A kickoff rally took place Monday in celebration of the awarding of a grant by the National Science Foundation to the ISU Advance Program to further the careers of women in science, engineering and mathematics.

The grant will fund the program until 2011, and Iowa State is one of the first recipients of this type of grant. Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia Tech and UC Irvine were also awarded grants.

The program was created four years ago and spearheaded by Bonnie Bowen, executive director of Iowa Lakeside Laboratory and adjunct assistant professor in ecology, evolution and organismal biology, and Susan Carlson, Advance principal investigator and interim vice provost, to benefit women in faculty and staff positions. According to an ISU Advance brochure, the program’s area of focus is changing “the culture, practice, and structure” in what they call STEM fields, which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“It’s a five-year project and its goal is to work at the university, college and department levels to change the culture and practice so that women on the faculty can be more successful,” Bowen said.

In July 2005, a group including Bowen and Carlson drafted a proposal to the NSF for the funding of the program. The foundation awards grants only periodically.

At the kickoff celebration, there was a feeling of accomplishment by all who have worked to get the program off the ground. Speeches were given by Carlson, ISU Executive Vice President and Provost Elizabeth Hoffman, and ISU President Gregory Geoffroy.

“[The rally] is a recognition of ISU’s role in the United States, but it is also our recognition of women in faculty positions to advance STEM initiatives,” Geoffroy said.

Geoffroy went on to say the challenge of the program is changing the hiring, retention and tenuring cultures of women in STEM fields by allowing gender equity to fade into the past. Above all, the program aims to advance the careers of women in faculty positions.

Geoffroy said the path for the program will be challenging.

“It’s going to be fun; it’s going to be hard – there is a lot of work to do,” he said.

Hoffman said this grant is very important for Iowa State to have, and it will now boast a task force to broaden education and faculty participation and to recruit and retain mentors and faculty of color. The program will derail the barriers at entrance and tenure stages, and to change the culture of retention and tenure, Hoffman said.

“I challenge everyone in this room to make this a reality so that 10 years down the road we can be proud of [what] we have done,” Hoffman said.