Julia Savoy | University of Wisconsin-Madison (original) (raw)

Uploads

Papers by Julia Savoy

Journal of Women's Health, 2017

Background: Many studies find that female faculty in academic medicine, science, and engineering ... more Background: Many studies find that female faculty in academic medicine, science, and engineering experience adverse workplace climates. This study longitudinally investigates whether department climate is associated with future research productivity and whether the associations are stronger for female than male faculty.

Method: Two waves of a faculty climate survey, institutional grant records, and publication records were collected for 789 faculties in academic medicine, science, and engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison between 2000 and 2010. Research productivity was measured as Number of Publications and Number of Grants awarded, and department climate was measured with scales for professional interactions, department decision-making practices, climate for underrepresented groups, and work/life balance. Ordinary least squares and negative binomial regression methods were used to assess gender differences in productivity, influences of department climate on productivity, and gender differences in effects of climate on productivity.

Results: Female faculty published fewer articles and were awarded fewer grants in the baseline period, but their productivity did not differ from male faculty on these measures in subsequent years. Number of Publications was positively affected by professional interactions, but negatively affected by positive work/life balance. Number of Grants awarded was positively affected by climate for underrepresented groups. These main effects did not differ by gender; however, some three-way interactions illuminated how different aspects of department climate affected productivity differently for men and women in specific situations.

Conclusions: In perhaps the first study to assess the longitudinal impact of department climate on faculty research productivity, positive department climate is associated with significantly greater productivity for all faculty—women and men. However, some positive aspects of climate (specifically, work/life balance) may be associated with lower productivity for some female faculty at specific career periods. These findings suggest that departments that wish to increase grants and publications would be wise to foster a positive workplace climate.

CBE-Life Sciences Education, 2017

Explicit racial bias has decreased in the United States, but racial stereotypes still exist and c... more Explicit racial bias has decreased in the United States, but racial stereotypes still exist and conspire in multiple ways to perpetuate the underparticipation of Blacks in science careers. Capitalizing on the potential effectiveness of role-playing video games to promote the type of active learning required to increase awareness of and reduce subtle racial bias, we developed the video game Fair Play, in which players take on the role of Jamal, a Black male graduate student in science, who experiences discrimination in his PhD program. We describe a mixed-methods evaluation of the experience of scientific workforce trainers who played Fair Play at the National Institutes of Health Division of Training Workforce Development and Diversity program directors’ meeting in 2013 (n = 47; 76% female, n = 34; 53% nonwhite, n = 26). The evaluation findings suggest that Fair Play can promote perspective taking and increase bias literacy, which are steps toward reducing racial bias and affording Blacks equal opportunities to excel in science.

Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2017

Self-efficacy beliefs are strong predictors of academic pursuits, performance, and persistence, a... more Self-efficacy beliefs are strong predictors of academic pursuits, performance, and persistence, and in theory are developed and maintained by 4 classes of experiences Bandura (1986) referred to as sources: performance accomplishments (PA), vicarious learning (VL), social persuasion (SP), and affective arousal (AA). The effects of sources on self-efficacy vary by performance domain and individual difference factors. In this meta-analysis (k = 61 studies of academic self-efficacy; N = 8,965), we employed B. J. Becker’s (2009) model-based approach to examine cumulative effects of the sources as a set and unique effects of each source, controlling for the others. Following Becker’s recommendations, we used available data to create a correlation matrix for the 4 sources and self-efficacy, then used these meta-analytically derived correlations to test our path model. We further examined moderation of these associations by subject area (STEM vs. non-STEM), grade, sex, and ethnicity. PA showed by far the strongest unique association with self-efficacy beliefs. Subject area was a significant moderator, with sources collectively predicting self-efficacy more strongly in non-STEM (k = 14) compared with STEM (k = 47) subjects (R2 = .37 and .22, respectively). Within studies of STEM subjects, grade level was a significant moderator of the coefficients in our path model, as were 2 continuous study characteristics (percent non-White and percent female). Practical implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

CBE-Life Sciences Education, 2018

To help prepare future faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to tea... more To help prepare future faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to teach undergraduates, more research universities are offering teaching development (TD) programs to doctoral students who aspire to academic careers.
Using social cognitive career theory, we examine the effects of TD programs on early-career STEM scholars' sense of self-efficacy as postsecondary teachers. In 2011, a survey questionnaire was administered to 2156 people who in 2009 were doctoral students in STEM departments at three US research universities; 1445 responded (67%). Regression analysis revealed positive relationships between TD participation and participants' college teaching self-efficacy and positive interaction effects for women. These findings may be used to improve the quality and quantity of TD offerings and help them gain wider acceptance.

Advances in Gender Research, 2014

Purpose We discuss the implementation of workshops for faculty search committees at the Universit... more Purpose We discuss the implementation of workshops for faculty search committees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A central focus of the workshops is to introduce faculty to research on the influence of unconscious bias on the evaluation of job candidates and to recommend evidence-based strategies for minimizing this bias. The workshops aim to help universities achieve their goals of recruiting excellent and diverse faculty. Methodology With basic descriptive statistics and a simple logistic regression analysis, we utilize several datasets to examine participants’ responses to the workshop and assess changes in the percentage of women who receive offers and accept positions. Findings Faculty members are becoming aware of the role bias can play in evaluating faculty applicants and are learning strategies for minimizing bias. In departments where women are underrepresented, workshop participation is associated with a significant increase in the odds of making a job offer to a woman candidate, and with a non-significant increase in the odds of hiring a woman. Limitations This study is limited by our inability to assess the diversity of the applicant pools our faculty search committees recruit and by lack of control over the myriad other factors that influence hiring. Data are from a single institution and therefore these results may not generalize to other universities. Originality/value Educating faculty search committees about the role of unconscious bias and presenting them with evidence-based strategies for minimizing its influence promotes changes that contribute to increasing representation of women faculty.

A commitment to practice change (CTC) approach may be used in educational program evaluation to d... more A commitment to practice change (CTC) approach may be used in educational program evaluation to document practice changes, examine the educational impact relative to the instructional focus, and improve understanding of the learning-to-change continuum. The authors reviewed various components and procedures of this approach and discussed some practical aspects of its application using an example of a study evaluating a presentation on menopausal care for primary care physicians. The CTC approach is a valuable evaluation tool, but it requires supplementation with other data to have a complete picture of the impact of education on practice. From the evaluation perspective, the self-reported nature of the CTC data is a major limitation of this method.

Books by Julia Savoy

Mapping the Field of Adult and Continuing Education: An International Compendium, 2017

This article provides a guide for developing and using self-assessment tools to enhance the teach... more This article provides a guide for developing and using self-assessment tools to enhance the teaching proficiency of educators of adults and others in counseling or advising professions.

Conference Presentations by Julia Savoy

In academic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the U.S. professoriate rema... more In academic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the U.S. professoriate remains disproportionately White and male, despite decades of effort to make hiring and tenure processes more just. To examine the likelihood of a doctorate recipient first obtaining a tenure-track position and then receiving tenure and to investigate the effects of sex and race, we analyzed data from the Survey of Doctorate Recipients collected between 1993-2010 (n = 31,370), employing two separate discrete time event history models via logistic regression. In obtaining a tenure-track position, Black and Hispanic doctorate recipients were hired faster than were White doctorates, and Asian doctorate recipients were hired later than White doctorates. Single men and women with a child under six were least likely to be hired. In receiving tenure, Black assistant professors and women assistant professors with a child under six were each at a significant disadvantage.

Journal of Women's Health, 2017

Background: Many studies find that female faculty in academic medicine, science, and engineering ... more Background: Many studies find that female faculty in academic medicine, science, and engineering experience adverse workplace climates. This study longitudinally investigates whether department climate is associated with future research productivity and whether the associations are stronger for female than male faculty.

Method: Two waves of a faculty climate survey, institutional grant records, and publication records were collected for 789 faculties in academic medicine, science, and engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison between 2000 and 2010. Research productivity was measured as Number of Publications and Number of Grants awarded, and department climate was measured with scales for professional interactions, department decision-making practices, climate for underrepresented groups, and work/life balance. Ordinary least squares and negative binomial regression methods were used to assess gender differences in productivity, influences of department climate on productivity, and gender differences in effects of climate on productivity.

Results: Female faculty published fewer articles and were awarded fewer grants in the baseline period, but their productivity did not differ from male faculty on these measures in subsequent years. Number of Publications was positively affected by professional interactions, but negatively affected by positive work/life balance. Number of Grants awarded was positively affected by climate for underrepresented groups. These main effects did not differ by gender; however, some three-way interactions illuminated how different aspects of department climate affected productivity differently for men and women in specific situations.

Conclusions: In perhaps the first study to assess the longitudinal impact of department climate on faculty research productivity, positive department climate is associated with significantly greater productivity for all faculty—women and men. However, some positive aspects of climate (specifically, work/life balance) may be associated with lower productivity for some female faculty at specific career periods. These findings suggest that departments that wish to increase grants and publications would be wise to foster a positive workplace climate.

CBE-Life Sciences Education, 2017

Explicit racial bias has decreased in the United States, but racial stereotypes still exist and c... more Explicit racial bias has decreased in the United States, but racial stereotypes still exist and conspire in multiple ways to perpetuate the underparticipation of Blacks in science careers. Capitalizing on the potential effectiveness of role-playing video games to promote the type of active learning required to increase awareness of and reduce subtle racial bias, we developed the video game Fair Play, in which players take on the role of Jamal, a Black male graduate student in science, who experiences discrimination in his PhD program. We describe a mixed-methods evaluation of the experience of scientific workforce trainers who played Fair Play at the National Institutes of Health Division of Training Workforce Development and Diversity program directors’ meeting in 2013 (n = 47; 76% female, n = 34; 53% nonwhite, n = 26). The evaluation findings suggest that Fair Play can promote perspective taking and increase bias literacy, which are steps toward reducing racial bias and affording Blacks equal opportunities to excel in science.

Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2017

Self-efficacy beliefs are strong predictors of academic pursuits, performance, and persistence, a... more Self-efficacy beliefs are strong predictors of academic pursuits, performance, and persistence, and in theory are developed and maintained by 4 classes of experiences Bandura (1986) referred to as sources: performance accomplishments (PA), vicarious learning (VL), social persuasion (SP), and affective arousal (AA). The effects of sources on self-efficacy vary by performance domain and individual difference factors. In this meta-analysis (k = 61 studies of academic self-efficacy; N = 8,965), we employed B. J. Becker’s (2009) model-based approach to examine cumulative effects of the sources as a set and unique effects of each source, controlling for the others. Following Becker’s recommendations, we used available data to create a correlation matrix for the 4 sources and self-efficacy, then used these meta-analytically derived correlations to test our path model. We further examined moderation of these associations by subject area (STEM vs. non-STEM), grade, sex, and ethnicity. PA showed by far the strongest unique association with self-efficacy beliefs. Subject area was a significant moderator, with sources collectively predicting self-efficacy more strongly in non-STEM (k = 14) compared with STEM (k = 47) subjects (R2 = .37 and .22, respectively). Within studies of STEM subjects, grade level was a significant moderator of the coefficients in our path model, as were 2 continuous study characteristics (percent non-White and percent female). Practical implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

CBE-Life Sciences Education, 2018

To help prepare future faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to tea... more To help prepare future faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to teach undergraduates, more research universities are offering teaching development (TD) programs to doctoral students who aspire to academic careers.
Using social cognitive career theory, we examine the effects of TD programs on early-career STEM scholars' sense of self-efficacy as postsecondary teachers. In 2011, a survey questionnaire was administered to 2156 people who in 2009 were doctoral students in STEM departments at three US research universities; 1445 responded (67%). Regression analysis revealed positive relationships between TD participation and participants' college teaching self-efficacy and positive interaction effects for women. These findings may be used to improve the quality and quantity of TD offerings and help them gain wider acceptance.

Advances in Gender Research, 2014

Purpose We discuss the implementation of workshops for faculty search committees at the Universit... more Purpose We discuss the implementation of workshops for faculty search committees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A central focus of the workshops is to introduce faculty to research on the influence of unconscious bias on the evaluation of job candidates and to recommend evidence-based strategies for minimizing this bias. The workshops aim to help universities achieve their goals of recruiting excellent and diverse faculty. Methodology With basic descriptive statistics and a simple logistic regression analysis, we utilize several datasets to examine participants’ responses to the workshop and assess changes in the percentage of women who receive offers and accept positions. Findings Faculty members are becoming aware of the role bias can play in evaluating faculty applicants and are learning strategies for minimizing bias. In departments where women are underrepresented, workshop participation is associated with a significant increase in the odds of making a job offer to a woman candidate, and with a non-significant increase in the odds of hiring a woman. Limitations This study is limited by our inability to assess the diversity of the applicant pools our faculty search committees recruit and by lack of control over the myriad other factors that influence hiring. Data are from a single institution and therefore these results may not generalize to other universities. Originality/value Educating faculty search committees about the role of unconscious bias and presenting them with evidence-based strategies for minimizing its influence promotes changes that contribute to increasing representation of women faculty.

A commitment to practice change (CTC) approach may be used in educational program evaluation to d... more A commitment to practice change (CTC) approach may be used in educational program evaluation to document practice changes, examine the educational impact relative to the instructional focus, and improve understanding of the learning-to-change continuum. The authors reviewed various components and procedures of this approach and discussed some practical aspects of its application using an example of a study evaluating a presentation on menopausal care for primary care physicians. The CTC approach is a valuable evaluation tool, but it requires supplementation with other data to have a complete picture of the impact of education on practice. From the evaluation perspective, the self-reported nature of the CTC data is a major limitation of this method.

Mapping the Field of Adult and Continuing Education: An International Compendium, 2017

This article provides a guide for developing and using self-assessment tools to enhance the teach... more This article provides a guide for developing and using self-assessment tools to enhance the teaching proficiency of educators of adults and others in counseling or advising professions.

In academic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the U.S. professoriate rema... more In academic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the U.S. professoriate remains disproportionately White and male, despite decades of effort to make hiring and tenure processes more just. To examine the likelihood of a doctorate recipient first obtaining a tenure-track position and then receiving tenure and to investigate the effects of sex and race, we analyzed data from the Survey of Doctorate Recipients collected between 1993-2010 (n = 31,370), employing two separate discrete time event history models via logistic regression. In obtaining a tenure-track position, Black and Hispanic doctorate recipients were hired faster than were White doctorates, and Asian doctorate recipients were hired later than White doctorates. Single men and women with a child under six were least likely to be hired. In receiving tenure, Black assistant professors and women assistant professors with a child under six were each at a significant disadvantage.