Equity Advising

Equity advisors are senior STEM faculty members who have been trained to serve as a resource for STEM faculty, working closely with her or his dean to achieve an equitable environment for all STEM faculty at their respective colleges and/or institutions.

In addition to assisting STEM faculty members with questions or concerns related to teaching, research, promotion and tenure criteria, or work/life balance, equity advisors also help to monitor and assess institutional policies that affect the workplace, achieve diversity in the faculty recruitment process, and improve equity in retention and advancement of STEM faculty.

Equity advisors have been appointed in proportion to the scope and size of their constituencies: one each for the Air Force Institute of Technology and Central State; two each for the University of Dayton and Wright State University, and one for each of their two STEM colleges.

Equity Adivsors are responsible for:

Contributing to the faculty recruitment process by assisting in search activities, working with their Dean, Department Chairs and Search Committees, meeting with candidates and working to raise faculty awareness of the need for equity and diversity.

Improving equity in the retention and advancement of STEM faculty by collaborating with faculty, their Dean, and the LEADER Team to develop and implement programs.

Assisting in promoting faculty equity by advising their Dean and central administration of any inequities, working with their Deans and Department Chairs in assessing faculty for equity review and consulting with search committees.

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Our Equity Advisors

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Feel free to contact the Equity Advisor at your institution via e-mail or phone.

Dr. Aihua W. Wood

Dr. Aihua W. Wood is the equity advisor for AFIT, where she is a professor of mathematics. As AFIT’s equity advisor, Dr. Wood facilitates bias-free faculty searches; reviews annual scorecard data for the institution, alerting the chair and/or dean of inequities based on salary, space and professional development; and implements equity programming aligned with the unique diversity needs of AFIT.

Dr. Wood has served on a number of elective offices of the Faculty Council and is currently the chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics Promotion and Tenure Committee Chairperson. Dr. Wood’s research interests include partial differential equations, electromagnetic wave propagation, and finite element analysis. Over her academic career, she has presented over 50 invited talks at conferences/ workshops and colloquia, published 40 archival journal articles, and brought in approximately $1M in research funding. She has guided a number of theses to completion and funded several postdoctoral associates.

Aihua Wood received her B.S. from Beijing University and Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut in mathematics. She served as an Assistant Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School for three years and the Pennsylvania State University at Erie for one year before joining the faculty at the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1994. She has been a Professor of Mathematics since 2002. In her hometown of Qingdao, China, she has established an Aihua Scholarship Fund with the Ocean University of China to promote excellence in mathematics.

Dr. Joe Ross

Coming Soon!

Professor Rebecca Blust

Professor Rebecca Blust is the equity advisor for the School of Engineering at UD and is an associate professor in the Department of Engineering Technology. As equity advisor, Prof. Blust facilitates bias-free faculty searches; reviews annual scorecard data for her college, alerting the department chair and/or dean of inequities based on salary, space and professional development; and implements equity programming aligned with the unique diversity needs of her unit.

Professor Blust is the coordinator for UD’s Innovation Center and Design and Manufacturing Clinic. Professor Blust is also the representative for the School of Engineering on the University Promotion and Tenure Committee and has served as a University Faculty Mediator for the Associate Provost at UD.

Professor Blust was the Co-PI on a $200,000 NSF STEM grant in addition to a $500,000 grant from the Kern Family Foundation. Blust is currently serves as the academic advisor to the UD Women’s Engineering Sorority (Phi Sigma Rho). She has participated in UD’s Women in Engineering Summer Camp for the past 10 years and Explore Engineering. Professor Blust is dedicated to community service and has developed and participated in the Lunch Buddies program, which pairs college female engineering students with 6th and 7th grade girls every Friday to do STEM activities. She has also served as the director of Camp Invention, a program that fosters creativity and invention among K-5th graders.

Dr. Wiebke Diestelkamp

Dr. Wiebke Diestelkamp is the equity advisor for the College of Arts and Sciences at UD, where she is an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics. As equity advisor, Dr. Diestelkamp facilitates bias-free faculty searches; reviews annual scorecard data for her college, alerting the department chair and/or dean of inequities based on salary, space and professional development; and implements equity programming aligned with the unique diversity needs of her unit.

At the institution, Dr. Diestelkamp has served on the Academic Senate and its Academic Policies Committee, the Research Council and the College of Arts & Sciences Academic Affairs Committee. She was a faculty mentor for a minority student in mathematics for the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation program, and she has served as a mentor for a new female faculty member in biology. She is currently serving on the Judicial Hearing Board. In 2002 and 2004, she was a co-organizer of Conversations among Women in Mathematics, a program consisting of a panel on careers and workshops on various topics in mathematics.

Dr. Diestelkamp’s research interests are in design of experiments and combinatorics. She is a member of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the American Statistical Association (ASA). She is active in the Ohio Section of the MAA, serving as liaison coordinator and as co-organizer of Ohio NExT (New Experiences in Teaching), a professional development program for new mathematics faculty in Ohio.

Dr. Lawrence Prochaska

Dr. Lawrence Prochaska is the equity advisor for the College of Science and Mathematics at WSU, where he is professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. As equity advisor, Dr. Prochaska facilitates bias-free faculty searches; reviews annual scorecard data for his college, alerting the department chair and/or dean of inequities based on salary, space and professional development; and implements equity programming aligned with the unique diversity needs of his unit.

Dr. Prochaska chairs several diversity-related committees at WSU, including the University Diversity Policies and Practices subcommittee, and the College and Departmental Diversity Committees. He also serves on WSU’s AAUP Committee W and the Gender Equity Committee of University Athletics Council and has attended NCORE and received Steven Covey leadership training.

Dr. Prochaska's research interests are in heart cellular bioenergetics and specifically, mechanisms of energy transduction in the mitochondrial respiratory chain enzyme, cytochrome c oxidase. He has over 40 publications in peer-reviewed journals and his research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, and the Department of Defense. His honors at WSU include awards from the School of Medicine which include the Faculty Mentor Award, Faculty Excellence in Medical Education Award, and the WSU Academy of Medicine Outstanding Senior Faculty in Medical Education and Research.

Dr. Tarun Goswami

Tarun Goswami is the equity advisor for College of Engineering and Computer Science at WSU. As equity advisor, Dr. Goswami facilitates bias-free faculty searches; reviews annual scorecard data for his college, alerting the department chair and/or dean of inequities based on salary, space and professional development; and implements equity programming aligned with the unique diversity needs of his unit.

Dr. Goswami holds a joint appointment at the institution, serving as associate professor of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering, and of Orthopaedic Surgery, Sports Medicine, and Rehabilitation. Dr. Goswami leads a large group of students comprising post doctoral fellows, orthopaedic residents, engineering Ph.D., M.S., B.S. students, and medical students. In his research group, the gender equity is highly visible and far exceeds the national average—nearly 50% of his engineering Ph.D. students are women.

Prior to joining WSU, Dr. Goswami was the chair of the mechanical engineering department at Ohio Northern University and played a key role in the hiring of women faculty members there. Dr. Goswami has diverse research interests in orthopaedic biomechanics, biomaterials, medical devices, pre-term birth issues (which relates to women) and developing new bio-markers to predict various medical conditions. He has active grants from U.S. Air Force and Army and has published more than 75 articles in archival journals.