ABSTRACT: 2014 ELATE Institutional Action Project Poster Symposium
Project Title: LEAD@CMU: Leveling the Field for Engineering Faculty via Professional Development and
Leadership Training at CMU
Name and Institution: Diana Marculescu, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie
Mellon University
Collaborators: James H. Garrett, Jr., P.E., Dean, College of Engineering, Thomas Lord Professor of Civil
and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
Background, Challenge or Opportunity:
The most valuable asset of an academic institution is its faculty body – indeed, research excellence,
leadership in education, and overall reputation of a university are intrinsically tied to the quality of its
faculty members. Due to its vibrant and high caliber faculty working in strategically chosen, impactful
research directions, Carnegie Mellon University has become an international leader in engineering, with
unmatched strength in entrepreneurial and learning innovation. To achieve sustainable impact, one
must provide formal, rather than ad-hoc, mechanisms for faculty development, leadership training,
coupled with increased diversity not only in demographics, but also faculty worldview and background.
Purpose/Objectives:
The LEAD@CMU project proposes to address the need for sustaining a vibrant and diverse engineering
faculty body by developing a continuum of policies and well defined mechanisms, rather than point
solutions. The LEAD@CMU program will provide formal mechanisms for:
1. Junior faculty professional development via workshops and focused one-time events;
2. Senior faculty leadership skill building via training workshops;
3. Identifying best practices for mentoring mechanisms;
4. Formal engineering women faculty networking retreats focused on identifying actionable outcomes
supporting increased status and number of engineering women faculty.
Methods/Approach:
The effort is comprised of multiple steps: (i) data and anecdotal information collection, and (ii)
faculty/administration retreats and focused task forces where recommendations will be formulated and
solutions will be identified and developed. The major components of the program are (chronologically):
1. A series of three events focusing on the status of women faculty in engineering. The events will
comprise of a mix of external speakers, a panel featuring selected peer institutional experiences,
followed by breakout discussions resulting in clearly identified actionable outcomes for enhancing
the status and number of women engineering faculty.
2. An annual new faculty orientation focused on issues specific to junior engineering faculty navigating
the landscape of performing research, student advising/mentoring, forging ties with industrial and
federal funding agencies, and balancing work and personal life.
3. Periodic events and workshops targeting faculty professional development, either junior- or seniorfaculty specific. Topics include: benchmark-driven personal assessment and improvement,
professional development planning, conflict management and negotiation.
4. Best practices for faculty mentoring via workshops or single events for faculty mentors, faculty
mentees, or both.
Outcomes and Evaluation:
The project will be evaluated via faculty/senior leadership surveys and focus group feedback:
1. Direct quantitative metrics: faculty satisfaction; leadership satisfaction with the faculty quality and
output; diversity in faculty body; evaluation of progress in professional development via 360
assessments;
2. Indirect quantitative metrics: research and educational output of the engineering faculty.
LEAD@CMU: Leveling the Field for Engineering Faculty
via Professional Development and Leadership Training at CMU
Diana Marculescu
Presented at the 2014 ELATE®
Leaders Forum
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Vision
Challenge and Opportunity
 For sustainable impact, support is needed for:
 Formal mechanisms for faculty development and
leadership training
 Increased diversity not only in demographics, but also
faculty worldview and background.
Where Are We?
Vibrant, high quality faculty
New orientation for
junior engineering faculty
Best practices for faculty
mentoring
Nurture & Grow
Retreat series for
addressing issues
facing women faculty
Teaching excellence
Faculty support
and development
Faculty development
workshops
Professional
development planning
Managing others and self
Innovation and
entrepreneurship
Develop & Support
Balance and Diversity
 Most valuable asset of an academic institution is its
faculty body
 CMU is an international leader in engineering, with
unmatched strength in entrepreneurial and learning
innovation
Expected Outcome and Assessment
Short- and long-term
actionable objectives
1 in 12
Dept.
heads
Faculty
Grad students
 Diversity: “leaky” pipeline
1 in 6
Faculty
Engagement
 Need: actionable objectives
addressing it
 Faculty development
Endwd. profs.
Women in engineering
 Need: formal support to enable
higher research, educational,
entrepreneurial impact
New faculty
Women
faculty
retreats &
events
Review
Discuss
Adapt
Fall surveys and
assessments
 Personal development and 360 benchmarks
 Annual diversity analysis
 Periodic surveys
 Indirect metrics: Improved
 Research, education, and entrepreneurial faculty output
 Institutional image
 James H. Garrett, Jr., P.E., Dean, College of
Engineering, Thomas Lord Professor of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon
University
 Shelley Anna, Professor of Mechanical Engineering
and Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon
University
 Need: best practices exchange
1 in 4
 Assessed by
Collaborators
Review
Discuss
Adapt
 Mentoring: all engineering depts.
Leadership competencies in faculty body
Number of women faculty
Satisfaction of faculty with mentoring experience
Satisfaction of senior administration with faculty body
Faculty quality of life
 Internal and external faculty recognition/awards
 External institutional image presence
Spring surveys and
assessments
 Need: include research/others





 Assessed by
Approach
 Faculty orientation: teaching only
 Direct metrics: Increased
Faculty
Engagement
Acknowledgments
Margaret Kupferle, U. of Cincinnati
Sue McNeill, U. Delaware
Jan Naegele, Wesleyan U.
Elena Naumova, Tufts U.
Anne Robertson, U. of Pittsburgh
Hong Tan, Purdue U.
For feedback and support