Madden Named Director of ADVANCE Rising Tide Center
ORONO, Maine – Mary Madden, University of Maine associate research professor in the Center for Education and Research, has been named the director of UMaine’s ADVANCE Rising Tide Center.
Madden will serve as the Rising Tide Center’s first permanent director. Karen Horton, associate professor of mechanical engineering technology, has been the interim director since the center was founded in fall 2010.
The ADVANCE Rising Tide Center was started with a five-year, $3.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The goals of the center are to increase the number of female faculty members in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines, and social and behavioral science (SBS) disciplines; define the practices that attract and support the retention of female faculty, facilitate promotion through the academic ranks and to administrative positions; and provide professional satisfaction.
Madden, along with UMaine Associate Professor of Higher Education Leadership Elizabeth Allan, is known nationally for research on hazing in postsecondary institutions and is a co-founder of the UMaine-based National Collaborative for Hazing Research and Prevention. Madden also researches adolescent girls’ development and education, gender issues in education, and effectiveness of school-based youth suicide prevention and intervention programs.
As director of the ADVANCE Rising Tide Center, Madden will provide day-to-day leadership for the center’s programs and collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of co-principal investigators and professional staff members.
Susan Hunter, UMaine’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, is a biology professor who serves as the principal investigator on the project. Three other current faculty members co-authored the ADVANCE grant proposal: Amy Fried, associate professor of political science; Susan Gardner, associate professor of higher education; and Horton. Jody Jellison, former professor of molecular plant pathology and director of the School of Biology and Ecology, was also a co-author.
Ellie Groden, professor of entomology, has replaced Jellison on the team and chairs the Rising Tide grants committee.
The ADVANCE Rising Tide Center recently announced its first round of grants aimed at fostering the professional development of UMaine STEM and SBS female faculty members. Nine grants totaling a combined $76,455 were awarded to UMaine faculty members in a range of academic fields in one of four granting categories: research seed, leadership development, unit climate award, and climate research award. There were 16 grant applications.
Contact: Mary Madden, 207-581-2414, mary.madden@umit.maine.edu; Jessica Bloch, 207-581-3777 or jessica.bloch@umit.maine.edu