Colorado State University’s Council on Gender Equity on the Faculty has multiple openings for members from across campus to serve the mission of addressing issues facing women faculty.
CoGenoGen, originally established in 2014 by former CSU President Tony Frank as the Standing Committee on the Status of Women Faculty under the President’s Commission on Women and Gender, is looking to fill five vacant college representative seats this semester, according to co-chair Jimena Sagàs, an associate professor in the CSU Libraries. The council includes representatives of every faculty status from all eight colleges and the CSU Libraries.
“This spring, our working groups will focus on projects and initiatives, such as the Provost’s Ethics Colloquium and related seminar series led by Lumina Albert, improving equity in service led by Liba Goldstein, and parental leave and childcare, led by me,” said co-chair Jessica Metcalf, an associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences.
“A major priority that I will lead is developing and aligning our agenda with other groups across campus working on similar issues,” Sagàs added.
About CoGen
CoGen works to advance the University’s goal of making Colorado State the best environment for women to teach, learn and work. It focuses explicitly on issues affecting the work life, campus climate and persistent barriers inhibiting the success of women faculty at CSU. The council reports directly to President Joyce McConnell and offers recommendations for ways the University might help counter pervasive national challenges related to women in academia, including all disciplines where women are historically and currently underrepresented.
“We want to hear about issues faculty are confronting, and so we are implementing new ‘office hours’ once a month to establish a space for women to connect with members of CoGen and speak what may be on their mind,” Sagàs explained. “It will also serve as workshop time for CoGen members and key partners to work on current projects and initiatives.”
Recent CoGen projects and initiatives are focusing on the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic to women faculty, in particular how faculty evaluations could be affected during the pivot to remote teaching and learning, and the continuing challenges of faculty parents with children experiencing school/daycare closures.
How to apply
Anyone interested in becoming a member of CoGen can complete the application form online: https://president.colostate.edu/cogen-new-member-form/
Nominations from colleges as well as self-nominations are encouraged. Preliminary selection of regular members will be conducted by committee members with final approval and appointment by the University president.
All members serve three-year terms and are eligible for reappointment twice.
