Progress on Gender Equity Requires Commitment and Accountability

Through programs like Women in Science & Engineering (WISE) and movements such as HeForShe, Stony Brook University maintains a longstanding commitment to gender equity that has led to more women in leadership positions, STEM majors and male-dominated industries.

In 2014, Stony Brook University joined the UN Women’s HeForShe movement’s IMPACT 10x10x10 global initiative as one of 30 key enterprises across three sectors — countries, corporations and universities — that prioritized advancing gender equity. Stony Brook was one of just two U.S. institutions cited as an IMPACT Champion. This was an honor, but also a mandate — to “drive change from the top” — that challenged the leaders of the major research university to foster the success of women, improve outcomes and work tirelessly toward gender equity.

This led to a host of new initiatives, including a required workshop on gender awareness and inclusion for all new students as part of their orientation experience; a partnership with athletic and Greek organizations to educate students on equity, consent and healthy choices; and a vibrant HeForShe student organization. In addition, first-year students taking their required first-year seminar — a 14-week, one-credit course. A 2019 UN report cited Stony Brook’s progress in opening doors for and supporting women in STEM majors.

Seven years later, the university remains steadfastly committed to the HeForShe movement. On May 10, 2021, Stony Brook President Maurie McInnis will be a panelist in a streaming HeForShe summit in which she will detail the university’s efforts to engage the leaders of tomorrow — students — and focus on the critical aspects of gender equality.

Although the university is ever mindful about keeping an eye on the future, it also has taken steps to reshape the present, starting with its leadership. In 2020, the University Council — composed of Stony Brook’s senior academic and administrative leaders — achieved gender equity. This represents a 27-percentage point increase in women in those roles. The proportion of women in full-time faculty positions is up 7 points, to 45 percent.

Sejal Mehra learned this when she arrived at Stony Brook as a first-year student in 2017. Once an aspiring lawyer, Mehra had discovered a coding immersion program, thanks to her mother, and never looked back.

“I loved it!” she says. “I was like, ‘Coding is everything. I need this.’ I’ve always been good with tech, setting things up, fixing things, but I had never seen that as a career. But my mom kind of always knew and supported me.”

Briana Brown, a 2013 graduate now working as a program manager at GE Aviation, credits Stony Brook with preparing her not only through academics, but through its holistic, clear-eyed approach to supporting women embarking on careers in male-dominated fields.

“There have been plenty of times where there are no other women in a meeting I’m in,” she says. “Or I’m the only Black person and the only woman. Stony Brook did a really great job of bringing in people from outside to talk about that. Because sometimes in college you’re in a bubble, and it’s really helpful to have someone from an industry come in and be like, ‘This is what it’s going to look like when you step into a room to lead a meeting.’”

“Those are the sorts of things that I was taught in college that were not a part of any curriculum,” Brown says. “And all of those skills that I learned were instrumental to me securing a job, and then coming in more prepared than someone else who would have just graduated from college.”

In addition to speaking to Stony Brook classes, Brown has started two foundations — in New York, where she grew up, and in Miami, where she has worked — to help more young people from underrepresented groups pursue their academic and career dreams.