Sexual Harassment in the Academy - A Fall 2018 Panel Discussion Series | The Institute for Research on Women and Gender

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In 2016, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine assembled a committee to conduct a study on the impact of sexual harassment in academia on the career advancement of women in the scientific, technical, and medical workforce. The committee published a comprehensive report titled, "Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine," in June 2018. Three University of Michigan faculty members served as panel members on this report: Prof. Lilia Cortina (Psychology and Women’s Studies), Prof. Anna Kirkland (Women’s Studies), and Prof. Timothy Johnson (Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women’s Studies). The report identifies key findings on the causes and impacts of sexual harassment, and recommendations for institutional policies, strategies, and practices to address and prevent it.

Preventing and effectively addressing sexual harassment of women in colleges and universities has remained a challenge for decades. More than half of women faculty and staff report having been harassed. Student surveys of university systems show disturbingly similar rates, with 20–50% of women students experiencing sexually harassing behavior perpetrated by faculty or staff.

Persistent sexual harassment in STEM fields, and its adverse impacts on women’s careers, jeopardizes progress in closing the gender gap, damages research integrity, and results in a costly loss of talent. Academic sciences, engineering, and medicine share characteristics that create conditions for harassment, but many findings of the report are not limited to STEM field settings. Other fields within academia can be similarly male-dominated, with hierarchical work and learning settings in which abusive cultures may form. Such environments can silence and limit the career opportunities for both the targets of the sexual harassment and bystanders, causing both men and women to leave their fields.

Each panel will include co-authors of the National Academies report alongside experts from the University of Michigan. Each panel will include a summary of the report, discussion from the report’s co-authors, commentary from disciplinary experts, and Q&A with the audience. The three distinct panels are led by local scholars from engineering, the sciences, and medicine respectively but will offer broad discussion of use to any member of the university community or the public interested in sexual harassment in academia. A reception will follow each event.

Sexual Harassment in the Academy Panel Discussion Series is presented by IRWG and the Office of Research, with co-sponsorship from: ADVANCE, The Office for Health Equity and Inclusion, the College of Literature Sciences, and the Arts, and the College of Engineering.

The individual panels include:

Sexual Harassment in Engineering

Monday, October 1, 2018

3:30 - 5:00 pm; Stamps Auditorium, North Campus

Welcome by Alec D. Gallimore, Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering, Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Professor of Engineering, University of Michigan

Report Summary & Panel Moderation:

Lilia Cortina,* Associate Director of ADVANCE for the College of LSA; Professor of Psychology, Women’s Studies, and Management and Organizations, U-M
Anna Kirkland,* Director of the Institute for Research on Women and Gender; Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Women’s Studies, U-M

Panelists:

Gilda A. Barabino*, Dean and Daniel and Frances Berg Professor at The Grove School of Engineering at The City College of New York (CCNY), and National Academies committee member
Alec D. Gallimore, Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering, Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Professor of Engineering, University of Michigan
Allison Steiner, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan

Sexual Harassment in the Sciences

Thursday, October 18, 2018

4:00 - 5:30 pm; Rackham Amphitheater

Welcome by Chris Poulsen, Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences; Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; and Professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Michigan

Report Summary & Panel Moderation:

Lilia Cortina,* Associate Director of ADVANCE for the College of LSA; Professor of Psychology, Women’s Studies, and Management and Organizations, U-M
Anna Kirkland,* Director of the Institute for Research on Women and Gender; Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Women’s Studies, U-M

Panelists:

Elizabeth L. Hillman*, President of Mills College, National Academies committee member
Kathryn Clancy*, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Illinois, National Academies committee member
Elizabeth Cole, Interim Dean, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and Professor of Women's Studies, Psychology, and Afroamerican & African Studies, University of Michigan
Timothy McKay, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Physics, Astronomy, and Education, University of Michigan

Sexual Harassment in Medicine

Monday, November 12, 2018

4:00 - 5:30 pm; Kahn Auditorium, Biomedical Science Research Bldg

Welcome by Mark Schlissel, President, University of Michigan

Report Summary & Panel Moderation:

Lilia Cortina,* Associate Director of ADVANCE for the College of LSA; Professor of Psychology, Women’s Studies, and Management and Organizations, U-M
Anna Kirkland,* Director of the Institute for Research on Women and Gender; Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Women’s Studies, U-M

Panelists:

Reshma Jagsi, Professor and Deputy Chair in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Michigan Medicine and Director of the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine, University of Michigan
Paula A. Johnson**, President of Wellesley College, National Academies committee co-chair, and member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine
Timothy R. B. Johnson,* Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Obsterics & Gynecology and Women's Studies, U-M ; member of the National Academy of Medicine

*National Academies committee member and report co-author

**Chairperson of the National Academies committee