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Highlights of  2024-2025

In 2024-2025, the ADVANCE Center continued its strategy to focus on faculty development and success rooted in continuous attention to issues and outcomes that prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion. This year has proven challenging, particularly the Spring 2025 semester, in a national context where the federal government’s actions have caused upheaval, disruption, distrust and fear amongst the many communities Lehigh ADVANCE serves. These challenges deserve their own analysis, and ADVANCE is working with campus partners while in contact with the national ADVANCE community about how to capture and respond equitably to harms, to identify needs, and celebrate examples of resiliency. 

All activities of the ADVANCE Center align with or directly contribute to the Lehigh Strategy. In particular, the Center supports "Making a Difference" and "Make it Together"; it especially addresses "A Lehigh for Everyone", and in so doing "Expanding, Strengthening the Research Environment"  Our Center connects with the "Using Data" goals of the Lehigh Strategy by collection, analysis and interpretation of data for equity-minded decision making, recommendations, and programming. ADVANCE continues its evidence-based data-informed approaches so more diverse faculty can thrive at Lehigh. Key accomplishments this year are across the following main categories of work:

  • Appointment of a new Faculty Director
  • Stewardship of AFFDP Program
  • Faculty Recruitment Processes and Training
  • Faculty Retention initiatives that sustain community, provide mentoring, enhance transparency and support equity-minded workload and evaluation capacity.
  • Research and Outreach about programs, faculty equity issues

 

Use the drop downs below to read more about our outcomes and impacts in across these areas.

  • ADVANCE Center selected and completed the appointment process for Dr. Stephanie Powell Watts as a co-Faculty Director for three years starting January 1, 2025. Dr. Powell Watts will focus on faculty retention, with special attention to women of color and associate professors. Dr. Joan Ramage Macdonald was reappointed for a second term (June 1, 2025); her core focus with recruitment and professional development continues to be the AFFDP, STEM faculty women and overall evaluation equity, transparency and fairness.  This is a second faculty leadership position to support the larger scope of the center and provide a high-impact position to another faculty member.
  • Support the community, especially STEM women, through challenging impacts of federal executive orders on higher education and the STEM research ecosystem.
  • Collaborated on a new vision and proposal for physical space with CGE and WGSS; while this was unsuccessful, we leveraged for overlapping goals and began partnerships.
  • ADVANCE Center website site migration and and updates.

  • About the Center Lehigh ADVANCE Center is the hub of sustained work from a 2010 NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award. Since being sustained in the Office of the Provost in 2016, the Center has evolved to address faculty diversity, inclusion and equity issues across all disciplines at Lehigh and functions as a research-driven subject-matter expert, advisor, and convener on best practices for faculty recruitment, retention, and advancement matters. Generally, the scope of work of the ADVANCE Center is depicted by the graphic on the cover page- an interlocking framework of programming, processes, resources, capacity building, community and assessment. The Center is a link between Faculty Affairs and the Office of Inclusive Excellence and Belonging with strong partnerships with the Office of Research, Graduate Education and the Academic Colleges.  In this way, it addresses institutional change goals while supporting scholars as the system transforms.

  • Onboard Cohort 2, and deliver activities for Cohort 1 & 2 (total of 7 scholars). AFFDP scholars reported the following professional activities since inception of the program, demonstrating a high level of activity and new knowledge creation and dissemination.
    • Conference Talk/Paper: (presented/accepted): 10
    • Manuscript/Article/Book (book proposal, manuscript revision, journal accepted): 11
    • Teaching/Course (taught, significantly prepared, guest lectured): 11
    • Grant (applied or received): 14
    • Service/Leadership (presided, committee member, external mentor, etc.): 10,
    • Professional Development (attending, learning, mentoring, career): at least 43
  • AFFDP launched and completed recruitment of 3 scholars into Cohort 3, who will start for AY 25-26. This included information sessions and collaborations to identify and prepare qualified host units.
  • Total scholars hired through three cycles AFFDP 11 (9 women, 2 men) into 9 units across all 5 colleges; Total scholars transitioning to faculty: 3 (2 at Lehigh, 1 elsewhere).
  • Introduce AFFDP to new COB Dean 
  • Adapt policies and programming based on Year 1 Lessons Learned, including from June 2024 Equity in STEM Community Convening Presentation.
  • Review mentoring plans and progress for each scholar.
  • Partner with Office of Postdoctoral Affairs to improve onboarding, professional development for all postdoctoral scholars
  • Refine pathway to professoriate procedures
  • Successful appointment of AFFDP Dr. Her to Assistant Professor in Education and Human Services.

  • Hosted 4 workshops Best Practices for Inclusive and Excellent Faculty Recruitment satisfying the ADVANCE Center goal of educating and equipping search committees to be fair, inclusive, equitable in their search for excellent and diverse faculty. This program is available for members of search committees to attend, satisfying the requirement to attend every other year. An additional three special consultation workshops were held in the spring for search committees launched later in the season. Of 136 members of Faculty Search Committees, 47% completed training (Dec 2024 statistic). We also identified gaps in processes, particularly amongst searches with lower workshop engagement, and in non-traditional searches.
  • Faculty Recruitment Ambassador Program recognized by HEED; Trained new cohort of ambassadors (22);  Met with 141 candidates across campus.
  • Expert consultation to the Faculty Senate in final developments ahead of the passage of the DI&E in Hiring Motion; preparing for supplemental education, implementation, and assessment needs. Subsequently, responded to institutional request to update the name of the statement to "Contributions to The Principles of Our Equitable Community” and to update the guidance documents accordingly.
  • Consult on internal process and workflow expectations, including data tracking
  • Pilot workshop content created on the research behind the value of rubrics in search committee decision making- in partnership with Lehigh’s Dr. Ozias Moore. 
  • Supported the work on the special committee addressing administrative actions.
  • Administered Spring Lessons Learned end of search cycle survey. (Stand alone reporting will follow; Faculty Affairs will report the final slate of incoming faculty members).

  • Onboarding and Infrastructure for Faculty Success
    • Presented at New Faculty Orientation (August 2024) & New Faculty Reunion (May 2025)
    • Presented at Department Chair Workshop (August 2024) about ways chairs can leverage resources and expertise from ADVANCE
    • Published first New Faculty Professional Development & Leadership Table to enable faculty to identify opportunities and programs at-a-glance
    • Presented at the VPR's Research Development session on Broader Impacts. Shared resources for grant proposal language, showcasing the role ADVANCE Center may play in future grantmaking and projects.
  •  Identify Culture/Climate Challenges
    • Drafted survey with CGE & WGSS about faculty and staff experiences through the new presidential administration- will return to this in the Fall 2025
    • Exit Interviews, upon request (ADVANCE leaders conducted 5 exit interviews)
    • Faculty Director strengthening campus partnerships with OMA and Africana Studies 
    • Faculty Director reviewing exit surveys and COACHE survey data to identify future interventions and data needs.
  • Mentoring and Community
    • New Faculty Mentoring via INC Program, implementing IDP framework, four main INC groups, 3 fall meetings and 3 spring meetings, 15 new faculty engaged throughout the year.
    • Contributed to the updated Office of Research guidance and resources to support faculty to prepare robust mentoring plans within their grant proposals
    • Convening and Adapting CIMER at Lehigh
      • Facilitated CIMER Research Mentoring workshop series, (completed by 9 faculty and 4 postdocs), in partnership with Associate Deputy Provost for Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs Manager.
      • Facilitated CIMER Mentoring Up Skills Workshop Series for 13 graduate students and postdocs, 9 of whom earned completion certificates.
      • Adapting CIMER-based curriculum for Clare Boothe Luce Undergraduate Research Scholars and their faculty and grad student mentors, in partnership with Associate Deputy Provost for Graduate Education
      • Adapting CIMER-based mentoring bootcamp for RCEAS Grad mentors of undergraduate Research Scholars, in partnership with Associate Deputy Provost for Graduate Education
    • Launched LIFT for associate professors to support one another on their path towards promotion within 1-3 years. Three groups formed. Identified topics for professional development sessions for future years. 
    • LU-WISE started the Fall semester emphasizing focus on awards and nominations and 7 STEM women received recognition at the Fall 2025 Faculty Awards; continued to meet monthly. Other notable highlights include:
      • January & February LU-WISE included discussions with DPFA and about Campus responses to executive actions as well as the recent work of the faculty senate.
      • March LU-WISE discussed the Entrepreneurship ecosystem, featuring VP Lisa Getzler
      • April LU-WISE featured a panel about the Experiences of International STEM Women in collaboration with VP Dr. Matherly of OIA; 35 attended.
    • Launched Wellness Lunches- Faculty Director Powell Watts launched this program for women of color and their allies in Spring 2025 with three meetings to form and plan. The work of this group may take the form of activities designed to promote professional development, events designed for self care and stress management, and networking and mentorship and leadership opportunities. About 12 faculty and staff attended each event. The goals identified include: 
      • to foster and to enhance the support systems for women of color and their allies on campus; 
      • to create a space for connection, sharing and peer-mentoring; 
      • and to uplift this community to help them feel seen and valued at Lehigh.
    • Partnered with CGE and LU-WISE to consider future leadership, projects, and other needs
    • Convened session for 12 mid-career faculty with the Deputy Provost about the Promotion Plan philosophy within the triennial review
    • Co-sponsor University membership to NCFDD and administered application and selection of 6 faculty to the Fall 2025 Faculty Success Program of NCFDD and 5 to the Summer FSP and encouraged incoming department chairs to participate in a new Chair leadership program.
    • Networked with Mentoring Experts and Practitioners during the UNM National Mentoring Conference, incorporating learnings to existing programs
  • Equitable Faculty Evaluation, Promotion & Tenure- Capacity Building, Organizational Change
    • Co-authored revisions to faculty evaluation guidances for internal colleagues
    • Hosted FSPN, LU-WISE+, and RCEAS D&I Council to solicit additional feedback and insights about the Faculty Workload Equity Policy and Implementation Framework and provided that to faculty senate for integration into their working group structure when they are ready.
    • Expert Consultations: 
      • Consult with Faculty Senate: provide expertise to Tenure and Promotion working group, and the Service Load and Equity working group
      • Consulting about “multiple paths to full professor” “holistic evaluation” “value proposition of different modes of scholarly impact”
      • Consultations with individuals facing equity and climate challenges and associated follow-ups with university leaders, as needed, 
      • Faculty Directors Ramage and Powell Watts consult with individuals about P&T process, including preparing response or rebuttal letters. 
      • Department and Department Chair Knowledge and Capacity consultation and support
    • Support internal capacity for equity minded faculty evaluation through consulting on internal guidances and providing training