Issue of Decemeber 17, 2010
eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson, and Michele Montgomery
This week's issues:
1. Follow-up: Caroline Herschel at the Smithsonian
2. Working Girls: Abstracts of Gender Study Articles
3. The Elsevier Program for cultivating women scientists
4. Professional Skills Development Workshop – Deadline extended
5. Improve Your Skills as a Research Mentor – Workshop at APS March
Meeting
6. Funding for Outreach Activities: Apply by January 10, 2011
7. Vassar Job Posting: Sabbatical Replacement
*** FOLLOWING JOB POSTINGS TAKEN FROM WIPHYS ***
8. How to Submit, Subscribe, or Unsubscribe to AASWOMEN
9. Access to Past Issues of AASWOMEN
1. Follow-up: Caroline Herschel at the Smithsonian
From: Andrea Dupree [adupree_at_cfa.harvard.edu]
When the contribution about Caroline Herschel appeared, I emailed David DeVorkin, a Curator at the National Air and Space Museum (another part of the Smithsonian Institution to which we at CfA belong), and a member of the AAS. He replied with the following message and gave me permission to post it in the CSWA Newsletter.
Andrea Dupree
****************************** From David DeVorkin:
History is about context. If one were to ask Caroline how she would have described herself, I believe she may well have said “essential assistant” given the gender relations of that day and her personal view of her relationship to her brother. In fact there is a long quote in the label taken from Margaret Herschel’s writings that uses the term “assistant” explicitly.
Moreover there are at least 5 women depicted in the gallery. We give tours that carry the visitor from Caroline Herschel, through Henrietta Swan Leavitt, to Vera Rubin and Margaret Geller, and finally to Catherine Pilachowski to show how the roles of women have changed in astronomy and that today we can finally celebrate women as astronomers. It is just for that fact that the sequence we portray needs to be appreciated in full: in past time women were denied parity, and that parity was won in long painful stages to the point where it may be in place now, but needs constant and informed vigilance to retain.
We cannot erase history to suit the passions of the present. People try to erase history all the time for all different reasons, and it’s our job to be as helpful as possible, presenting the past as it was, to the best of our ability, not as what we want it to be. Only in this way will we remain responsible to ourselves, and our mission to foster an informed public.
David H. DeVorkin - Senior Curator Division of Space History National Air and Space Museum
[This also appears on the Women in Astronomy blog at womeninastronomy.blogspot.com so readers can comment on this article. -- eds.]
Back to top.2. Working Girls: Abstracts of Gender Study Articles
From: Claire Cramer [ccramer108_at_gmail.com]
Claire pointed us at this list of abstracts from Findings: A Daily Roundup of Academic Studies: Serious, Sublime, Surreal, and Otherwise, complied by Kevin Lewis and posted at the National Affairs website.
Kevin Lewis is a columnist for the Ideas section of the Boston Globe. He has degrees in physics and political science from MIT, has studied and taught organizational behavior at UC Berkeley and Duke, and has worked in high-tech business and finance.
The abstracts, which cover a variety of areas, not just science, can be found at http://www.nationalaffairs.com/blog/detail/findings-a-daily-roundup/working-girls
Titles include: Sex and Science: How Professor Gender Perpetuates the Gender Gap and New trends in gender and mathematics performance: A meta-analysis
Back to top.3. The Elsevier Program for cultivating women scientists
From: Waves and Packets (NBSP), Dec. 15, 2010
Research professionals are in great demand in industry and academia. But while the proportion of women in the Science, Technology and Medical (STM) fields has grown steadily, women still hold no more than 15% of the full professorships in both the US and Europe - and the participation of women scholars as authors and on editorial boards reflects a similar imbalance. Where does this across-the-board gender gap come from? How do different family roles and responsibilities factor in? What are different players in the STM community doing to address the gap?
During the Cultivating Women Scientists in the Next Generation webinar on September 21st we discussed three burning questions with David Ruth, Executive Director of the Elsevier Foundation Janet Bandows Koster, Executive Director of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) and Donna Dean, past president of AWIS and senior scientific advisor and advocate for underrepresented groups in science and engineering.
The questions:
1. What is the greatest obstacle to career development for dual career couples? 2. What role can editors play to close the gender gap? 3. What can your journal proactively do to support the careers of women in research and academia?
Listen to the webinar at http://www.elsevierfoundation.org/new-scholars/stories/webinar-women-scientists.asp
Back to top.4. Professional Skills Development Workshop – Deadline extended
From: WIPHYS, December 15, 2010
The deadline for the Professional Skills Development Workshop for Women Physicists ( http://www.aps.org/programs/women/workshops/skills/index.cfm ) at the APS March Meeting has been extended to January 10, 2011. This is also the deadline for the April Meeting workshop. (Please note that funding has been confirmed for the March Meeting workshop.)
Back to top.5. Improve Your Skills as a Research Mentor – Workshop at APS March
Meeting
From: WIPHYS, December 15, 2010
How do you effectively mentor individuals at different stages of their careers? Are you ready to address the NSF’s new requirement about mentoring post docs in your next proposal? Consider registering for a free workshop on mentoring at the APS March Meeting on Sunday, March 20, 1:30-5:30pm. Information at http://www.aps.org/meetings/march/events/workshops/mentoring.cfm?utm_source=insider&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=insider1210
Back to top.6. Funding for Outreach Activities: Apply by January 10, 2011
From: WIPHYS, December 15, 2010
Have an idea for an outreach program? Need funding to start one? Then apply for an APS outreach grant. Grants will be awarded in amounts up to $10,000 for innovative and exciting outreach programs. Apply at http://www.aps.org/programs/outreach/?utm_source=insider&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=insider1210
Back to top.7. Vassar Job Posting - Sabbatical Replacement
From: Pat Stickle [pastickle_at_vassar.edu]
The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Vassar College invites applications for a one-semester or one-year position as visiting or adjunct assistant professor in astronomy as a sabbatical replacement beginning in September 2011.
Vassar College is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and is strongly and actively committed to diversity within its community. Applications from members of historically underrepresented groups are especially encouraged.
Applicants should have a minimum of a master's degree in astronomy; PhD preferred. Preference will be given to those with teaching experience. The successful candidate is expected to teach 3 astronomy courses in the fall, spanning all levels of the curriculum and (if a full-year position) 2 physics courses in the spring, one at the introductory and one at the intermediate level. The department currently consists of five physicists and two astronomers; their research specialties are detailed on the department homepage http://physicsandastronomy.vassar.edu
Candidates should submit (1) a curriculum vitae, (2) a statement of teaching philosophy and teaching and research experience, and should arrange for three letters of recommendation. To apply, please visit http://deanofthefaculty.vassar.edu/positions to link to the posting for this position. Letters of recommendation are submitted through that site as well. Applications received by February 1, 2011 will be given full consideration; applications received after that date will be considered until the position is filled. Vassar College is a liberal arts college with an enrollment of 2450 students. The 1000-acre campus is located in Poughkeepsie, 75 miles north of New York City along the Hudson River.
Back to top.8. How to Submit, Subscribe, or Unsubscribe to AASWOMEN
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Back to top.9. Access to Past Issues of AASWOMEN
Past issues of AASWOMEN are available at
http://www.aas.org/cswa/AASWOMEN.html
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
Back to top.
1 comment :
The science curator at the National Air and Space Museum says in his reply, "If one were to ask Caroline how she would have described herself, I believe she may well have said 'essential assistant'..."
Yes, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King described himself as a Negro, but I challenge anyone to find him described as such in our national museums. History is indeed "about context", but museums are about interpreting history with a modern lens, not simply parroting it.
The meaning of words develop over time, and we change the way we describe historical figures in full understanding of that.
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