Fleeing the Ivory Tower: Gender Differences in the Turnover Experiences of Women Faculty.

PURPOSE: Prior research has established that women and men faculty have different experiences in their professional and personal lives and that academic turnover can be costly and disruptive to home institutions. However, relatively little research has examined gender differences in the antecedent events that contributed to faculty members' voluntary turnover decisions. This study aims to fill this gap. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Qualitative and quantitative data were obtained in two ways: by directly contacting faculty members who had voluntarily left their positions through the human resource departments at six institutions and through more wide-scale snowball sampling. The surveys, administered via paper or web based, measured the extent to which participants' experiences with harassment/discrimination, family-related issues, and recruitment/retention offers impacted their decisions to leave. Qualitative data were coded by raters into numerical values, and mean differences based on gender were assessed for these and the quantitative data. RESULTS: Both the qualitative and quantitative data suggest that female academicians reported experiencing significantly more gender-based harassment/discrimination, were much more likely to cite family-related reasons for leaving, and reported receiving significantly fewer external job offers and internal retention offers than their male counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Academic science departments should be keenly aware of and strive to reduce instances of harassment/discrimination against female academicians, offer more support for family-related issues and encourage faculty to take advantage of these programs, and conduct search and retention efforts fairly regardless of faculty gender.

Post-translational modification directs nuclear and hyphal tip localization of Candida albicans mRNA-binding protein Slr1.

The morphological transition of the opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans from budding to hyphal growth has been implicated in its ability to cause disease in animal models. Absence of SR-like RNA-binding protein Slr1 slows hyphal formation and decreases virulence in a systemic candidiasis model, suggesting a role for post-transcriptional regulation in these processes. SR (serine-arginine)-rich proteins influence multiple steps in mRNA metabolism and their localization and function are frequently controlled by modification. We now demonstrate that Slr1 binds to polyadenylated RNA and that its intracellular localization is modulated by phosphorylation and methylation. Wildtype Slr1-GFP is predominantly nuclear, but also co-fractionates with translating ribosomes. The non-phosphorylatable slr1-6SA-GFP protein, in which six serines in SR/RS clusters are substituted with alanines, primarily localizes to the cytoplasm in budding cells. Intriguingly, hyphal cells display a slr1-6SA-GFP focus at the tip near the Spitzenkörper, a vesicular structure involved in molecular trafficking to the tip. The presence of slr1-6SA-GFP hyphal tip foci is reduced in the absence of the mRNA-transport protein She3, suggesting that unphosphorylated Slr1 associates with mRNA-protein complexes transported to the tip. The impact of SLR1 deletion on hyphal formation and function thus may be partially due to a role in hyphal mRNA transport.

The Impact of Interpersonal Discrimination and Stress on Health and Performance for Early Career STEM Academicians.

The present study examines the consequences of perceived interpersonal discrimination on stress, health, and performance in a sample of 210 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) academicians. Using a path model, we test the relation that perceived interpersonal discrimination has on stress and the relation of stress to physical health maladies and on current and future performance. In so doing, we assess the link between discrimination and decrements in performance over time. Additionally, we test supervisor social support as a moderator of the discrimination-stress relation. Findings support relations between perceived interpersonal discrimination and stress, which in turn relates to declines in physical health and performance outcomes. Moreover, supervisory support is shown to mitigate the influence of interpersonal discrimination on stress in STEM academicians.