Faculty GEARS Baseline Survey

Dear Colleagues,

We are writing to encourage your participation in completing the WSU GEARS Baseline Survey that was sent to full-time WSU faculty on March 23, 2021.

Wayne State University was awarded a National Science Foundation ADVANCE Grant in Fall 2020. The grant, WSU GEARS (Gender Equity Advances Retention in STEM), is led by a team of WSU faculty and supported by the Provost’s office. The WSU AAUP-AFT is one of several stakeholder groups that wrote a letter in support of the grant and its goals of improving gender equity at our University.

One of the major activities of the WSU GEARS is to survey WSU full-time faculty for their perceptions of various topics such as work-family interface, leadership, and workload. Recently, the WSU GEARS sent a communication announcing and inviting faculty to participate in this activity: the WSU GEARS Baseline Survey. WSU AAUP-AFT representatives met with the WSU GEARS team to discuss the nature of this survey, and we are in support of this initiative. We hope that this initiative will yield important information about faculty experiences. We encourage all full-time faculty members to review the information provided on the WSU GEARS website and to participate in the IRB-approved WSU GEARS Baseline survey.

In Solidarity,

Michelle Fecteau
Executive Director, AAUP-AFT

Angela Tiura,
Executive Board Member, AAUP-AFT
Member of GEARS Stakeholder Team
Assistant Professor in Family Medicine

Charlie Parrish
President, AAUP-AFT
Professor of Political Science

Interactive: How the gender pay gap affects you

Check out the calculator over at the Economic Policy Institute.

GENDER (IN)EQUITY - Academic Forum

Gender equity, or inequity, has been a consistent problem in American society, and is also a concern in academia and at Wayne State. The universities of Waterloo and Oakland have made efforts to address the issue; it is time that we at Wayne do the same.

 Join us to discuss this important issue with our panel and moderator Hayg Oshagan.

• Thursday, November 17th
• Student Center, Hilberry B.  2pm - 3pm

Lynne Taylor
Assoc. Professor
Department of History
University of Waterloo, Canada 

Alexandra Orchard
Technical & Metadata
Archivist, WSU Reuther Library of Labor & Urban Affairs 

Michael Latcha
Assoc. Professor
Mechanical Engineering
Oakland University 

Scott Barns
Exec. Director AAUP
Oakland University

Download flier:

This gem was shown at the Gender Equity Workgroup meeting today. (a collaboration of COSW, WIMS & the Union)

WSU Gender Equity Work Group

The WSU Gender Equity Work Group was established in February 2016. The group was formed as a joint affiliation of the WSU President’s Commission on the Status of Women (COSW), the WSU Women in Medicine and Science (WIMS) and the American Association of University Professors-AFT Local 6075 (AAUP-AFT). Membership now comprises individuals from numerous departments, schools, and colleges across campus.  The Work Group’s initial mission was to continue research, initiated by the COSW in 2014, that examined pay equity at Wayne State.  That mission has grown to include current projects and research focused on lactation rooms, childcare, and parental leave.  

We welcome all employees, students and alumni who are interested in gender equity at Wayne State to join us in our mission.

Take Action Against Pay Discrimination

Time is running out! 

Only have a few more days to flood the Obama Administration with messages in support of equal pay.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has a proposal that would require all private employers with more than 100 employees to report pay data by race and gender. This would be a huge game changer for women. The EEOC would use this data to spot situations where workers appear to be paid less because of their gender or race and launch an investigation. 

Equal pay won’t happen without strong enforcement of equal pay laws, and this new reporting requirement will put some real muscle behind that enforcement. 

Women can’t afford to be shortchanged any longer.

Tell the Obama Administration and the Office of Management and Budget that you 

support its efforts to increase pay transparency.

Send your message HERE

A Family-Friendly Policy That’s Friendliest to Male Professors

 "The policies led to a 19 percentage-point rise in the probability that a male economist would earn tenure at his first job. In contrast, women’s chances of gaining tenure fell by 22 percentage points. Before the arrival of tenure extension, a little less than 30 percent of both women and men at these institutions gained tenure at their first jobs. The decline for women is therefore very large. It suggests that the new policies made it 
extraordinarily rare for female economists to clear the tenure hurdle."

via NewYorkTimes.com