Details

The Science of (Intersectional) Science Careers: Bias in Academic Promotion Processes

This lecture is part of the CEWS Colloquium on Gender Relations and Equality Policy in Science and open to the public.

Topic:

Promotion and tenure (P&T) processes in academia are widely regarded as critical mechanisms for faculty career advancement. However, emerging evidence suggests that these processes may function inconsistently, undermining their validity and fairness. Christiane Spitzmüller’s work, grounded in quantitative social science research, examines how structural barriers in P&T decision-making processes impact faculty, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, despite formal evaluation metrics. Drawing on findings from a consortium study across ten universities, the research team demonstrates that factors such as external review letter writer characteristics, dual appointments, patent ownership, and career interruptions (e.g., extensions) contribute to unintended P&T outcomes. Furthermore, innovation and entrepreneurship contributions are undervalued, and joint evaluations, although beneficial for URM faculty, are not fully embraced by P&T committees. Their work further shows how external review letters are more strongly linked to who the writers are than to the candidate's productivity and accomplishments. They use the research on external review letters to derive recommendations on how external review letters can be crafted in support of promotion candidates. By examining linguistic features in recommendation letters, the impact of faculty characteristics and activity, and P&T decision-making, they identify intervention targets and elucidate evidence-based interventions to promote valid and reliable P&T policies and systems.

Speaker:

Christiane Spitzmüller (Ph.D) is the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Strategy at the UC Merced Office of the Provost. Dr. Spitzmüller’s research has focused on Occupational Health Psychology and workforce diversity and workforce development. She currently serves as the Project Director of a nine-institution $2M NSF-funded research consortium dedicated to examining validity and bias in promotion and tenure decision making.
 

Organisation:

The CEWS Colloqium offers researchers, gender equality advocates, and decision-makers in scientific organisations, universities, and research institutions the opportunity to discuss current research findings on gender relations and gender equality policy in science. Twice a year, CEWS invites German and international scientists to present and discuss their latest research. This lecture is held in English and takes place online as Zoom session.
 

Registration: 

Please register here to recieve the access link: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/StOeVd5-SvGSA4B-Ggh64A

Data protection: Your contact details will be deleted by GESIS after the lectures you have registered for have ended. Further information on data protection at GESIS can be found here.

Presentation slides will be made publicly available after each session, subject to the consent of the individual speakers. The lectures will not be recorded.
 

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