Charlotte Striebel Equity Award

This award is limited to full-time staff and faculty who have been employed at the University of Minnesota (system-wide) for at least three years.

Nomination materials must be received by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, June 28, 2024.

A completed nomination packet includes:

• ​A nominator narrative that addresses the selection criteria below (500 words or fewer). Self-nominations are permitted.
• Two letters of support (500 words or fewer).
• Nominee’s curriculum vitae or resume.

Send one email with the complete nomination packet to: [email protected]; Subject: Charlotte Striebel Equity Award Selection Committee.

Recipients will be selected based on evidence of advocacy or programming or constructive challenges, on any campus or system-wide, that go above and beyond one’s daily responsibilities in one or more of the following ways:

• promotes access for the common good
• helps undo bias and discrimination that still exist, or
• builds capacity for diverse and equitable campus communities

Note: The selection committee is looking for evidence of efforts outside of the nominee’s job description. If you have questions, please contact the Women's Center at [email protected].

Many University of Minnesota women faculty were deeply affected by Charlotte Striebel's activities for women's equity in salary, hiring, and promotion. This award was established to honor the Charlotte Striebel’s (1929-2014) persistent contributions toward equity from the 1970s into the 1990s.

Charlotte Thomas Striebel had a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of California-Berkeley and was a research associate scientist at Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, analyzing satellite tracking data and initiating work that resulted in the Global Positioning System. Later, Striebel became associate professor of mathematics at the University of Minnesota. She used her mathematics skills and legal knowledge to advance the cause of equity for women, and for all of us, at the University of Minnesota and throughout our communities.

At one point Charlotte was criticized for not knowing the law, so she earned a law degree while being a full time faculty member in the School of Mathematics and a single mother. Charlotte played a major role in the eventual success of Shyamala Rajender’s sex discrimination case and the subsequent Rajender Consent Decree at the University of Minnesota. Her statistical analyses demonstrated the role of gender in hiring, promotion, and salary decisions at the University. She helped numerous women make their case for equity in the decade following the Consent Decree.

Despite the relative success of the Consent Decree, there was considerable backlash especially in the Institute of Technology. Once again Charlotte played a major leadership role, advising the women faculty to advocate for major change with the college administration. The culture of the college (IT/CSE) and the University were forever altered because of Charlotte Streibel. She was always willing to challenge the establishment and the status quo even as she worked to establish strategies that would bring about long-lasting change.

We invite you to contribute to this Award via the University of Minnesota Foundation.