Julia Fulgrum, UNM
Advancing Women in STEM through Institutional Transformation
Programs aimed at increasing women in STEM fields frequently focus on providing extra resources and support for women students, faculty or employees. These efforts are important, but insufficient, as they do not address underlying policies and practices that may need to change in order for lasting progress to occur. ADVANCE at UNM is currently beginning the third year of a five-year National Science Foundation-funded ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant focused on recruitment, retention and advancement of women and minority STEM faculty through a combination of institutional changes, professional development resources and individual faculty support. After an introduction to the current status of women STEM faculty at research universities in general and UNM specifically, I’ll present some examples of ADVANCE at UNM experiences, successes and challenges that are relevant beyond academic settings. Examples will include increasing diversity in job applicant pools, addressing implicit bias in evaluations, identifying policies that are misunderstood or inappropriately applied, and finding ways to frame issues that can foster unexpected collaborations.
Julia Fulghum
Dr. Julia E. Fulghum currently serves as the Director of ADVANCE at UNM, Special Assistant to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences on Graduate Education, and Professor in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at the University of New Mexico. She served as vice president for research and economic development from 2008-2012 and prior to that was chair of the Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering from 2002-2008. She came to UNM from Kent State University in 2002, where she was a faculty member in the Chemistry Department and a member of the Honors College. She is a Fellow of the American Vacuum Society and currently serves as the co-chair of the Science Advisory Committee for the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, a national user facility operated by Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories. Her awards include the Student Service Provider of the Year from UNM Student Affairs in 2012, a NM Business Weekly Power Broker Award in 2010 and a Distinguished Teacher Award from Kent State University in 2001. Dr. Fulghum received her Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of North Carolina, her master's degree in analytical chemistry from Cornell University, and her bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina.