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Gender Issues in the Path to Academic Leadership

Overview:

Key academic leadership skills/knowledge are identified through taped role play scenarios depicting the limiting/defeating climate and barriers to advancement women frequently face. How to negotiate, self promote, and discover unspoken rules are demonstrated.

These taped scenarios were developed by Lynn Singer, Mark Singer and Elizabeth Tracy (brief biogrpahies below), as part of a national presentation on leadership skills for women in schools of social work.

Scenario One

In the first scenario, a female faculty memberis asked by the Dean to assume an administrative role within her school, chairing the doctoral program. The Dean explains that this is an honor and compliments the faculty member on her hard work and academic achievements. When workload and compensation are explained, the female faculty member realizes that she is expected to do more work for little compensation. She suspects that previous male chairs fared better. Throughout the role play, gender laden comments are made by the Dean and common reactions to those comments are modeled.

In Scenario One Kathryn Adams portrays the faculty member and Mark Singer portrays the Dean.

Scenario Two

Scenario Two shows a female faculty member demonstrating appropriate responses, leadership skills and knowledge. In this taped scenario, the same techniques are used by the Dean to pressure the faculty member to do more work for little compensation. However, as you will see, with appropriate skills and knowledge, the outcome is quite different.

In Scenario Two Elizabeth M. Tracy, portrays the faculty member and Mark Singer portrays the Dean.

These scenarios were presented at: "Gender Issues in the Path to Academic Leadership", to the CSW Leadership Seminar, February 2007, Phoenix, Arizona. (Tracy, Singer & Singer).

Also presented at "Gender Roles in the Path to Academic Leadership" Workshop at the Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting, October 31, 2008, Philadelphia, PA (Tracy & Singer)

Scenario 1- Common Reactions to Pressure (5:48 minutes)

Scenario 2 - Resisting Pressure (7:50 minutes)

Brief Bios of Presenters:

Kathryn Betts Adams, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University since 2003. Her research focuses on geriatric mental health, normal aging, family caregiving and early-stage dementia.

Elizabeth M. Tracy, PhD, is a Grace Longwell Coyle Professor at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences and past Chair of the PhD Program at Case Western Reserve University. She teaches courses in direct social work practice methods and child welfare in the master level program and models of social work practice in the doctoral program.

Mark I. Singer, PhD, Leonard W. Mayo Professor of Family & Child Welfare, is Governing Director of the Begun Center on Violence Prevention, Research and Education, and Co-Director of the Center on Substance Abuse and Mental Illness at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University.

Lynn T. Singer serves as the Deputy Provost and Vice President for Academic Programs at Case Western Reserve University. She is Professor of pediatrics, psychiatry, and general medical sciences and also directs federally funded research projects. As of 2003, she is also principal investigator of two grants from the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program to enhance the careers of women faculty in science and engineering.