6 Universities Win New Grants to Foster Flexible, Family-Friendly Faculty Policies
By Robin Wilson, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 25, 2006

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will announce today the six universities that won new grants in a program to help make faculty jobs more flexible so professors can balance the demands of their family lives without damaging their careers.

Duke and Lehigh Universities and the Universities of Florida and of Washington each won $250,000 awards, and the Universities of California at Berkeley and at Davis will split a $250,000 grant.

Fifty-five research universities applied for the grants, which are aimed at recognizing institutions that have already taken some steps to give faculty members flexible work schedules and that have plans to do more. In a brochure describing the awards, the Sloan Foundation said "higher-education institutions can demonstrate a strong business case for providing flexibility for their tenure-track and tenured faculty." Policies that help faculty members manage their work and home lives also help universities recruit and hang onto "the most qualified female Ph.D.'s in academe," the foundation said.

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