UNC Charlotte ADVANCE Acts As Catalyst

UNC Charlotte ADVANCE seeks to create an institutional environment to support the recruitment, retention and academic success of women faculty, especially those in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) disciplines, and to increase the success of all faculty campus-wide.

The initiative does this through systemic efforts including policy work, faculty mentoring, leadership development, diversity recruitment strategies, competitive grants and a speakers series featuring prestigious women leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math fields.

To support its work, UNC Charlotte received a five-year National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant, known as an Institutional Transformation Award. The first year of the grant began in fall 2006, and the Principal Investigator for the grant is Dr. Joan Lorden, UNC Charlotte Provost and Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs. UNC Charlotte ADVANCE benefits from a larger ADVANCE cohort in which Institutional Transformation Awards recipients collaborate and share best practices related to this work.