Female STEM faculty in community college have parity and are happy

I would not have guessed this.  I think of community college faculty as driven hard with a huge teaching load.  Women STEM faculty at community colleges are happy, are roughly equal in number to men, and are paid well. Wow — interesting results!

The National Science Foundation is supporting a research project to focus more attention on STEM faculty at community colleges, where men and women are about 50-50 in faculty positions over all, and where women make up 47.7 percent of STEM faculty (compared to about one third at four-year institutions). Researchers who are part of a team at Ohio University studying the issue gave an overview of initial findings here at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.

Their major conclusions: Women in STEM faculty positions at community colleges are happy, and it’s not because their jobs are somehow easier than those at four-year institutions (although they are different). The Ohio researchers are combining their national statistical analysis with in-depth interviews with small groups of women on STEM faculties at community colleges — starting with 29 at institutions in Ohio, and then extending to other states. The analysis is complete in Ohio, and early results suggest similar findings coming from other states.

So far, the results suggest a career path that many women find satisfying. “These women are happy, they have pay equity, and there are more of them than at four-year colleges,” said Cynthia Anderson, associate professor of sociology and anthropology at Ohio.

via News: Parity in STEM Faculty – Inside Higher Ed.