Thoughts on university leadership
Girls are smarter than boys, but where are the women in math and sciences?
Role models make a difference. Structural impediments can be subtle, like asking for information about gender. These are just two of the many lessons that can be gleaned from this poster. I hope you’ll see even more. Read more to find out why…
We know that women in leadership makes organizations perform better. And we know that employees are more satisfied in companies with women in leadership teams. So what about implement a zero-tolerance policy for no gender diversity in the workplace. Read more…
Young women scientists leave academia in far greater numbers than men for three reasons. Sacrifice, little appeal and disproportionate impediments are conclusions made by PhD candidates, thus steering them away. What can we do about it? Read more to find out…
The Mayo Clinic has six strategies they consider essential for their continued success — six strategies which constitute the spirit of the Clinic. As you read them, ask what they could mean for your organization.
Universities can improve with these strategies; it wouldn’t be difficult and it wouldn’t cost money. For example, much of what we do can be enhanced through a deeper engagement with the concept of service. Learn how in this post.
What are the best conditions for doing research? What can university leadership do to create those circumstances?
One of the most fundamental challenges for university presidents, deans, department chairs, and research group leaders is to make the best environment for research. Everything else a university does builds on success in doing science. Read more on why talking makes research better…
Groups that include both men and women are more intelligent, they achieve greater profitability and they make working environments better. Norway’s segregated workplaces are not optimal.
This is why we need to work to recruit more women to professions in which they are underrepresented — and more men where they are underrepresented. Workplaces that could be better for men and women are one of the topics we discuss today, on International Women’s Day. Read more why you need a woman…
Gender-enhanced science is research in which deliberate efforts are made to include differences between men and women in research projects, especially those leading to product development.
The leading cause of fetal death resulting from maternal trauma is from car crashes. Yet seatbelts are developed based on research on male bodies. Read more…
The “obvious” tension between diversity and quality leapt onto the front page this week through a debate at Smith College. And just in case you’re unsure, the putatively obvious connection is that increasing diversity decreases quality.
The debate at Smith presents a new twist on this issue, and it offers at least two lessons to university leaders everywhere. Click here to read these lessons…
This posting first appeared as a guest blog at University World News on February 19th, 2012. European universities are failing in the way they use human resources. Women are underrepresented at the top levels of academia, and there are good reasons to think that this damages universities. In the 27 countries making up the European Union,… Read More…
The brightly colored Google logo, re-formed as a halo over the head of CEO Larry Page, caught my eye in an airport recently. Under Page’s picture, the cover of Fortune magazine promised a list of the 100 best workplaces, with Google at the head of the pack.
Is there any chance, any hope, any dream, that somewhere on that list, I might find a university?
To my disappointment, the promise on the cover of the 100 best “workplaces” was modified to “companies” on the inside of the magazine, and universities therefore weren’t even considered.
But what if they were? What would it take to get there? Is there anything we can learn from Google? Find out by reading more…
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