(NSC), a teaching-intensive, minority-serving institution, is one of six higher education institutions nationally that has been selected to receive a $1 million ADVANCE grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the 2022 funding cycle 鈥撎齛 program designed to promote equity among STEM faculty and broaden the participation of women and other historically underrepresented groups in academia.
The PEER Project
With this funding, 麻豆原创 State College launches the Pursuing Equity to Enhance Retention (PEER) Project to address workload disparities among science faculty. By using an intersectional approach to address systemic inequities within the institution鈥檚 policies, practices, and organizational culture and climate, the PEER Project will:
- Create a new full-time position in the Office of the Provost 鈥 Director of Faculty Development
- Develop faculty workload dashboards that identify and monitor workload disparities
- Implement department equity plans to ensure fair distribution of teaching and service loads
- Implement policies that mitigate workload imbalance, recognize invisible service work, and create time to engage in scholarship
- Create faculty peer mentoring circles to combat social and professional isolation
- Enhance opportunities for professional development
- Expand support for scholarship among pre-tenured science faculty, women and underrepresented groups.
Benefitting the Campus Community听
Dr. Laura Naumann, Associate Professor of Psychology, and her co-principal investigator, Dr. Samantha Jewell, Associate Professor of Biology, will oversee the ADVANCE Adaptation grant that began on August 15, 2022. The PEER Project activities will benefit the entire NSC campus community by expanding the lens at which faculty members are evaluated and redefining an inclusive culture. Any findings generated will contribute to campus-wide initiatives听that support justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
鈥溌槎乖 State is honored to join the ADVANCE community as one of the few teaching-oriented, minority-serving institutions to receive funding,鈥 said听Laura Naumann. 鈥淭his award will allow to us to address barriers to workload equity in order to improve faculty work satisfaction and retention, while also contributing to a growing body of research on faculty equity in STEM.鈥
麻豆原创 State is the third 麻豆原创 System of Higher Education (NSHE) institution to receive an NSF ADVANCE award in the program鈥檚 20-year history; putting this campus in the company of the Desert Research Institute ($279K) and the University of 麻豆原创, Las Vegas ($340K).
For more information about the NSF ADVANCE grants, visit or contact Dr. Naumann at laura.naumann@nsc.edu. For more information about 麻豆原创 State College, visit