Florida Tech to Sponsor ACE Women’s Network of Florida

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Florida Institute of Technology has agreed to serve as a Presidential Sponsor of the America Council on Education’s (ACE) Women’s Network of Florida.

The network is instrumental in promoting leadership development of women in public and independent colleges, universities and other higher education institutions across Florida. As a Presidential Sponsor, Florida Tech will rotate with the other sponsoring universities in holding a state conference on campus.

As part of the sponsorship, Annie Becker, senior vice president for research, has been named to the ACE Executive Board, and Lisa Steelman, senior associate dean of the College of Psychology and Liberal Arts, is now the institutional representative from Florida Tech.

“Women play critical roles in the success and innovation in higher education, and we are pleased to support the ACE Women’s Network of Florida and the important work this group is carrying out,” Becker said. “The better we understand the challenges in higher education, the more readily we will be able to address them.”

Though there have been improvements, the most recent ACE study found troubling gaps remain between men and women in higher education. During the 2015-16 academic year, for example, ACE found that men and women at the same faculty rank faced a nearly 17 percent pay gap, with male faculty earning an average of $89,190 and female faculty earning $73,782.

In addition to Florida Tech, the ACE Women’s Network of Florida includes five other Presidential Sponsors: University of Central Florida (the Network’s lead institution), Florida State College at Jacksonville, University of South Florida, Florida International University and Stetson University. There are a total of 34 institutions in the Network.

ACE launched the Women’s Network nationally in 1977 as the National Identification Program. Through that program, ACE sought to gain a better understanding of and address the career needs of women in higher education, in addition to supporting their professional development and advancement.

Click here for the full ACE report, “Pipelines, Pathways and Institutional Leadership: An Update on the Status of Women in Higher Education.”