Issue of December 16, 2011
eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson, and Michele Montgomery
This week's issues:
1. Family Leave Policies for Astronomers
4. Giving the Tech Industry a Makeover Will Draw More Women
6. Minorities, Women Often Discouraged from Entering Engineering, Science Fields
7. Job at Florida International University
8. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN Newsletter
9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN Newsletter
10. Access to Past Issues of the AASWOMEN Newsletter
1. Family Leave Policies for Astronomers
From: L. Trouille_at_Women_in_Astronomy_Blog, Dec 14, 2011
In the interest of fully supporting the intellectual efforts of astronomy graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, we* have created a petition to encourage the establishment of family leave policies by Astronomy Departments and Fellowship Committees. These policies will provide these astronomers with the freedom necessary to excel in academic pursuits while raising a family.
Please indicate your support by signing the petition at:
http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/aaron-geller/petition/index.php
We will then share the document with all Fellowship program officers and Department chairs.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please email:
astrofamleave_at_gmail.com
Thanks for your support.
*Emily Freeland, Aaron Geller, Nick Murphy, Laura Trouille and the AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy
To add to the wiki of current departmental and postdoctoral fellowship family leave policies, please visit:
http://www.astrobetter.com/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Leave+Policies
Back to top.2. Autumn Conferences
From: Joan Schmelz [jschmelz_at_memphis.edu]
If you have attended a conference this autumn, please help CSWA update its list of % women invited speakers:
http://www.aas.org/cswa/percent.html
If you would like to add a conference, please carefully check the gender of all the invited speakers and send the information given in each column of this table to the CSWA webmaster, Nancy Morrison [nmorris_at_utnet.utoledo.edu]. Please remember to include only invited speakers on research topics, no popular lecturers.
Back to top.3. CSWA Web Resources
From: Nancy Morrison [NMorris_at_UTNet.UToledo.Edu]
CSWA has compiled a list of resources on unconscious bias and the impostor syndrome:
http://www.aas.org/cswa/unconsciousbias.html
Unconscious bias may be one of the most important obstacles to women's professional success today. Especially noteworthy is a Feb 2011 article from The New York Times entitled, "Cracking the Male Code of Office Behavior," by Shaunti Feldhahn:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/jobs/06pre.html?_r=1&ref=jobs
Victims of imposter syndrome feel that they are not as competent as their peers think they are. Lately, some resources with positive suggestions for addressing this problem have become available.
We have also included some updates to the work-life balance page.
If you know of any good on-line resources that are not yet included, please send links to the address above.
Back to top.4. Giving the Tech Industry a Makeover Will Draw More Women
From: Joan Schmelz [jschmelz_at_memphis.edu]
Leah Eichler wrote this article for Saturday's Globe and Mail:
Women in technology love to talk about the lack of women in technology, especially those who reside at the top. So on Jan. 1, 2012, when Virginia Rometty takes the helm of IBM Corp. as its first female chief executive officer, joining Meg Whitman as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. as one of the few women in charge of a high-profile tech company, we should interpret this as success, right?
Probably not. As many in the tech industry argue, the dearth of women in the industry overall contributes to that lack of representation at the C-suite level. And the lack of women in the industry can be traced back to the small numbers who pursue relevant degrees in science and tech.
"It's always encouraging to see women take on leadership positions of such global and influential firms, but I would not interpret that as success," said Mic Berman, chief operating officer of Toronto-based FreshBooks, an online billing service.
To read more:
Back to top.5. America's Women
From: Joannah Hinz [jlhinz_at_gmail.com]
[This is a teaser for a book review that will appear in the Jan 2012 issue of STATUS, the semiannual magazine of CSWA. - Eds.]
America's Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines
by Gail Collins
America's Women is a roller coaster ride through the milestones, large and small, of the women upon which this country was settled, built and developed. The chronicles of these fierce females elicit the same screams and cries, the same heart-in-mouth feeling, as every twist and turn of an amusement park ride. Each event is told in detail, beginning with the journeys of pioneers of the Mayflower and ending with protesters of the 1970's. The same dizziness and weak-leggedness you might feel disembarking from the roller coaster occurs when a chapter ends. You're a bit breathless from having the wind full force in your face for that long, and you wonder if you are able to steady yourself before getting back in line for the next ride . . .
To read more, look out for the next issue of STATUS!
Back to top.6. Minorities, Women Often Discouraged from Entering Engineering, Science Fields
From: Joan Schmelz [jschmelz_at_memphis.edu]
Cathy Bonnstetter wrote this article for The State Journal:
Many female and minority chemists and engineers say they were discouraged from going into their chosen profession, according to a study released this week by Bayer Corp.
The company released results from its Bayer Facts of Science Education XV survey, "A View from the Gatekeepers," which was an online poll of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, department chairs at America's top 200 research institutions.
The survey showed that 40 percent of minority and female chemists and engineers polled said they were discouraged from studying STEM subjects. Forty-four percent said their college professors were the sources of the discouragement.
"We wanted to find out if this discouragement is still occurring," said Mae Jemison, aphysician, astronaut, college professor and Bayer spokesperson for the company's Making Science Make Sense Initiative. "We found out it is."
The majority of department chairs polled in this year's survey gave their institutions grades of C or lower when it came to recruiting and retaining women and minorities in STEM programs. Bayer USA Foundation executive director Rebecca Lucore said the survey illustrated the gaps in the fields.
To read more:
Back to top.7. Job at Florida International University
Instructor, Department of Physics, Florida International University
http://casgroup.fiu.edu/physics
Back to top.8. How to Submit
To submit an item to the AASWOMEN newsletter, including replies to topics, send email to
aaswomen_at_aas.org .
All material will be posted unless you tell us otherwise, including your email address.
Please remember to replace "_at_" in the e-mail address above.
Back to top.9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe
To subscribe or unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter, please fill in the required information at:
http://lists.aas.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/aaswlist .
If you experience any problems, please email itdept_at_aas.org
Back to top.10. Access to Past Issues
http://www.aas.org/cswa/AASWOMEN.html
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
Back to top.
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