At CU-Boulder, the Leadership Education for Advancement and Promotion (LEAP) program seeks to raise the level of managerial and leadership skills of all faculty. Funded by a $3.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, and an additional $900,000 in matching funds from CU-Boulder, the program also has a goal of increasing the number of women serving in administrative positions in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. CU-Boulder was one of eight universities to receive an NSF grant as part of the ADVANCE institutional transformation program, which funds efforts to diversify the scientific work force. “For whatever reason, women just haven’t moved up in great numbers to leadership roles in the sciences,” said Patricia Rankin, professor of physics at CU-Boulder and the grant’s principal investigator. “The goal of this program is to strengthen faculty’s leadership skills, increasing the talent pool from which to draw CU-Boulder’s future leaders.”

According to NSF, women make up 22 percent of the science and engineering workforce in general and less than 20 percent of the science and engineering faculty in four-year colleges and universities. Currently about 25 percent of the CU-Boulder faculty are female, with about 12 percent for engineering faculty.

The pilot faculty workshops offered this summer focused on teaching time management and negotiating skills. Other training activities planned in cooperation with the Faculty Teaching Excellence Program include classroom management techniques, such as how to deal with disruptive students or maintain control of a class while encouraging participation. Advanced management workshops will cover such issues as managing a budget, coaching junior faculty, and creating a supportive environment for both staff and students. LEAP has enlisted the expertise of CU-Boulder’s Ethnography and Evaluation Research to provide research support in identifying faculty needs.

“In creating something similar to a climate change at CU-Boulder,” said Rankin, “everyone benefits. With this program, all faculty can gain effective management skills, which in turn creates a supportive environment to recruit, retain, and advance women faculty, especially those in the sciences.”