Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 14:05:34 -0500 (EST)
Subject: CSWA Newsletter of 4/28/99
To: AASMAIL:;;
wellesley.edu
AAS Committee on the Status of Women
weekly issues of 4/28/99, ed. by Priscilla Benson
*** send email and addresses to aaswomenwellesley.edu ***
This week's issues:
1. Roommate wanted for Chicago AAS
2. Babysitting at Chicago AAS
3. Thoughts about women in science survey
4. conference on women's lives
5. Teaching Job
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1. Roommate wanted for Chicago AAS
From: Kristy kristymarcie.physics.ncsu.edu
I have a non-smoking room with two beds reserved at the
student rate for the June AAS meeting in Chicago, at the
conference hotel from Saturday May 29 -- checking out Friday
June 4. I'm looking for another student to share the room
with to save travel expenses -- it would be about 46$/night
shared.
-- Kristy Dyer
NCSU Astrophysics Kristy_Dyerncsu.edu
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2. Babysitting at Chicago AAS
From: alicenofs.navy.mil
To all AAS parents:
Once again, we have arranged for childcare at the next AAS
meeting. This time around, the childcare arrangements are
different in several significant ways:
- A member of the LOC (Doug Duncan) took on the task of
making the childcare arrangements for this meeting, and will
be around at the meeting to make sure things run smoothly.
- The AAS Executive Office (Bob Milkey) agreed to accept
payment for childcare in advance and to sign the contract
with the childcare provider.
- The care is being provided in rooms especially designed
and equipped for this purpose (rather than an empty meeting
room or a spare hotel room.)
- Reservations and payment are being accepted well in
advance of the meeting. If enough children are enrolled by
the deadline (April 28th), childcare will happen - no last
minute surprises! (If you need childcare and haven't made
your reservations, please contact the AAS Executive Office
immediately!)
More information is posted on the childcare webpage at:
http://www.nofs.navy.mil/aas_childcare/
If you are planning to attend this meeting and will be
taking your children along, please consider signing up for
childcare. The only way we can continue offering this
service is if AAS parents actually use it. It would also
help if you do use the service (or plan to in the future) if
you make a point to tell Bob Milkey, Diana Alexander, Bob
Gehrz, etc. that you really appreciated having childcare
available at the meeting and hope that the AAS will make
this a permanent part of their meeting arrangements.
Thanks! - Alice Monet (alicenofs.navy.mil)
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3. Thoughts about women in science survey
From: RALLISmps.ohio-state.edu
Jody Halterman's questionnaire to examine what influences
women who persist in scientific careers was included in last
week's aaswomen. The most important question (Question V) is
the question about what factors kept you in a scientific
career. This question is poorly constructed. I can't answer
a question that asks me to rank 10 factors when I consider
some of them to be false and others to be irrelevant. Does
Halterman really mean to state that there is no sex
discrimination and that salaries in science are competitive
(competitive with what? certainly not with what is earned in
law, business, sports, etc.). The three most important
reasons why women persist in a scientific career after
receiving a degree are not even on the list. These are the
following (not necessarily in order of importance), and they
apply to men as well as women:
1. Love of the subject; can't imagine doing anything else
2. Talent for doing important scientific work
3. Success in finding a regular (as opposed to temporary)
job in the field
The number one factor causing women and men to drop out of
the job market is failure to find a regular job in the
field. For dual career couples, the job search is
complicated by geographic restrictions, and these have
traditionally affected women more than men.
I suggest that Halterman revise her questionnaire to delete
the list and instead ask women to state in their own words
what factors were most important. Then if she wants to know
about the effect of, for example, encouragement from a
parent, I suggest that she ask a series of questions:
1. With regard to your scientific career, did your
parent(s)
a) try to encourage you
b) try to discourage you
c) not express an opinion
d) they were deceased before the question came up
2. If your parent(s) expressed an opinion about you
persisting in a scientific career,
a) at what stage(s) in your career was this opinion
expressed?
b) did it have any effect on your decision?
There was a study done of women working in computer science.
One of the questions was "How did your parents feel about
your going to graduate school in computer science." To this,
my sister replied, "My father felt that if this was a good
way to find a husband, then it was OK with him." Would you
consider this parental encouragement?
- Michele Kaufman
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4. conference on women's lives
From: brysoncfht.hawaii.edu "Liz Bryson"
Women's Lives, Women's Voices, Women's Solutions: Shaping a
National
Agenda for Women in Higher Education
http://www1.umn.edu/women/wihe.html
March 27-29, 2000. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Hosted
by the University of Minnesota, this conference will discuss
issues related to women in higher education, develop
strategies to improve the status of women on campus, and
shape a national agenda for "supporting women as teachers,
learners, and creators of knowledge." A parallel
teleconference is also planned, allowing students, staff,
faculty, and administrators to participate remotely.
Detailed information about the proceedings is available at
the site.
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5. Teaching job
From: freudensmscd.edu
Hello,
My name is Sid Freudenstein and I am the chair of the
Physics Department at Metropolitan State College of Denver
(MSCD). I am looking for a physics teacher for next
academic year. This is a full-time, one-year position. We
will be doing a search next year to fill the position
permanently. The teaching load is 12 credit hours of lower
division lectures and labs in physics and possibly intro to
astronomy. Our school located next to downtown Denver on
the large Auraria campus which we share with the University
of Colorado at Denver (UCD) and a community college. The
physics departments of UCD and MSCD work very closely
together sharing students and facilities. The total head
count of all three schools is 35,000 and MSCD is the largest
school with 17,000. The school's web site is www.mscd.edu
and my e-mail is freudensmscd.edu I need to fill this
position ASAP, so if there is interest, please contact me by
e-mail or by phone at 303-556-2454.
Thank you,
Sid Freudenstein
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End of CSWA Newsletter of 4/28/99