Our Team
Co-Principal Investigators
Professor Mary Ann Mason
Professor Mary Ann Mason, as founder of UC Berkeley Family Friendly Edge project and as Dean of the Graduate Division headed up the effort that led the entire University of California system to adopt in 2004 what was then (and may still be today) the most progressive set of family friendly policies in the country. The Faculty Family Edge began from the premise that academic institutions will not be able to recruit and retain proportionate numbers of women scientists until women—like men—find they can have both careers and families. Mason’s team’s widely influential studies, sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, have documented the impact of motherhood on attrition.
Mason’s team also produced a Deans and Chairs Toolkit and detailed family friendly initiatives. Recent efforts have included working with federal agencies on Title IX compliance. Mason has presented her work to more than thirty universities, federal agencies and professional societies. The research and tools developed by her group have served as a catalyst for many universities to begin to develop their own family responsive policies.
Distinguished Professor Joan C. Williams
Distinguished Professor Joan C. Williams is 1066 Foundation Chair and Founding Director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Williams, who received an ADVANCE Leadership Grant in 2005, assembled a team that, between 2005-2008, developed six tools designed to help universities retain and advance women. They developed a focus group protocol based on a comprehensive review of experimental social psychology studies of gender bias, and held twelve focus groups in which women shared their experiences. With this information, they developed two in-person trainings, one for deans and department chairs and another designed to help women spot gender bias and handle it in ways that protect their careers. In addition, they developed an online gender bias training, available atwww.genderbiaslearning.com, complete with animated scenarios drawn from experiences of focus group members. In addition, Williams’ team developed the business case for retaining women, and gathered models to help academic institutions address the details of how to design family-responsive policies that actually work. Download the Effective Practices To Retain Women.
In partnership with:
AWIS is the premiere leadership organization advocating the interests of women working in STEM disciplines. AWIS is a 50(c)3 corporation with 52 chapters throughout the United States. For over three decades, AWIS has united women through its nationwide network of chapters and partnerships with aligned professional organizations. Moreover, AWIS has a strong track record in providing mentoring and career programs as well as in authoring and publicizing educational materials such as our classic mentoring guide “Getting the Most out of Your Mentoring Relationships: A Handbook for Women in STEM” by Donna J. Dean, PhD.
Project Staff:
Professor Clair Brown and Eric Freeman make up the team developing our economic analysis. Brown leads the team with her experience in developing frameworks for economic estimations of costs and benefits of specific programs, collecting the required data, and doing the statistical analysis, which includes regressions and simulations. Brown’s early research focused on employment disparities by gender and race, the role of unemployment insurance, and women in the workplace. Her current research focuses on the global labor market for high-tech workers, the global competitive advantage of China, India and the US in the semiconductor industry, and the impact of education and immigration policies on engineers’ employment and earnings. Professor Brown is the Director of the Center for Work, Technology and Society, and past Director of the Institute of Industrial Relations.
Eric Freeman works with Professor Brown to do the statistical analysis for the project. He received a Ph.D. in Economics from UC Berkeley in 2010, and an MA in Statistics from Berkeley in 2007. His research centered on Labor Economics, and he studied Development Economics as a minor focus. He has also done some research in statistical methodology. He also holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Michigan.
Erika Hall is a lecturer and doctoral candidate in the Management and Organizations department at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Hall looks at how leaders with multiple minority identities are perceived in teams and organizations. In line with the Tools for Change program, Hall conducted interviews with 60 multicultural female STEM professionals on their perceptions of both gender and racial bias in their academic environments. Hall’s previous work has appeared in academic journals such as Psychological Science and Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and media outlets such as The New York Times. Prior to Kellogg, Hall was a Research Associate at Harvard Business School.
Noelia Sanchez is the Project Manager for the Tools for Change Project. Based in Northern California, Ms. Sanchez is a Multimedia Designer who specializes in working with non-profit organizations. In this role, she is responsible for day-to-day operation of the grant including team communication, vendor management, and timeline and budget oversight. She also has a key role in the development of our multimedia presentations and website. Prior to assuming this position, Ms. Sanchez worked with large non-profit organizations to re-design their websites and implement integrated content and relationship managements systems. Her approach and expertise has resulted in both increased online memberships and donations for these organizations. She brings a keen knowledge of technology best practices and methodologies to this project.