We propose to undertake the preparatory work needed to submit a collaborative, ACM-wide proposal to the National Science Foundation’s ADVANCE program, which supports the retention and advancement of women in STEM. Building on a qualitative study conducted in 2023-2024 with women STEM faculty members at ACM institutions, we will gather data to better understand the challenges facing women STEM faculty members at ACM institutions and what interventions and approaches might be most promising for addressing these issues. This data-gathering will consist of a survey of ACM campuses as well as focus groups and institutional data requests based on the results of the survey. The project team will convene representatives from the ACM campuses at Coe College in June 2025 to begin shaping the data and ideas from the preceding steps into a draft proposal, which will ultimately be submitted to the NSF in November 2025. The NSF proposal, if funded, will provide up to $1 million over a five-year period to implement the approaches identified in this planning process and assess their impact. We are excited about the potential of this FaCE project to help our institutions better hire, retain, and support women in the sciences.
