APPLICATION TO PARTICIPATE IN SITE VISIT TRAINING WORKSHOP

To be held Saturday, June 1, 2013, 9am-9pm, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH

Application Deadline, February 1, 2013 (but we will continue to evaluate applications through March 1, 2013)

Background and Goals:

The APA has a clear interest in and responsibility for improving the climate for women in Philosophy departments. Moreover, working to improve the climate for women, improves the climate for everyone.  Good climate makes a difference for job satisfaction and productivity.

The APA Committee on the Status of Women is establishing a site visit program. The goal and activities of the program are based on a significant body of research and best practices developed over the past decade by the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program. Specific goals of the APA-CSW-sponsored site visits include:

•    Gaining information in a systematic way about the range and variety of women’s and minorities’ experiences in Philosophy that contribute to the ongoing underrepresentation of women and minorities in the field.

•    Informing departments, where necessary, about challenges women and philosophers of other underrepresented groups face, drawing on first person reports and social science research.

•    Helping departments analyze the climate issues particular to their own setting.

•    Making recommendations based on proven best practices.

Prior to the Visit:

Site visits would be conducted at the request of a department chair, in consultation with the faculty.  These visits will be tailored to the needs of the department.  Once a date is agreed upon, a team normally comprised of three philosophers, including at least two women, will be assembled.

The chair will prepare a report providing information about the department, which can include: the undergraduate and graduate curriculum with sample syllabi, demographic data for undergraduate classes, majors, graduate student admissions and placement, faculty appointments, the most recent Visiting Committee report (where applicable), etc.  In addition, faculty/students/employees will be asked to complete a confidential survey, for the team's use only.

During the Visit:

Members of the site visit team meet with the Philosophy department’s Chair and others in leadership positions in the department, e.g., the Director of Graduate Studies.  The specific plan for meetings with groups within the department will vary, depending on the particular structure and needs of the department in question.  However, it will be important to provide opportunities for members of underrepresented and/or vulnerable groups to speak confidentially to the team. Members of the team would make it a point to speak with faculty members in Philosophy (or related areas), lecturers, office staff, graduate students, and undergraduates, in addition to others.  Opportunities will be available for anyone to speak to the team individually, if requested.   The team would also meet with the Dean of the School in which Philosophy is located, and other administrators responsible for faculty appointments, hiring, tenure and promotion. The goal of these meetings is to provide the site visit team with the quantitative and qualitative information they need to assess the climate for women and members of other underrepresented groups in the host facility. 

After the Visit:

The team will write a report for the Department Chair, detailing the findings of the visit and offering practical suggestions on improving the climate for women. The Chair is encouraged to share the report with the rest of the department.  Approximately 18 months after the visit, the Department Chair will be asked to respond in writing to the team, describing actions taken to improve the conditions for women and other underrepresented groups.  The list of departments that wish to publicize that they have undergone site visits will be maintained on the CSW’s website.

Site Visits that Assess the Climate for other Underrepresented Groups:

The team will be attentive to issues beyond gender, e.g., race, sexuality, disability, and will make an effort to collect quantitative data on these groups.  In some cases, it will be impossible to separate the ways in which gender and race/sexuality, etc. are playing a role in the climate, and the team will not make an effort to “separate out” the different factors, but will offer suggestions that are sensitive to intersectional issues. Our training for site visit team members will cover issues beyond gender, including the ways that gender intersects with other social categories, but the team members will not present themselves as experts on the many ways that hierarchy can manifest itself in academia. As the CSW-sponsored site visit program evolves, the CSW hopes to coordinate with the members of other APA Inclusiveness Committees, so that they too can participate in and co-sponsor particular site visits, when appropriate.  If a department or dean requests that the site visit focus on issues concerning underrepresented groups, the CSW team would be happy to collaborate with the APA Inclusiveness Committee to coordinate efforts.

Key Personnel:

Peggy DesAutels, University of Dayton, Chair, APA Committee on the Status of Women

Carla Fehr, University of Waterloo

Sally Haslanger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Institutional Sponsors for the Seeding of a CSW-sponsored Site Visit Program:

The American Philosophical Association

The American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division

The American Philosophical Association, Inclusiveness Committee

The American Philosophical Association, Committee on the Status of Women

The American Philosophical Association, Committee on the Status of Blacks in Philosophy

University of Dayton, Office of the Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences

University of Dayton, Department of Philosophy

University of Dayton, Women's and Gender Studies Program

University of Dayton, Office of Alumni Chair in Humanities

Training Workshop Components:

We will be a small group, and the training sessions will be very interactive. Training will include:

·      Useful skills for running site visits (ex. training in meeting facilitation)

·      Empirical background (ex. social science research on the patterns, causes and strategies for countering the underrepresentation of minority groups in parts of the academy)

·      Theoretical background (ex. the relationship between sexism and androcentrism; the effects of being a member of multiple social categories)

Expectations of Participants:

Those being trained for the site visit program must attend the Diversity in Philosophy Conference May 29-31, 2013 at the University of Dayton and the day of training afterwards on June 1, 2013.   For more information on this conference, please click on "Diversity in Philosophy Conference May 29-31, 2013" in the left sidebar.

Participants will be expected to have time available in their schedules to do at most one site visit per year.

Participants should be available and willing to contribute to discussions and brainstorming regarding site visits with other trainers, and also be trustworthy to maintain confidentiality regarding sometimes difficult and sensitive matters.

Application Criteria:

Applicants should be tenured members of the profession with good “people skills.” A demonstrated commitment to diversity through service work and/or research is required.

Experience in administration is desirable, but not necessary.  We hope for diversity in the applicant pool with regard to gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability and other social categories.

To Apply:

Send a copy of your current CV together with a paragraph describing your interest in the program to csw.sitevisit@gmail.com.

There are a limited number of positions for this training. However, if there is sufficient interest and demand for site visits, additional training workshops will be held in the future.

To Register:

If you have been accepted into the site visit training program, please register for both the Diversity in Philosophy conference and the Site Visit Training workshop at the University of Dayton Diversity in Philosophy Conference website.

Disability Access:  

The Site Visit Training workshop will be accessible and has the funds to provide accessibility services such as CART, ASL interpreting, etc.