Karen Froelich, professor of management and marketing, has been selected as director for the National Science Foundation-funded NDSU Advance FORWARD project. She will begin her new duties Aug. 16.
Froelich has been involved in FORWARD activities for nearly 10 years, predating the NSF ADVANCE grant award in 2008. She contributed to that NSF grant proposal, has served on the project’s steering committee and chaired the Commission on the Status of Women Faculty.
Froelich was chosen after a campuswide search process.
"I am honored to be selected as the one to lead this transition and assure that the exceptional work of ADVANCE FORWARD continues," said Froelich, who will serve in the role for the 2015-16 academic year, the final year of NSF funding for the Advance FORWARD project.
The NDSU Advance FORWARD Program, funded by an NSF institutional transformation grant of almost $4 million, seeks to study and address issues of recruitment, retention and advancement of women faculty within the STEM disciplines. Specific program goals include: improve the climate across the campus and narrow the gap between men’s and women’s perceptions of the campus climate, employ targeted recruiting strategies to recruit women faculty, retain more women faculty through their probationary period and the promotion/tenure process, support women associate professors as they move to full professor and hire advanced rank women to build a critical mass and promote and hire women faculty into academic leadership positions.
Froelich will administer the FORWARD program, work with the FORWARD steering committee on issues involving women faculty, develop a strategic plan for ongoing institutionally supported FORWARD efforts and bring the NSF grant to conclusion.
“Professor Froelich's passion for the recruitment, advancement, retention and development of female faculty is evident to all those who know her. I look forward to seeing that energy continue to foster a positive culture that benefits all of us in the NDSU community,” said Jane Schuh, interim dean of the College of Business.
Vice Provost Canan Bilen-Green added, “Professor Froelich has been a strong and effective campus advocate for FORWARD aspirations and a crucial resource for so many faculty, staff and students. She will provide leadership to further institutionalize FORWARD goals and continue the progress already made through the NSF funding.”
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