population.

10. Carol Livingstone responded that this effort would prove extremely difficult as a one
     time, mass collection of information on these individuals would be too labor intensive.  If,
     however, this were to happen in the future, this is something that would definitely not be
     feasible on an annual basis.

11. Kathleen Pecknold wished to note that the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor does
     not utilize any survey of this sort.  She has been corresponding with Abby Stewart
     regarding flexible appointment structures for faculty.

12. Carol Livingstone confirmed that we are the only ones who employ a survey such as
     this one and runs it on a regular basis.  Most schools only do a study of this sort a single
     time.

13. Carol also wished to welcome any questions or comments regarding this study to her
     e-mail, at livngston@uiuc.edu

B. Presentation on UIUC's ICES Evaluation forms in the College of Engineering - Cheryl Bullock, Head,
    Division of Measurement and Evaluation, Office of Instructional Resources.

1. Cheryl Bullock presented on a study that she conducted with Diana Steele (Measurement
    Specialist) and Chris Migotsky (Associate Head) from UIUC's Center for Teaching
    Excellence.  The study was commissioned in August 2002 by the College of Engineering
    to investigate the impact of faculty gender on engineering students' ratings of their
    instruction.  Findings included significantly lower ICES ratings for female faculty than for
    male faculty (although the practical significance of this statistical result may be minimal)
    and the perception among several faculty members that students evaluate faculty
    according to different criteria depending on the instructor's gender.  Cheryl also reported
    that recommendations based on the results of the study were well received by the
    Engineering Administration, namely: seek multiple sources of faculty evaluation, conduct
    more research on the issue of gender discrimination in student ratings, disseminate
    research findings and implications thereof through workshops and seminars, and continue
    with both internal and external outreach efforts to recruit and retain female faculty and
    female students.

C. Open discussion and updates on Commitment to Action Chart

1. Marcy Townsend reported that she met with Steve Hesselschwerdt, Assistant Director
    to Facility Management and Scheduling regarding the gender friendly, adjustable podium
    issue.  From personal experience, he highly recommended a particular product available
    on the market by Krueger International.  As a rather expensive solution to this initiative,
    running at $3100 (including the University's discount), we would not be able to purchase
    these in mass quantities.  However, there is a process already implemented at UIUC that
    would enable the purchase of a limited number of these podiums to be used all across
    campus.  If one would request the use of this particular podium, the movers at Facilities
    and Services would be able to pick up and deliver the item for use on a on demand basis.

a. Kathryn Anthony noted that she had been in contact with one of her
    colleagues at the School of Architecture about possibly offering a design
    studio in which one of the projects was to design an adjustable podium that
    could serve the University in a similar manner.  She has received
    enthusiastic responses to this idea.

b. Marcy Townsend responded that Steve Hesselschwerdt is quite sure the
    University Mill Shop would be willing to accommodate our efforts and to
    perform as consultants to this studio effort.  After all designs have been
    refined, perhaps the Mill Shop would be able to mass produce adjustable
    podiums based on the designs developed by students.

2. Jacque Kahn wished to invite all members of the Committee to the Women's Studies
    Program's Women's History Month Reception held at their house on Sixth and
    Chalmers.  The event is scheduled for Wednesday, March 3, from 4:00-6:00 pm. 
    Refreshments will be provided.