Sexual Harassment in Engineering
2018 Panel Discussion Series
October 1, 2018
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Walgreen Drama Center - Stamps Auditorium
Sponsored by: Institute for Research on Women and Gender and the U-M Office of Research
Contact Information: Institute for Research on Women (irwg@umich.edu or (734) 764-9537)
PANELISTS : - Gilda A. Barabino, Dean and Daniel and Frances Berg Professor, Grove School of Engineering, City College of New York - Alec D. Gallimore, Robert J. Vlasic Dean of the College of Engineering, U-M - Allison Steiner, Associate Professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, College of Engineering, U-M In 2016, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine assembled a committee to conduct a study on the impact of sexual harassment in academia on the career advancement of women in the scientific, technical, and medical workforce. The committee published a comprehensive report titled, "Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine," in June 2018. The report identifies key findings on the causes and impacts of sexual harassment, and recommendations for institutional policies, strategies, and practices to address and prevent it. Persistent sexual harassment in STEM fields, and its adverse impacts on women’s careers, jeopardizes progress in closing the gender gap, damages research integrity, and results in a costly loss of talent. Academic sciences, engineering, and medicine share characteristics that create conditions for harassment, but many findings of the report are not limited to STEM field settings. Other fields within academia can be similarly male-dominated, hierarchical work and learning settings in which abusive cultures may form. Such environments can silence and limit the career opportunities for both the targets of the sexual harassment and bystanders, causing both men and women to leave their fields. The panel will include a summary of the report, discussion from the report’s co-authors, commentary from disciplinary experts, and Q&A with the audience. The panel will offer broad discussion of use to any member of the university community or the public interested in sexual harassment in academia. A reception will follow.