Browsing by Author "Glass, Valerie Q."

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    Black Lesbian Families and Their Relationships With Their Families of Origin
    Glass, Valerie Q. (Virginia Tech, 2010-10-26)
    Twenty-two African American lesbians were interviewed in order to identify and examine the intersection of individual and family processes that African American lesbian couples engage in as a family with members of their families of origin. A qualitative research design based on grounded theory methods was used. Data were interpreted using an integrative framework of postmodern feminism, Black feminism, and symbolic interactionism. Findings revealed three major themes: a) Black lesbian couples go through a coming out process as a couple and as individuals, at times, simultaneously; b) Black lesbian families establish and enforce boundaries to protect their intentional, co-created families, and this boundary definition shapes lesbian family identity, and c) resources accessible from informal social supports by African American lesbian families are different from the types of social support and resources available to Black lesbian individuals. These findings provide valuable insights into lesbian family processes that can assist family studies, feminist scholars, family therapists, and community practitioners in identifying future research directions and clinical practices appropriate for African American lesbian families.
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    Faculty Work-Life Survey Data Report : Faculty Leadership Issues
    Glass, Valerie Q. (Virginia Tech, 2005-10-19)
    The AdvanceVT Faculty Work-Life Survey, distributed to all teaching and research faculty in January 2005, addressed, among other things, leadership issues at Virginia Tech. This report presents findings from tenured and tenure- track faculty members (N=816) about items on the questionnaire related to leadership including: aspirations of Virginia Tech faculty members towards leadership positions, their views about the possibility of maintaining a balance between leadership and other responsibilities, trust and confidence in departmental and university leaders, perceptions about the representation of women and minorities in leadership roles, and departmental support for women and minorities.
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    Faculty Work-Life Survey Data Report : Faculty Recruitment Issues
    Glass, Valerie Q. (Virginia Tech, 2005-10-17)
    One of the primary goals of AdvanceVT is to increase the representation of women and minority faculty at all ranks in the sciences and engineering. Responses to the AdvanceVT Faculty Work-Life Survey, distributed to all research and teaching faculty in early spring 2005, included questions about the importance of recruiting women and minorities to faculty positions, the effectiveness of recruiting practices, and the contribution of spousal hiring to recruitment. There was also a behavioral measure as respondents who had served on a search committee in the last two years indicated if they had engaged in practices that are associated with diversifying the faculty.
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    Faculty Work-Life Survey Data Report : Work-Life Issues
    Glass, Valerie Q. (Virginia Tech, 2006-01-30)
    Balancing work and family issues has captured a great deal of attention in higher education over the last several years. Both Academe (November-December 2004), the journal of the American Association of University Professors, and Change magazine (November-December 2005) have devoted entire issues to these topics. The American Council on Education, with the support of the Sloan Foundation, has also published an influential report (Agenda for Excellence: Creating Flexibility in Tenure-Track Faculty Careers), created panels at most major higher education association meetings, and held invitational conferences to encourage universities to adopt more flexible policies related to faculty careers. For all research universities, the critical connection is to be able to recruit and retain the best faculty talent from a doctoral pool that is far more diverse than it was a generation ago. And there is a growing body of research that tells us that work-life issues have an important impact on faculty productivity, satisfaction, and retention. For women scientists and engineers, balancing work and family emerged as the most significant issue they faced in a study by Sue Rosser, an influential figure in gender and science (Rosser, 2004).
    Virginia Tech has been a participant in many of these national discussions. The AdvanceVT survey distributed to all teaching and research faculty in January 2005, and focus group discussions conducted in April 2005, provide a great deal of information about how Virginia Tech faculty members experience work-life balance issues. This report summarizes key findings from tenured and tenure track faculty at Virginia Tech about a range of work-life factors, including perceptions about the departmental and university climate, dual career issues, and balancing personal and family responsibilities. The report highlights implications of these issues for job satisfaction and intention to remain at Virginia Tech and attitudes about a number of new work-life initiatives, including policies to delay the tenure clock and dual-career hiring.