Unintended Positive Consequences of an NSF-funded System-wide Collaboration

Abstract Four campuses from the California State University (CSU) system received an NSF ADVANCE Partnership grant to increase the participation and advancement of historically underrepresented women in engineering and foster gender equity, focusing on identifying and eliminating organizational barriers. The grant encompasses four components: i) development of a faculty success dashboard, ii) research alliance, iii) mentoring, and iv) engagement with the NSF Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Aspire Alliance. These initiatives have led to increased inter-university connections and collaborations, particularly through periodic speed mentoring sessions that provide a platform for discussing topics such as academic leadership, navigating tenure, proposal writing, overcoming biases and microaggressions, and balancing career and family. The collaborative effort has led to deep explorations of equity and transparency concerns facilitated by the shared institutional context and governance. The paper aims to provide a comprehensive account of these activities and the positive outcomes facilitated by these connections, presenting data from an external evaluator from the perspective of mentors.