During a California Senate hearing Monday, State Sen. Jackie Speier acknowledged that the UC system has taken positive steps to hire more female faculty members. But she also noted that some campuses are doing a better job than others and stressed the need for greater accountability in following guidelines suggested by the Office of the President last year after the initiation of a state audit of the university's hiring practices.

This week's hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Government Oversight, chaired by Speier, provided a six-month progress report from the university on its efforts. University administrators and faculty members from various campuses presented testimony to assess progress made by the university in reducing gender disparity in faculty hiring.

UC Davis professors Gyongy Laky, from the Department of Environmental Design, and Martha West, from the School of Law, were on hand to offer their remarks to the assembled group of some 50 people, mostly women.

Both lauded UC Davis for adopting a policy aiming for 80 percent of its new hires to come in at the associate or assistant professor level. West noted the importance of this goal in attracting women who have recently received their Ph.Ds to the applicant pool.

Although women's representation among Ph.D. fields varies, 49 percent of doctorates obtained by U.S. citizens in 2000 were awarded to women. By contrast, during the 2000-2001 academic year, women ladder-rank faculty hires (assistant, associate and full professors) within the UC system accounted for only 30 percent.

While State Auditor Elaine Howle noted this is an improvement from the 1999-2000 academic year when 25 percent of the UC system's hires were women, it remains to be seen whether the guidelines set forth by the Office of the President will be successfully implemented in the coming years.

"They've talked the talk, now they need to walk the walk," said Howle in referring to the nine campuses involved in the audit.

Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw said she would grade the university with a B + or an A- in the plans put forth so far, but cautions that the work has just begun.

"As far as implementation, the grade is an 'I' for incomplete," Hinshaw said. "We've got to put these good ideas in place, be sure that search committees are using the guidelines established and we have to provide a welcoming environment for women."

She said she was confident that once UC Davis has a reputation for instituting programs, initiatives and attitudes to build this type of environment, that grade will work up to an A.

"But we're still at the point where these ideas haven't reached fruition yet and it's hard to change the face of the university quickly," Hinshaw said. "I would still say that UC as a whole is ahead of where most campuses are in trying to make this happen. The fact these issues are on the table and being discussed and being addressed is an important advance forward."

Despite signs of recent progress, Hinshaw noted three areas in which the hiring of women faculty at UC remains low - physical sciences and math, the life sciences, and professional schools. Speier, (D-San Mateo-San Francisco) worried that the guidelines weren't being taken seriously enough by these departments and asked Hinshaw for a specific plan to address hiring disparities in these areas. Speier also stated her desire for the Office of the President to make these suggested guidelines mandatory and that each department should be responsible for reporting the extent to which they are complying with the guidelines.

Vice Provost for Academic Personnel Barbara Horwitz pointed out that UC Davis came up with a set of guidelines to increase the percentage of women hires before the president's guidelines were drafted and is proud of the results on the campus so far.

"Last year we had a terrific recruiting period and I hope that's an indication that search committees are taking these guidelines seriously," she said. "It's too early to tell for this year, but I'm very hopeful we'll be able to continue that trend."

Trina Wood is a freelance writer for Dateline.