Brehm to study female educators

When IU-Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm's high school guidance counselor informed her that she wasn't allowed to apply to the University of Virginia as a female, she knew a change was needed.\nThis was in 1963, and unless a woman wished to become a nurse or architect, she was not allowed to apply to the UVA until her junior year.\n"It was sex-segregated and (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill) was the same way," Brehm said. "It was outrageous, and Yale and Princeton were strictly male as well."\nForty years and several administrative positions later, Brehm has seen dramatic inclusiveness of women in higher education.\nAlthough Brehm will resign her position as IU's first woman chancellor at the beginning of January, she will continue her work studying women in higher education by proposing the idea for an institute at IU and work as a senior adviser to IU President Adam Herbert.\nThe chancellor, a self-proclaimed optimist when it comes to women in higher education, said she has witnessed and experienced advancement during her years in university administration.\n"It's important to look at the demographics these days," Brehm said. "Veterinary medicine has more than 50 percent female enrollment and law and medical school are at about half female."\nBrehm said as more women attain high profile positions, the common stereotypes that women only hold certain positions will dissipate.\n"This is how the stereotypes will crumble," Brehm said. "These enrollment numbers really do matter."\nIn her new role at IU, Brehm will teach in the psychology department, where she is a tenured professor.\nThe chancellor will also work with the Wells Scholars Program, in addition to her research concerning women.\nOne of her most enthusiastic goals is the inception of a unique institute for women in higher education right on IU's campus. In doing the preliminary research, the chancellor plans to visit Florida State University and University of Michigan, which already have some form of this center.\n"I want to visit the schools that have these centers and then I want to see something like this happen at IU that will have national leadership," Brehm said. "I think it's very do-able and I'm excited about it."\nBrehm doesn't want to replicate other schools' institutes, but rather find ways to make IU's distinct.\n"I'd like for women all over the country to come to IU, because it would put us on the map," Brehm said. "We just need to come up with our unique role at IU."\nRegarding the common concern that many women in the workforce must choose between advancing in their occupations or having a family, Brehm sees room for improvement and flexibility.\n"In the 1960s, nobody expected that the end result would be to pick between a job or having children," Brehm said. "We still haven't constructed a society where both are possible."\nIn areas such as science, the percentage of male faculty members is usually higher than women, which can be attributed to the so-called "mommy track," Brehm said.\n"There aren't enough women in that field," Brehm said. "For women who are in science, there is a reluctance to go into academia because those first seven years are so pressured and they are typically at the age when they are able to have children."\nFor Pam Hanratty, a faculty member in the biology department, her decision not to take the tenure path came after having her second of three children.\n"Many women have to make a choice in taking off time to raise children or devote their full attention to research, grants and teaching," Hanratty said. "If they choose to take the time off, they permanently compromise their chance to get tenured."\nHanratty attributes the problem to the "superwoman phenomenon," where women are expected to do everything.\n"Parental leave is recognized, but women are the ones who go through pregnancy and end up having to take a longer time off," Hanratty said. "There needs to be a recognition of the realities of life."\nBrehm also recognizes parental leave and other family friendly policies, but said she believes society needs to step up to the plate and realize women should have the right to start a family and advance in their jobs.\n"It shouldn't have to be a barrier," Brehm said. "That isn't equality." \nRadhika Parameswaran, a faculty member in the journalism school, also acknowledges the barrier many women in higher education face.\n"Sometimes there's not enough institutional support, and part of that is historical," Parameswaran said. "It seems like most women are clustered in the middle and bottom ranks of the occupational structure."\nParameswaran said the increase of women in administrative positions at universities -- like Brehm's position until January -- is a sure sign of progress.\n"I see hope in the future since the numbers are increasing," she said. \nFor Brehm, serving as IU's first woman chancellor was a success in her hopes that women will be an integral part of higher education. \nSince serving as chancellor, provost and dean at various universities, she said her experience in 1963 did lead to a happy ending in the long run.\n"I've been blessed because I've been living in an era where women have made enormous progress."\n-- Contact senior writer Maura Halpern at mhalpern@indiana.edu.