by Erin Aagesen

Development Director

Although the term “glass ceiling” seemed to fade with the ’80s, a full analysis of the University of Wisconsin’s top academic administrators reveals the ceiling still firmly in place.

Only three women hold top academic positions at UW, whereas 16 men fill such roles. Included in that figure are the chancellor, provost, four vice-chancellors and 14 academic deans, two of whom are women.

Vice Chancellor for Legal and Executive Affairs Melany Newby, School of Nursing dean Katharyn May, and School of Human Ecology dean Robin Douthitt are the only females among the university’s most powerful academic positions.

Both human ecology and nursing are traditionally female colleges.

It appears such discrepancies are not the result of any overt discrimination; rather, many speculate UW is simply not doing enough to recruit and hire qualified female applicants.

UW junior Samantha Kohen said the lack of female administrators could negatively impact students.

“I think it might be kind of a negative role model for students if they have all male professors and all male administrators to go to with problems,” she said. “Hopefully, our generation has more motivated women.”

UW graduate student Leif, who wished to be identified only by his first name, said UW’s numbers are a reflection of traditional power trends.

“We live in a white-male-dominated society,” he said. “We have since ancient times. It’s a travesty, but that’s the reality. I think the bottom line is whether equal opportunity is given, whether those doing the hiring are open.”

However, UW junior Julia Kopeland said she did not think the low figures were a problem.

“I think, whatever. It’s an unequal distribution,” she said. “I’m sure there are more women in other places. I don’t believe in this feminist stuff.”

“I don’t like having female professors anyway,” she added.

Provost and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Peter Spear said the number of women in lower-level administration — associate deans and vice-chancellors — is much higher than the number of senior administrators. Since women make up 39 percent of lower-level administration and deans are often chosen from this group of people, Spear said he saw this as an optimistic sign for future hiring.

However, Spear said women make up only 25 percent of the overall faculty and 19 percent of full professors.

Virginia Sapiro, UW professor of political science and women’s studies, was one of three women finalists for the provost position last year. Peter Spear, the only male finalist, was eventually chosen. She was not willing to comment on the hiring results, but said the hiring process was “done in a fair and serious way.”

The other candidates for provost were Mary Ann Fitzpatrick, an associate dean in the College of Letters and Science, and Ellen Wartella, a communications dean at the University of Texas-Austin.

Janet Hyde, professor of psychology and women’s studies, was the only person willing to speak about the provost selection.

“I can’t speculate as to why [Chancellor] John Wiley chose the man over those women,” she said. “There were two women internal candidates who were as well qualified or more qualified as the person who was chosen.”

The chancellor defended his selection, saying Spear was the most qualified applicant.

“Of all four candidates, [Spear] was the only one who had run a large, complex college,” Wiley said. “He had so much more experience than any of the other three. If I had picked them, they would have come in under a cloud of suspicion that I had picked them strictly because of their gender.”

Hiring process

When a senior administrative position opens up, UW conducts both a national and internal candidate search, nominating candidates and asking them to apply. More often than not, candidates are chosen from UW faculty, Spear said.

Upon nomination, UW invites candidates for preliminary interviews with a large committee of undergraduate student representatives, classified staff, faculty and deans. Douthitt said about 25 people are on the committee.

From this round of interviews, UW selects finalists and invites them back for the chancellor’s review.

Both May and Douthitt said the interview process that led to their deanships was fair.

“It’s quite exhausting,” May said. “The process is very thorough, really according to the book.”

Wiley said he directs the committee members to value diversity.

“We tell every search committee to look hard for diversity in the pool of finalists,” Wiley said. “What I can tell you is they can be absolutely sure I will never pick someone for a position strictly because of their race or gender.”

As a female member of the senior administration, May had no criticism for Wiley’s methods.

“I think the university is doing everything it can [to get women into top positions],” she said. “I think John Wiley is right on the money. People would be upset if he just hired women because they were women.”

UW senior Chip Mauro said the numbers are not necessarily relevant to the university’s success, pointing to the university’s increasing academic excellence as evidence.

“What’s happening now is obviously working,” he said. “The bottom line is that the university is moving forward. Obviously, the best person for the job is being chosen.”

Explaining the numbers

Sapiro said universities are often not open to hiring people who do not fit the mold.

“All the research shows that in government, business and education, people tend to choose people who are just like themselves,” Sapiro said. “It’s a very classic problem. We need women in high positions to get them there.”

Clifton Conrad, UW professor of higher education, said the issue needs more attention.

“We need a much more proactive approach,” Conrad said. “I think we need to be mindful of the dangers of falling into ‘a banality of indifference’ in which we are reluctant to reach out to people of color and women who don’t follow traditional pathways or aren’t in elite universities like our own.”

Spear said reaching out to qualified women and valuing different kinds of experiences are possible ways to recruit more females. Often, he said, females who are qualified for administration do not take “traditional” career paths, meaning they do not always follow the career patterns men typically take.

For example, a typical career path to an academic deanship would start with a department chairship, follow with an associate deanship, and end in a deanship.

However, Spear said women often gain adequate administrative experience in other ways and said this needs to be recognized during the hiring process.

Sapiro said some factors contributing to the unbalanced gender representations include lower numbers of female faculty in general, the notion that women are not competent executives and the difference in female career paths. She also said women are less likely than men to move their families to take a new position.

While the number of top female academic administrators remains small, May said she is respected as a professional. “I think there are always challenges when you’re among the first [female deans],” she said. “There are issues that women in higher education tend to be specifically interested in, such as childcare. We see different kinds of issues in a different way.”

May said the university values her perspective.

“I find the senior administration to be open,” she said. “They’ll listen to you if you’ve got a good idea. It doesn’t matter if you’re purple with spots.”