Mizzou Advance, an MU university program designed to support female faculty members and encourage women to become academic leaders in the sciences, says that while undergraduate degrees are about equal between genders, more women than men drop out at the higher levels. MU institutional research shows that only 16 percent of tenured and tenured-track stem faculty at the university are women.

"It is important to promote women into going into these fields and even going to graduate school and becoming faculty members," says Carol Lorenzen, a professor of animal sciences at MU.

Carol Lorenzen is one of a handful of women who teach in MU's Animal Sciences Department, and would like to see the faculty demographics reflect the student body. At her alma mater, Texas A&M, Lorenzen was the first woman to teach the meat science lab more than once.

The National Science Foundation gave the university a three-year $500,000 grant to start Mizzou Advance. The program seeks to encourage women to become industry leaders in stem fields or science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Right now there are 19 mentoring pairs in Mizzou Advance, a program budgeted to continue until 2009.

Jackie Litt, the chair of the Department of Women's and Gender Studies, says that the program is trying to "create an environment in which opportunities are open."

"16 percent of our science workforce at the university faculty is women," says Litt. "Well one answer you get is, well that's because there are no women out there. But there are other universities out there that are doing better than we are."

"We simply need more numbers," Litt continues. "It's as simple as that, because once a women comes here she's got an equal chance of succeeding."

Litt says the women who are hired earn tenure and promotions at the same rate as men, but they are not moving into leadership positions like department chairs and deans at the same rate.

Mizzou Advance targets professors who are already established in their field through its mentoring program.

"I think we have a very good environment for this program and it's very much needed," says Grace Sun, a biochemistry professor and Lorenzen's mentor.