Maddison Linker
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Research Mentor(s): Jun Li
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Technology and Operations / Business
Program:
Authors: Maddison Linker, Jun Li
Session: Session 4: 1:40 pm – 2:30 pm
Poster: 91
Abstract
Parents from across the United States have been experiencing a lack in availability of childcare from 1997 to 2024. This lack of childcare has made it extremely difficult for parents to continue working, especially in high-stress or academic roles. Our research team studies the impact of the lack of childcare on the tenure promotion of college professors. In particular, our team collected tenure data from about 60 top ranked business schools across the United States. Specifically, we collected the following information: whether an individual was tenured, and if yes, in which year s/he was tenured and at what university, and the highest level position at the university where s/he began their career as an assistant professor. In total, we collected tenure information on about 6,000 individuals who started their Assistant Professor positions in the top 60 U.S. business schools from 1997 to 2014. Data was compiled into spreadsheets, with about 100 professors in each school which we collected data. We then merge this dataset with previously collected childcare desert data from the Infogroup Historical Business Database. After merging the two datasets, our team completed data analysis using STATA to look for a correlation between the childcare availability and the tenure status of professors. We expect to see a direct correlation between these two variables, therefore the lack of childcare availability would be followed by a decrease in the tenure status of professors. If our hypothesis is confirmed, we would be able to better understand how the lack of childcare availability can be correlated with the success that parents reach in their professional careers. Spreading this knowledge could help others understand the significant repercussions of the lack of childcare availability in the United States.
