The Architecture of Inclusion: Evidence from Corporate Diversity Programs

Abstract

Ever since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed employment discrimination; governments, colleges, and corporations have tried to understand what the law means. Employers have tried to integrate workforces, some with more enthusiasm than others. Change has been slower than those who passed the Civil Rights Act might have imagined it would be. Given the slow progress in the academy, National Science Foundation (“NSF”) deputy director Joseph Bordogna designed the ADVANCE program in 1999, to promote the integration of women in the science and engineering fields that the Foundation funds. In 2001, ADVANCE, under the leadership of Alice Hogan, considered the first round of applications for grants for institutional change. The typical grant lasts for five years, and provides several million dollars to colleges and universities that propose institutional changes to promote women in science and engineering.