It Takes a Village: Creating a Supportive Community for Junior Women Faculty

Call for Participation

Co-Chairs:
Jia (Jasmine) Hu, The Ohio State University
Yi (Amy) Ou, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Overview and Purpose
Despite their increased presence in academia, women scholars experience double challenges as they navigate the complexities of pregnancy, motherhood, and child caregiving alongside meeting work demands pertaining tenure and promotion (Gabriel et al., 2022). This workshop provides a developmental forum in the IACMR community for junior women faculty to interact with peers and senior colleagues about how to survive and thrive in their academic careers while maintaining a balance between work and life. This PDW is open to all IACMR junior faculty members (both women and men) before receiving tenure. The PDW includes a combination of speaker presentations, questions & answers sections, roundtable discussions, as well as the opportunity to network with peers and leading global faculty alike. Through this PDW, we hope to offer emotional and cognitive resources to junior women academics, to raise broader awareness of the unique challenges women academics face, and to nurture a climate of care, support, and confidence in the IACMR community.

Format
Below is the suggested timeline and format for the session for the proposed 2.5-hour session.

Part 1: Welcome and introductions (approximately 3 minutes)
The organizers will display a list of tables and facilitators on the projector screen beforethe session begins. After introducing the session and providing some basic guidelines for the session, we will then briefly introduce our expert presenters and facilitators.

Part 2: Presentations (approximately 75 minutes)
A total of six presentations will be given during our PDW by accomplished scholars withpersonal experiences on work-life issues. Each presenter will share 8-10 minutes sharing their personal stories, observations, advice, and suggestions about how women academics can better meet with career and family demands. Here is the list of confirmed speakers:

• Xiao-Ping Chen, University of Washington
• Yan Anthea Zhang, Rice University
• Xuhong Li, Fudan University
• Fuli Li, Xi’an Jiaotong University
• David H. Zhu, Arizona State University
• Wu Liu, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

The first four speakers (Xiao-Ping Chen, Anthea Zhang, Xuhong Li, Fuli Li) will share their personal experiences and suggestions for junior women academics. The fifth speaker (David Zhu, VP/Program chair at IAMCR) will talk about how to grow a supportive community through IACMR. The sixth speaker (Wu Liu, department head at HKPU) will speak about howto support junior women scholars from an administrator’s perspective.

At the end of the six presentations, we will host a 15-min Q&A section for the audienceto ask the speakers questions.

Part 3: Roundtable Discussions (approximately 60 minutes)
Part 3 will consist of two rotations, each lasting 30 minutes, with the experts stationed at each table. During each session, the expert facilitators will open the floor for discussion. Importantly, the facilitators will be asked to not only answer questions of the participants and share their experiences and suggestions, but also encourage idea exchanges amongst the participants. Participants and facilitators are given the option to discuss in a breakout room via zoom if they are unable to make it in person. The list of table topics and scholars who are have committed to moderate the table discussions is below.

1. How to achieve work-life balanceDeng Hong, Durham University 
Huiwen Lian, Texas A&M University

2. Whether to start a family before tenureStephanie Lu Wang, Indiana University
Minyuan Zhao, Washington University in St. Louis

3. How to manage stress and be resilient in the early career phaseJane Jiang, Nanjing University
Erica Xu, Hong Kong Baptist University

4. How to manage time and balance research, teaching, and serviceVivian Guo, China Europe International Business SchoolWing Lam, University of Manchester
Rong Su, University of Iowa

5. How to gain resources and supportShuping Li, Hong Kong Polytechnic University 
Lynda Jiwen Song, University of Leeds

Part 4: Debrief Section (approximately 12 minutes)
In the final section, participants from each table can voluntarily share what they learnedfrom the roundtable discussions.

Language
English/Chinese. The proposed language is English, but participants can speak Chinese inround table discussions and Q&A sections if they feel more comfortable to do so.

Please send email to Valerie Liangyu Wei at valerie-liangyu.wei@polyu.edu.hk if you are interested in participating this PDW.

Reminder: To attend the PDW ‘It Takes a Village: Creating a Supportive Community for Junior Women Faculty’, you are required to register for the 2023 IACMR Conference. To register for the conference, please click here.