with Hannah Valantine and Joan Williams
November 20, 2020
Recent articles in Nature, the New York Times, and other venues have documented the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on the academic careers of women and faculty who are underrepresented in the academy. This new crisis adds to preexisting biases in hiring, funding, promotion, and tenure. Bias shows up in the metrics that are used to evaluate impact, define sub-disciplines, and determine research areas that are considered core. This in turn affects research funding, access to prominent publication venues, and even the language that is used to characterize research abilities, roles, and contributions. The bias particularly affects underrepresented minority and female faculty.
In this workshop, academic leaders from across the consortium had the opportunity to discuss and share strategies to mitigate bias as well as the challenges caused by COVID-19 on the professional advancement of their colleagues. This workshop featured a moderated 45-minute panel followed by 45 minutes of Q&A. Panelists included:
Hannah Valantine, Professor of Medicine, Stanford University, Former NIH Chief Scientific Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity
Joan Williams, Distinguished Professor, Hastings Foundation Chair, and Director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California, Hastings Law
Watch a video of the November 20 workshop