Representation or encouragement? A lack of female role models in STEM at the University of Wyoming

According to data provided and verified by the individual departments within each college, the breakdown of professor statistics are as follows:

Female faculty account for 26.01% of STEM faculty, as there are 77 women for 296 total STEM faculty. Within the faculty, individuals are categorized into professors, assistant professors, adjunct professors, associate professors, professor emeritus’, and lecturers. Women account for 10% of professors, 31% of assistant professors, 7% of adjunct professors, 27% associate professors, 8% of professor emeritus’, and 39% of lecturers as seen in Figure 1. Considering the full faculty is only 26% women, that means that the women employed by the STEM departments at the University of Wyoming are drastically overrepresented as lecturers and underrepresented in the professor ranks. Because the professor ranks include tenure and an increase in both recognition and income, this disparity is clearly negatively impacting the female faculty.

Figure 1.

Specifically, women account for 32% of faculty for the College of Arts and Sciences STEM programs, 13% of faculty for the College of Engineering, and 42% of faculty for the college of Agriculture and Natural Resources STEM degrees (keep in mind both microbiology and molecular biology, the two STEM degrees in the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, are female-dominated classes so even a 42% relatively high female percentage is still not representative). As shown in Figure 2, the representation of women based on program is highly skewed, especially in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences as well as Engineering.

A representative faculty plays a large role in the success of female students as discussed in the “Lack of Female Role Models” article, and considering the undergraduate population of the University of Wyoming is 50.6% female the STEM faculty is falling dramatically short of a representative mark.

Figure 2.

Our university STEM programs do follow the national trend presented that shows how an increase in women role models has a correlation to student enrollment, as our fields most dominated by female students (molecular biology, microbiology, zoology/physiology and chemistry) are also those with slightly above average rates of women faculty. While this cannot be deemed a causation but more so a correlation, it still reinforces the research presented earlier stating the importance of women role models to girls in STEM.

For a visual representation, here is the faculty as of December 2018 for the Electrical and Computer Engineering Program in the College of Engineering in Figure 3. Though this program has 13% female faculty and 10% female graduation rates and can be considered to have a representative faculty, it is by no means encouraging for female students.

Figure 3. UWYO Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty

In comparison, the Chemistry Department in the College of Arts and Sciences has 26% female faculty though they have 45% female graduates, as shown in Figure 4. This program has double the percentage of female faculty as compared to the Electrical Engineering example, this program falls short of representative of their students. It is important to understand that from a female student's perspective, entering a program that lacks many role models who are also women, especially considering that most of these women are found as lecturers or assistant professors, it reconfirms earlier stereotypes about whether or not women belong in STEM.

Figure 4. UWYO Chemistry Faculty

This battle between having a representative faculty and an encouraging faculty is difficult to balance, though it is clear that the University of Wyoming, as of now, is meeting neither benchmark.

To read more into the Dichotomy of Realities - Gender in STEM at the University of Wyoming, click here.