Conference for assistant professors to focus on navigating academia to achieve promotion

The Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence in collaboration with the Office of the Provost will hold the 11th annual Conference for Assistant Professors titled "Navigating Academia to Achieve Promotion: You Can Make It Happen!" on Oct. 6-7 in a live virtual format.

The barriers and challenges faced by women and faculty of color have not changed substantially in the past three or more decades, and there are still very few women in leadership positions in academia. Therefore, the conference is significant for enabling women’s success and facilitating their entry into leadership positions, says Mangala Subramaniam, director of the Butler Center.

Offered in the fall each year since 2010, the conference brings assistant professors from across the country together on Purdue’s campus to discuss, share information, learn strategies and meet with others in an effort to raise women’s success in earning tenure/promotion. Although this conference focuses on assistant professors, all faculty, postdocs and graduate students can benefit from the strategies and insights offered by the keynote speakers, the workshop and breakout sessions. Men are welcome to participate.

The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled a shift to a virtual platform in 2020. The structure of the live virtual conference is the same as in past years. The conference will feature keynote speakers on both days, breakout panel sessions on topics of relevance for assistant professors, and a workshop on resilience and vulnerability.

The keynote presentation on Oct. 6 will be by Samantha Power, the Anna Lindh Professor of Practice, Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Law School, Harvard University. The tentative title for the keynote is "Leadership that Makes a Difference."

The conference is free for Purdue faculty, postdocs and graduate students, who must email butlercenter@purdue.edu for the code before registering. Faculty, postdocs and graduate students from outside Purdue will pay a registration fee. Registration is expected to open in early August.

More information, including the conference schedule, workshop, and breakout sessions, is available on the conference webpage.