Work on the three-year grant began in early 2020. Western's team created a cross-institutional women's caucus, developing programming including lectures, films, discussions and workshops to address biases facing women in STEM fields. Some of the recordings are still available to watch online.

"What I like about this program is it's kind of two prongs: There's the women's caucus activities, which are more aimed at raising awareness around issues of gender and racial bias and STEM, and then there are the training pieces … and support networks for faculty," says Dr. Heather Petcovic, co-principal investigator on the grant and chair of Western's Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences.

Clockwise from top left: Dr. Carla Koretsky, Dr. Heather Petcovic, Deirdre Courtney and Dr. Michelle Hrivnyak

"I enjoy thinking about how we can support women on campus, how we can support everyone on campus really, to make this a better place. It's really been positive in that respect," adds Dr. Carla Koretsky, co-principal investigator and dean of Western's College of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Michelle Hrivnyak, faculty specialist in the Institute for Intercultural and Anthropological Studies, and Deirdre Courtney, a part-time instructor and Ph.D. candidate, are fellows on the project. They facilitated the cross-institutional caucus series, coordinated the events and collected feedback from participants.