Several years ago, the University of Washington received a grant from the National Science Foundation, to help increase the number of women faculty in STEM disciplines. While the grant program has ended, efforts to increase women faculty at the College of Engineering continue and have met with success.
In 2001 fewer than 10 percent of all faculty in the College of Engineering were women. Today, there are 47 women among the 231-member tenure or tenure-track faculty members in engineering. Thus, women are just over 20 percent of the total faculty. The national average for women faculty in engineering is 14 percent.
In addition, four of the five associate deans at the College of Engineering are women.
The increase in the number of women faculty members tends to attract more women students. In 2012, the University of Washington ranked 15th in the nation in the number of women earning engineering degrees.