Promising Organizational Practices for Increasing Faculty Gender Equity: A Case Study

Karen J. Horton, P.E. is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology at the University of Maine, and a licensed professional engineer in the state of Maine. She is a Co-Principal Investigator on a National Science Foundation ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Grant to increase recruitment, retention and advancement of tenure-track women faculty members in STEM fields. Prior to her 1997 appointment to the University she was employed as a mechanical engineer at Bath Iron Works in Maine, as a high school mathematics and electronics teacher for the Department of Defense Dependent Schools in Germany, and as a mechanical engineer at the Naval Coastal Systems Center in Florida. Horton is an active member of the Engineering Technology Division and the Women in Engineering Division. She also currently serves the Society of Women Engineers as advisor and counselor to the UMaine collegiate section, for which she received the 2010 Outstanding SWE Counselor Award.