The COLA Gender Council was active from May 2010 to August 2011, during which time members formed subcommittees to examine productivity, mentorship, dual career hiring, graduate student affairs, and climate issues involving lecturers. Working through the Council, the Office of Research produced reports on lecturers and mentorship in the College of Liberal Arts, which are accessible by links to the right. We also conducted in-depth investigations of measures of productivity and dual career hiring, which informed our thinking about two topics that remain critical in faculty hiring, promotion, and retention. We shifted our research focus to Graduate Student Affairs for academic year 2011-2012, as we began to address climate issues pertaining to graduate students. In that context, we have put together a graduate student council and initiated a policy on parental accommodation for graduate students. We are exploring gender issues in graduate student funding and assessing the implementation of lecturer appointment practices recommended by the College. With the COLA Gender Council, for which we will seek nominations in the fall, we plan to revisit in 2013-2014 mentoring and gender issues among COLA faculty.
Christina McCoy, Spanish and Portuguese
