Penn State Intercom......April 30, 2001

Project report offers options
to improve institutional culture

By Gary W. Cramer
Public Information

Whether founded in individual situations or not, some faculty members worry about the possibility of administrative discrimination should they use family leave and tenure stay for caregiving needs.

However, new policies, and more consistent application of existing ones, could reduce such worries, according to the final report of the Faculty and Families Project.

The project was initiated by the president and provost to study the incompatibilities faced by faculty with simultaneous commitments to Penn State, as their employing institution, and to their families. Although the report authors note that the University is "an institution whose policies and practices are arguably more advanced than most comparable universities," they add that there exists "a perception that the University could and should do more, and that policy-oriented research might help guide further efforts."

It is already standard policy at the University that tenure-track faculty with new children (including adoptees) are guaranteed paid leave and stoppage, or stay, of the tenure clock for one year regardless of whether or not a leave is taken. Furthermore, on-site child care can be found on four of the larger University campuses, and the University Park campus actively attracts and supports dual-career families and coordinates it spring break with the local school district.

However, the report's four authors suggest that if faculty worry that utilization of such policies and services will signal an intrusion of family life on academic commitments resulting in harm to their tenure, they will seek to minimize any apparent or actual intrusions. The authors add that, despite the potential effects of this "discrimination avoidance" behavior on their families, faculty will likely avoid even the most progressive work/family policies in order to seem like an ideal worker in the absence of "changes in the culture, climate, day-to-day practices and expectations across all levels of the University."

"In such an environment as that charted by this project, progress over the long-term will require the involvement of men as well as women, parents and non-parents, and faculty and non-faculty members of the University community," said Robert Drago, one of the report's principal investigators and professor of labor studies and industrial relations. "With that strong caveat, the report includes an abbreviated statement of options for communicating, institutionalizing and enhancing existing policies, and for implementing new policies for new biological or adoptive parents and those responsible for elder care."

Among the options are:

* Establish a culture where leave, tenure-clock staying and reduced hours for caregivers are the norm.

* Allow faculty caregivers to exchange a reduction in salary for a one course per semester reduction in work load.

* Provide partially paid, full-semester leaves for the semester when a new child is due.

* Make the children of faculty and staff welcome in the workplace.

* Make existing policies regarding new-parent leave consistent across lines of gender and biological versus adoptive parent status.

* Establish "flexible" schedules for child care at University facilities, and encourage cooperative initiatives to enhance the quality and number of child-care facilities in the various communities associated with the University.

* Develop policies for circumstances in which tenured faculty are engaged in long-term or potentially long-term caregiving for elders or other dependent family members.

The research basis for the report, delivered to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in March, derives from input gathered in three public meetings at University Park, a series of focus groups of faculty parents, data collected on faculty hired from 1992 to 1997, and a pilot survey of non-Penn State faculty.

Along with Drago, the principal investigators were Ann C. Crouter, professor of human development and family studies; Mark Wardell, head and associate professor of labor studies and industrial relations; and Billie S. Willits, assistant vice president for human resources. Alicia Grandey, assistant professor of psychology, and Linda Pierce, coordinator for Work/Life Programs, also performed much of the research.

The report is endorsed by the Commission for Women and Women in the Science and Engineering Institute. The full report is available at http://lsir.la.psu.edu/workfam/faculty&families.htm.

Gary W. Cramer can be reached at gwc104@psu.edu.

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