Smith-Doerr, Laurel

Job Title

Professor, Department of Sociology

Last Name

Smith-Doerr

First Name

Laurel

Discipline

Sociology

Expertise

Organizations
Science/Technology Studies
Social Networks
Sociology of Gender

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Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 21

Open Access
Gender and innovation through an intersectional lens: Reimagining academic entrepreneurship in the United States
(2022) Mickey, Ethel L.; Smith-Doerr, Laurel
How to study inequality in innovation? Often, the focus has been gender gaps in patenting. Yet much is missing from our understanding of gendered inequality in innovation with this focus. This review discusses how gender and innovation are intertwined in durable academic inequalities and have implications for who is served by innovation. It summarizes research on gender and race gaps in academic entrepreneurship (including patenting), reasons for those longstanding inequities, and concludes with discussing why innovation gaps matter, including the need to think critically about academic commercialization. And while literature exists on gender gaps in academic entrepreneurship and race gaps in patenting, intersectional analyses of innovation are missing. Black feminist theorists have taught us that gender and race are overlapping and inseparable systems of oppression. We cannot accurately understand inequality in innovation without intersectionality, so this is a serious gap in current research. Intersectional research on gender and innovation is needed across epistemic approaches and methods. From understanding discrimination in academic entrepreneurship to bringing together critical analyses of racial capitalism and academic capitalism, there is much work to do.
Open Access
Creating Inclusive Department Climates in STEM Fields: Multiple Faculty Perspectives on the Same Departments
(2022) Misra, Joya; Mickey, Ethel L.; Kanelee, Ember Skye W.; Smith-Doerr, Laurel
Climate studies that measure equity and inclusion among faculty reveal widespread gender and race disparities in higher education. The chilly departmental climate that women and faculty of color experience is typically measured through university-wide surveys. Although inclusion plays out at the department level, research rarely focuses on departments. Drawing from 57 interviews with faculty in 14 science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) departments, we compare experiences with inclusion among faculty in the same departments and rank who differ by race and gender. Women of color perceive their departments as least inclusive, followed by White women, White men, and men of color (largely foreign born). Yet the organizational context of departments strongly shapes faculty perspectives on climate. Analyzing multiple perspectives on the same departments reveals inclusive, improving, and marginalizing departments, as explained by perceptions of representation, collegiality, and democratic leadership. Faculty across race and gender largely agree when they are in inclusive or marginalizing departments. In improving departments, there is greater disagreement. By focusing on faculty who share the same department and rank, but differ by race and gender, we identify key approaches leaders can take to create more inclusive departments. Our focus on the department level helps develop new insights about how inclusion operates in university settings.
Open Access
How Diversity Matters in the U.S. Science and Engineering Workforce: Integration and Inclusion in Teams and Departments
(2022) Smith-Doerr, Laurel
This document summarizes the proceedings of the Scientific Workforce Diversity Seminar Series (SWDSS) virtual seminar “How Does Diversity Impact Science?” The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Chief Officer for Science Workforce Diversity (COSWD) office hosted the seminar on May 17, 2022. Approximately 675 people from NIH and other organizations attended. Marie A. Bernard, M.D., COSWD, moderated a panel discussion on the evidence regarding the impact of diverse, inclusive teams on creativity, innovation, and productivity in science. Six invited speakers with workforce diversity expertise shared perspectives and presented their research, including how to measure the impact of diversity and potential areas for future study. Presentations by the panelists were followed by a question-and-answer session moderated by Dr. Bernard. This document details the main points from the invited speakers’ presentations and the ensuing discussion on what diversity brings to the scientific endeavor. The seminar recording and panelists’ presentation materials are on the COSWD website.
Open Access
Collaborations and Gender Equity among Academic Scientists
(2017) Misra, Joya; Smith-Doerr, Laurel; Dasgupta, Nilanjana; Weaver, Gabriela; Normanly, Jennifer
Universities were established as hierarchical bureaucracies that reward individual attainment in evaluating success. Yet collaboration is crucial both to 21st century science and, we argue, to advancing equity for women academic scientists. We draw from research on gender equity and on collaboration in higher education, and report on data collected on one campus. Sixteen focus group meetings were held with 85 faculty members from STEM departments, separated by faculty rank and gender (i.e., assistant professor men, full professor women). Participants were asked structured questions about the role of collaboration in research, career development, and departmental decision-making. Inductive analyses of focus group data led to the development of a theoretical model in which resources, recognition, and relationships create conditions under which collaboration is likely to produce more gender equitable outcomes for STEM faculty. Ensuring women faculty have equal access to resources is central to safeguarding their success; relationships, including mutual mentoring, inclusion and collegiality, facilitate women’s careers in academia; and recognition of collaborative work bolsters women’s professional advancement. We further propose that gender equity will be stronger in STEM where resources, relationships, and recognition intersect—having multiplicative rather than additive effects.
Open Access
Universities Should Look in the Mirror
(2021) Smith-Doerr, Laurel
Colleges have excellent faculty who are contributing new knowledge on equity and inclusion, but sadly that knowledge is rarely applied to the institutions themselves.
Open Access
Faculty Collaboration and Equity: UMass ADVANCE Report on the 2022 Survey
(2023-01-01) Liu, Shuyin; Misra, Joya; Smith-Doerr, Laurel
Research collaboraion is closely related to research productivity and career development. The UMass ADVANCE program is funded by the Natonal Science Foundation (NSF). It aims to transform the UMass campus through the power of collaboration, and advance women faculty in STEM, including women faculty who are diverse by race/ethnicity, nationality, sexuality and other measures. Through analyzing data collected in a faculty survey at UMass Amherst, this report examines faculty experiences on three crucial topics: research collaboration, inclusive community, and departmental decision-making, with a focus on STEM faculty. This report further considers how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped faculty experiences. Ultimately, informed by the ADVANCE R3 model4 for supporting faculty collaboration (centering on resources, relationships and recognition), we seek to understand if there is equity in allocating necessary resources, accessing relationships with colleagues, receiving recognition for their work among faculty with diverse identities and from different fields. What are the positive and negative experiences among faculty? What needs to be improved?
Open Access
Setting the Stage for Equitable Faculty Shared Decision-Making
(2022-01-01) Kanelee, Ember Skye W.; Mickey, Ethel L.; Smith-Doerr, Laurel
The most consequential decisions regarding faculty careers are decided collectively by peers, including tenure, promotions, and annual merit pay raises. The shared decision making inherent in faculty governance is a type of collaboration that faculty experience in unequal ways. While most departments have formal procedures and written policies, academia remains dominated by informal ways of functioning that allow gender and racial inequalities to persist. UMass ADVANCE survey results indicate that women faculty are less clear on personnel processes than men, and women faculty members from underrepresented racial minority groups are the least clear on tenure and promotion processes. Women faculty are often uncertain about their next career steps. Creating equitable practices around shared decision-making will improve transparency and trust among colleagues, supporting the inclusion and retention of women faculty and faculty of color, especially those at junior ranks. How can governance be reinvented to be more equitable for women faculty and faculty of color?
Open Access
Crediting Collaboration Equitably
(2023-01-01) Smith-Doerr, Laurel; Mickey, Ethel L.; Misra, Joya; Normanly, Jennifer
This tool–Crediting collaboration equitably–is part 3 of a three-tool series for embedding equity into all phases of research collaboration. See also Creating equitable research collaborations (part 1) and Continuing equitable collaboration relationships (part 2).
Open Access
Chairs Checklist for Shared Decision Making
(2022-01-01) Kanelee, Ember Skye W.; Mickey, Ethel L.; Smith-Doerr, Laurel
UMass ADVANCE survey results indicate that women faculty are less clear on personnel processes than men, and women faculty members from underrepresented racial minority groups are the least clear on tenure and promotion processes. This checklist is for department chairs/heads to assess departmental shared decision-making and create equitable practices that will support the inclusion and retention of women faculty and faculty of color.
Open Access
UMass ADVANCE STEM Decision-Making Findings 2022
(2023-01-01) Liu, Shuyin; Misra, Joya; Smith-Doerr, Laurel
Shared decision-making refers to faculty having opportunities to engage in discussions, voice their opinions, and have those opinions recognized as departments make decisions. While the university has a long history of faculty-led governance, there has always been substantial variability between departments. In addition, the pandemic has depressed opportunities for faculty to work together to make formal and informal decisions.