Saturday, October 26, 2013

AAS Women for October 25, 2013

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of October 25, 2013
eds: Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, Nick Murphy, & Nicolle Zellner

This week's issues:

1. The Career-Life Beer Hour
2. Unearned Advantage
3. Raising the Bar in Physics Graduate Education   
4. End Harassment
5. Career Profile: Astronomer to Non-Tenure-Track Lecturer
6. Professional development at the 2014 Winter AAS Meeting      
7. Job Opportunities
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

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1. The Career-Life Beer Hour
From: David Charbonneau via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

…last night I shared a beer with some of the students and postdocs. One of the concerns that I heard at the pub was that many of the panel discussions that are convened to discuss Career-Life balance are organized by Women in Science groups. While in principle anyone can attend, the audience is almost always comprised nearly exclusively of women. But the main audience we are failing to engage are the men! I have a hunch that many men feel that they shouldn't attend a Women In Science event, and perhaps that a panel type event may be a little intimidating.

To read more, please see


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2. Unearned Advantage
From:  Joan Schmelz via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

Unconscious bias goes hand-in-hand with the concept of unearned advantage. The two kids on the seesaw start out at the same level and can play together. As time goes by, however, one accumulates advantage and the other disadvantage. Any one slight may seem minor, but small imbalances and discrepancies accrue. Not only will they no longer be able to play together in future, but these disparities can have major consequences in salary, promotion, prestige, and advancement to leadership positions (Merton 1948; 1968).

To read more, please see


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3. Raising the Bar in Physics Graduate Education
From:  Jessica Kirkpatrick via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

The keynote address by Meg Urry, Yale University (Department of Physics and Department of Astronomy), at the American Physical Society Conference on Graduate Education in January, 2013, has been reprinted at womeininastronomy.blogspot.com.

To read her address, please see


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4. End Harassment
From:  Carol Jones [cejones_at_uwo.ca]

The editors at Nature write that ‘sexual harassment is a stain on science’ and that a ‘major problem is the widespread tacit acceptance of adolescent behaviour’. In their editorial, they urge us all to take a stand by promoting a ‘culture of active discouragement and prevention of sexual harassment’.

To read more, please see


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5. Career Profile: Astronomer to Non-Tenure-Track Lecturer
From: Laura Trouille via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy and the AAS Employment Committee have compiled dozens of interviews highlighting the diversity of career trajectories available to astronomers. The interviews share advice and lessons learned from individuals on those paths.

Below is our interview with an astronomer/astrophysicist turned non-tenure-track lecturer at a large research 1 institution. If you have questions, suggestions, advice to share, etc. about this career path, please leave a comment below.

To read more, please see


For access to all our Career Profile Project interviews, please visit


We plan to post a new career profile to this blog every first and third Thursday of the month.

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6. Professional development at the 2014 Winter AAS Meeting      
From:  Chris Crockett via astrobetter.com

The number of professional development opportunities at the annual AAS meeting seems to grow every year. And the upcoming January meeting is no exception. This year’s conference features workshops, panel discussions, and talks on everything from Python programming to interviewing skills to changing demographics and to maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

To read more, please see


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7.  Job Opportunities

For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their organizations, a list of resources and advice is here: http://www.aas.org/cswa/diversity.html#howtoincrease

-         Peter T. Paul Chair in Space Sciences at the University of New Hampshire

-         Head of the ALMA Department of Engineering

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8. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter

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.

When submitting a job posting for inclusion in the newsletter, please include a one-line description and a link to the full job posting.

Please remember to replace "_at_" in the e-mail address above.

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9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

Join AAS Women List by email:

Send email to aaswlist+subscribe_at_aas.org from the address you want to have subscribed. You can leave the subject and message blank if you like.

Be sure to follow the instructions in the confirmation email. (Just reply back to the email list)

To unsubscribe by email:

Send email to aawlist+unsubscribe_at_aas.org from the address you want to have UNsubscribed. You can leave the subject and message blank if you like.

To join or leave AASWomen via web, or change your membership settings:


You will have to create a Google Account if you do not already have one, using https://accounts.google.com/newaccount?hl=en  

Google Groups Subscribe Help:


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10. Access to Past Issues


Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

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