AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of January 30, 2009
eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson, & Michele Montgomery
This week's issues:
1. Women in Astronomy Blog Highlights Jan 23, 2009 - Leavitt Law
2. Facebook Gets a New Member - Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy
3. President Barack Obama Signs Equal-Pay Bill
4. Chronicle of Higher Education article on U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against
Limiting Title IX Lawsuits
5. AWIS Press Release - Elsevier Grant on Leading Women to Create Their Own
Personal Work/Life Balance
6. Increased Funds for Childcare at APS Meetings
7. Research Internship for Undergraduate Women
8. APS March Meeting Special Events
9. Associate Project Scientist, James Webb Space Telescope
10. Full-time, Tenure-track, Astronomy, LOS RIOS Community College District
11. How to Submit, Subscribe, or Unsubscribe to AASWOMEN
12. Access to Past Issues of AASWOMEN
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1. Women in Astronomy Blog Highlights Jan 23, 2009 - Leavitt Law
From: Joan Schmelz
The AAS Council recognized the 100th anniversary of Henrietta
Leavitt's first presentation of the Cepheid Period-Luminosity
relation, a seminal discovery in astronomy that continues to have
great significance. The Council was pleased to learn of a resolution
adopted by the organizers of the Leavitt symposium, "Thanks to
Henrietta Leavitt," held Nov. 6, 2008 at the Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA. There, it was suggested that
this important relation now be referred to as the "Leavitt Law." The
Council recognized that the AAS has no authority to define
astronomical nomenclature, but it would be happy to see this
designation used widely.
For details of the symposium, please see:
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/events/2008/leavitt/
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2. Facebook Gets a New Member - Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy
From: Geoff Clayton
[Become a Facebook fan of the Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Committee-on-the-Status-of-Women-in-Astronomy/43977374494
and meet other fans.]
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3. President Barack Obama Signs Equal-Pay Bill
From: Philip Elliot, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is signing into law an
equal-pay bill that is popular with labor and women's groups and is
expected to make it easier for workers to sue for decades-old
discrimination.
Obama was to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act on Thursday during
an East Room ceremony, a move that effectively ends a 2007 Supreme
Court decision that said workers had only 180 days to file a
pay-discrimination lawsuit. Obama and fellow Democrats campaigned hard
against the court decision and promised to pass legislation that would
give workers more time to sue their employers for past discrimination.
"This bill will be a big step forward not just for women, but for
families," the White House said in a statement announcing the bill
signing. "It is not only a measure of fairness, but can be the
difference for families struggling to make ends meet during these
difficult times."
The law is named for a woman who said she didn't become aware of a pay
discrepancy until she neared the end of her 19-year career at a
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. plant in Gadsden, Ala. She sued, but the
Supreme Court in 2007 said she missed her chance.
The court said in a 5-4 ruling that a person must file a claim of
discrimination within 180 days of a company's initial decision to pay
a worker less than it pays another worker doing the same job. Under
the new bill, given final passage in Congress this week, every new
discriminatory paycheck would extend the statute of limitations for
another 180 days.
Congress attempted to update the law to extend the time, but the Bush
White House and Senate Republicans blocked the legislation in the last
session of Congress
Opponents contended the legislation would gut the statute of
limitations, encourage lawsuits and be a boon to trial lawyers. They
also argued that employees could wait to file claims in hopes of
reaping larger damage awards. The bill does not change current law
limiting back pay for claimants to two years.
Obama, who took office on Jan. 20, spoke strongly in support of it
during his campaign and the Democratic-controlled Congress moved it to
the top of the agenda for the new session that opened this month.
Obama aides said Ledbetter would attend the bill signing ceremony in
the East Room, followed by a separate reception with first lady
Michelle Obama.
The Ledbetter bill focuses on pay and other workplace discrimination
against women. The Census Bureau last year estimated that women still
receive only about 78 cents for every dollar that men get for doing
equivalent jobs. But the measure, which amends the 1964 Civil Rights
Act, also applies to discrimination based on factors such as race,
religion, national origin, disability or age.
Ledbetter was a tireless spokeswoman for the law and Obama's
candidacy. She addressed the Democratic National Convention in Denver
last year and traveled to Washington aboard Obama's train for the
inauguration ceremonies. The law will not help Ledbetter recover any
money; instead, she said she owed it to other women to champion the
cause.
"There will be a far richer reward if we secure fair pay," she said in
Denver. "For our children and grandchildren, so that no one will ever
again experience the discrimination that I did."
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4. Chronicle of Higher Education article: "U.S. Supreme Court Rules
Against Limiting Title IX Lawsuits" by Eric Kelderman
From: The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 21, 2009
Washington - A unanimous Supreme Court today ruled against imposing
more limits on sexual-discrimination and sexual-harassment lawsuits.
Today's decision overturns a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the First Circuit, in Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee. The
appeals court found that lawsuits filed under Title IX, the 1972 law
that prohibits sex discrimination at institutions that receive federal
funds, could not also include claims of civil-rights violations under
a Civil War-era federal law, Section 1983, that enforces the
equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
But Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who wrote the opinion for all nine
justices, said that the two statutes were not mutually exclusive
because each offers different protections and penalties. Claims under
Section 1983 can be filed against individuals, for example, while
Title IX lawsuits can be filed only against institutions.
"Because Title IX's protections are narrower in some respects and
broader in others than those guaranteed under the equal-protection
clause, the court cannot agree with the First Circuit that Congress
saw Title IX as the sole means of correcting unconstitutional gender
discrimination in schools," Justice Alito wrote.
The original suit had been filed by the parents of a kindergarten
student in Hyannis, Mass., who charged that a third-grader had
repeatedly forced their daughter to expose herself to him and to other
students on a school bus during a six-month period in the 2000-1
school year.
A federal district-court judge in Massachusetts ruled that the student
had faced sexual harassment that was "severe and pervasive" but that
the school had not violated Title IX because the harassment stopped
after school officials found out about the misconduct. The judge also
dismissed the parents' claims, under the equal-protection clause,
that the school discriminated on the basis of sex in both the
investigation and proposed remedy. A three-judge panel of the appeals
court upheld the lower court's rulings.
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has reversed the appeals court's
decision, the lower courts will still have to decide on the merits of
the parents' charges of constitutional violations under the
equal-protection clause.
The American Association of University Professors had signed on to a
friend-of-the-court brief in support of the plaintiffs, who wanted the
Supreme Court to overturn the appeals-court decision. Other groups
that supported the plaintiffs include the American Bar Association,
the American Civil Liberties Union, and the National Women's Law
Center. -Eric Kelderman
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5. AWIS Press Release - Elsevier Grant on Leading Women to Create
Their Own Personal Work/Life Balance
From: AWIS Jan. 2009
The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) has received a three-year
grant from the Elsevier Foundation in the amount of $105,000 for a new
project: "AWIS Leading Women to Create Their Own Personal Work/Life
Balance."
The grant will be used to develop an educational/support program,
including a toolkit with supplementary resources and extended coaching
to enable AWIS' 51 chapters around the county to help early-to
mid-career women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) learn to effectively manage their personal and professional
lives. Building on an established network, this three year project
will address the critical career points when women's attrition from
STEM fields is highest.
"Significant progress has been made in improving the status of women
within the scientific workforce over the past 30 years, particularly
in regards to training," said Janet Bandows Koster, AWIS executive
director. "At each stage of advancement, however, from postdoctoral
training to first position to tenure and beyond, the proportion of
women represented drops off substantially." According to a 2007 report
by the National Academy of Sciences, this exodus is linked to issues
related to starting a family and inability to establish a satisfactory
work/life balance.
AWIS will launch the Personal Work/Life Balance program with a
workshop titled "Learn to Juggle Without Joining the Circus:
Strategies to Deal with Your Career and Work-Life Balance Challenges."
The event takes place on Monday, February 16, 2009 from 7:30 am -
11:30 am at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, in conjunction with the annual
meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS).
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6. Increased Funds for Childcare at APS Meetings
From: WIPHYS Jan. 27, 2009
The Committee on the Status of Women in Physics is pleased to announce
that it has received a grant from the Elsevier Foundation's New
Scholars program which will allow it to make awards of up to $400 to
APS meeting attendees who are bringing small children or who incur
extra expenses in leaving them at home (i.e., extra daycare or
babysitting services). Details at
http://www.aps.org/meetings/march/services/childcare.cfm
(March meeting, Pittsburgh) and
http://www.aps.org/meetings/april/events/index.cfm
(April meeting, Denver).
The grant from Elsevier augments existing funds from the APS and
allows the committee to increase both the number and the amount of the
awards.
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7. Research Internship for Undergraduate Women
From: WIPHYS Jan. 26, 2009
Information on the 2009 APS/IBM Research Internship for Undergraduate
Women is now available! These summer internships are salaried
positions typically 10 weeks long, and include in addition a $2,500
grant, plus the opportunity to work with a mentor at one of three IBM
research locations. Applications must be submitted by February 15,
2009. Complete details on the program and how to apply are available at
http://www.aps.org/programs/women/scholarships/ibm/index.cfm
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8. APS March Meeting Special Events
From: WIPHYS Jan. 27, 2009
The Committee on the Status of Women in Physics is sponsoring or
co-sponsoring a variety of special events on Tuesday, March 17 at the
APS March annual meeting in Pittsburgh, PA.
1) CSWP/FIAP Networking Breakfast for Women in Physics (7:30-9:30 am,
Westin Hotel) Full buffet breakfast and an informal speaker. Both
men and women are welcome to attend. Pre-registration by March 2 is
strongly encouraged
http://www.aps.org/meetings/march/events/receptions/cswp-fiap.cfm .
2) Panel Discussion J4: Around the World in 180 Minutes, (11:14 am -
2:15 pm, Convention Center) Sponsored by the Committee on the Status
of Women in Physics and the Forum on International Physics.
3) COM/CSWP Reception (6:00 pm - 7:30 pm, Westin Hotel). Learn about
the work of the Committee on Minorities in Physics and the Committee
on the Status of Women in Physics, network with colleagues, and unwind
after a long day of sessions. All are welcome to join us.
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9. Associate Project Scientist, James Webb Space Telescope
From: Jonathan Gardner jonathan.p.gardner
nasa.gov
The Observational Cosmology Laboratory of NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center invites applications for a civil service astrophysicist
position in astronomical instrumentation. The successful candidate
will join the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) project science team
as the Associate Project Scientist for Assembly, Integration, Test and
Commissioning (I&T) of the observatory [at NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center].
The successful candidate will work with the JWST project team to
validate the instrumentation, telescope and observatory as they
undergo I&T, paying particular attention to the thermal design. The
incumbent will also carry out a program of scientific research
relevant to the JWST science objectives.
Desired qualifications include a PhD degree, a scientific publication
record in astronomy and/or astronomical instrumentation and experience
working with cryogenic space-flight mission hardware. The appointment
will be made at the GS-14 or GS-15 level within the US government
civil service.
For more information, see the AAS job bulletin position 25420 or
contact Jonathan Gardner at 301-286-3938 or
jonathan.p.gardnernasa.gov. NASA is an Equal Employment
Opportunity employer and a diversity of candidates is sought.
Expressions of interest are due Feb. 28, 2009; additional application
materials will be required. US Citizenship is required.
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10. Full-time (Tenure Track) positions in Astronomy, LOS RIOS
Community College District
From: The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Los Rios Community College District's four colleges [American
River College, Cosumnes River College, Folsom Lake College, Sacramento
City College] serve the greater Sacramento region. With a student
population of approximately 90,000 and a service area of 2,400 square
miles, the District is the second largest in California and is one of
the top statewide in transferring students to the UC and CSU systems.
In addition, the district provides 76 two-year vocational programs and
63 technical certificate programs. Our District offers excellent
salaries and benefits and encourages and promotes the continuous
professional development of all. Los Rios Community College District
is a past recipient of the Sacramento Workplace Excellence Leader Award.
LRCCD is currently recruiting for the following, full-time,
tenure-track faculty positions: Astronomy [among many others]. For
details, see
www.losrios.edu
for indepth job descriptions and instructions for applying online. EOE.
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