University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Women

Meeting Minutes

3:00-5:00 p.m., 400 Swanlund Administration Building

I. Announcements

A. Welcome to all members, new and returning students and our secretary, Mansi Sachdev,
     graduate student in Urban Planning.

B. Please mark your calendars for our upcoming meeting dates for Fall 2004.

1. October 26, 2004, 3:00-5:00 p.m. in Room 300, Swanlund Administration
    Building.

2. November 30, 2004, 3:00-5:00 p.m. in Room 300, Swanlund Administration
    Building. This meeting will be attended by Interim Chancellor Herman
    instead of October 26, 2004, as reported earlier.

C. Kal Alston informed that we now have Mildly Ill Child Care available through Family
     Service Homecare. The program is called "Sniffles and Sneezes" and will provide care
     for children age 12 and younger, or older mildly ill children with special needs who cannot
     be left alone of the eligible employees' immediate families. There is also adult and elder
     care available through the agency. The charges are $25 per hour but the University is
     paying 90 percent and the employees will be billed the 10 percent amounting to
     $2.50/hour. Registration is required and the link is
     http://familyservicehomecare.org/index.php.

II. Old Business

A. Improving Women's Restrooms across campus: Kal Alston provided an update on this
     issue from Jack Dempsey's survey of the restrooms and the problems identified across campus.

1. Some existing buildings across campus have not been made accommodating
    according to the ADA standards. However, many classroom buildings have diaper
    changing stations. Kal Alston also informed that Jack Dempsey wanted to know if
    we had any other suggestions in this regard.

2. Joyce Wright informed that the Undergraduate Library restroom has been repaired.

3. Kal Alston also informed that it was discussed in a meeting with Interim
    Chancellor Herman and Kathleen Pecknold that there should be some mechanism
    by which these issues can be addressed as new buildings are constructed.

B. Mentoring: Kal Alston complimented the committee on completing an important task of
    framing recommendations and sending it to all the Deans across campus.

1. We need to put "political capital" behind the deans to get the work done and a
    stronger case needs to be made in this regard. It was also realized that women's
    leadership cannot be strengthened on this campus unless the colleges make
    significant progress in this area and in the promotion of women through the ranks.

2. Kal Alston requested the committee members to think of productive strategies for
    implementation for the next meeting.

3. Stephanie Foote raised her concerns about the highly disproportionate amount of
    work done by women already and that mentoring might overburden them. She also
    suggested that the senior women faculty who decide to mentor junior faculty
    members should be relieved of some work.

4. Kal Alston agreed that mentoring should be recognized as key service in
    departments and needs to be rewarded. The success should not rely on individual
    people; supportive environments for faculty should be created and maintained.

5. Cheryl Bullock mentioned that an effective "control device" could be created by
    keeping a record of faculty service. She cited an example of a committee in the
    College of Engineering where it was decided record the number of committees
    served by each faculty member, by gender.

C. Flexible Faculty Appointments: Kal Alston reported that there is an initiative of the
    Office of Women in Higher Education (ACE) and the Sloan Foundation. Cheryl Bullock and
    Melody McDaniel reported that Linda Beale had developed a survey and made some
    recommendations on this issue that have not been sent out to everyone. The report will be
    made available to CCSW.

1. On flexible appointments, Kal Alston told the committee that the CCSW is a
    Community of Interest with the OWHE/Sloan Foundation project and when they
    develop recommendations, we will be able to adapt them to our needs.

D. Undergraduate Survey: Kal Alston informed that is was discussed in the meeting with the
     Interim Chancellor and Kathleen Pecknold that we need to delineate exactly what our goals
     are in this survey. The Interim Chancellor is willing to support us in this.

1. Also, Kal Alston asked the committee members to suggest a couple of interest
    areas by the next meeting that can be put up on the survey to find out what makes
    female undergraduate experience less satisfying than male experience.

2. Jody Shipka inquired about the kind of questions that were there on the Senior
    Survey. Mansi Sachdev will send a photocopy of the questions to all members.

3. Kal Alston suggested that once we have a clear goal and parameters, we will be
    in a position to request resources from the Chancellor's Office.

E. Portraiture Across Campus: Kal Alston suggested that Robin Kaler should be invited to a
    meeting to give us an update on the issue.

III. New Business

A. Leadership Mentoring: Kal Alston brought to light that more than half of the Deans on
    campus are women but the percentage of women in the academic leadership positions is
    considerably lower.

B. Student Satisfaction Measures: Kal Alston informed the committee members about certain
    issues which undergraduate students addressed. The main issues raised were of making more
    information available to incoming women students on campus, more approachable advising,
    co-ed fraternities, conducting career fairs for women, more advertising of popular majors that
    have traditionally attracted women, creation of a sub-committee on women student issues,
    setting up an alumni network, etc.

C. Dual Career Hiring Program: Kal Alston suggested that we need to devise strategies for
    improved communication across campus units in this regard. Target areas like Dual Career
    Hiring Program, Faculty Excellence Program and the Special Recruiting Program (done by the
    Provost Communication number four) need to be discussed with the Interim Chancellor in the
    November meeting.

D. Reports from the Retention and Recruiting Committee: Kal Alston suggested that we need
    to study the reports of these committees and invite concerned members to CCSW meetings at
    a later date.

E. Resources for studying the Status of Women at other campuses: Kal Alston informed that
    it was discussed in the meeting with the Interim Chancellor and Kathleen Pecknold that we need
    to identify other institutions and organizations which possess a good resource base in women
    studies. Kal Alston reported that University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and University of
    Minnesota have research centers with dedicated staff to study women's issues.

1. Stephanie Foote commented that such resources act like "selling points" in getting
    grants. Kal Alston also suggested that guest speakers from such institutions could
    be invited.

IV. New Items

A. CCSW Flyers: Melody McDaniel offered to get an insight on what attracted people to last
    year's brochure.

B. Following dates for Spring Semester CCSW Meetings were suggested and objections sought:

1. January 25, 2005

2. February 22, 2005

3. March 29, 2005

4. April 26, 2005