The Women's Place and the Advocates & Allies Advisory Council (AAAC) for the NSF-supported Advocates & Allies for Equity initiative request nominations for senior male faculty members and administrators seeking to be advocates for gender diversity at Ohio State. As part of President Drake's 2020 Vision, Provost Bruce McPheron launched Advocates & Allies for Equity in November 2016.
Advocates are senior faculty and administrative men who have a record of supporting women staff and faculty. Advocates lead facilitated conversations with other men to expose them to ways of better identifying and behaving as Allies in gender equity. These groups share evidence-based knowledge, skills and strategies to effect positive personal, departmental and institutional change.
Advocates are committed to increasing their understanding of gender bias and its impact on the academic careers of women. They must attend a two-day workshop to help them begin their work. Then they work with the program advocate coordinators, Rudy Buchheit, professor and associate dean in the College of Engineering, and Tom Gregoire, dean of the College of Social Work, to develop facilitation materials for male faculty who are interested in becoming Allies. Once vetted, an Advocate is expected to offer facilitations regularly and follow up with informal meetings to discuss case studies.
Advocates also work with the Advocates & Allies Advisory Council composed of women staff and faculty. The AAAC’s role is to select and advise Advocates, provide feedback to them, and help them understand and remain in touch with the experience of women and underrepresented minorities in our academic climate.
Nomination deadline is Wednesday (3/7).
