MentoringBy Sharon Wolfe November 19, 1993
The first term of my freshperson year, I was in a state of culture shock. While flipping through the ORC, I noticed that there were very few women on the science faculty. I am sure that my reaction to this fact was not unique. However, coming from an all-female, small private school, I had never lacked older women to mentor or guide me through my science courses. Out of the five science courses I have taken, only 2 of the 7 professors were women. Needless to say, I found my mentors through other aspects of Dartmouth.
WISP is also a route to meeting women with science interests in one's own class, and in fact, I think that my most important mentor has been a close friend who I met in my freshperson fall. We were in the same biology class, but were actually thrown together by chance when we found that we were the only two women in our freshman seminar. She took it into her own hands when the males in our class were out of control. After we
An excerpt from A Hand Up: Women Mentoring Women In Science from the Association of Women In Science (AWIS) July 10, 1995 Constance Tom Noguchi, Ph.D. Physical Biochemist
Noguchi originally intended to be a physician. When she found how much she enjoyed the physical sciences, however, she switched her major to physics and eventually earned her Ph.D. in theoretical physics. Upon acceptance of a grant from the National Institutes of Health, she entered the biomedical field and received on-the-job training in biology. Noguchi examined substances from a biological perspective and learned protein chemistry and molecular biology. Noguchi's work concentrates on the study of sickle cell anemia. Noguchi has been married to Philip Noguchi since 1969. They have two sons, now teenagers, born in 1977 and 1979. AWIS: What, so far, do you see as the most rewarding aspect of your career?
AWIS: How have you balanced your personal and professional commitments?
Child-rearing does delay you professionally. I took some time off, but I decided that slowing down was worthwhile, and I don't think it damaged my career. Once a postdoc down the hall had her son and was back the next week working in the lab. It took me longer. If you do choose to have a career and family, you have to feel comfortable with your situation. If you must worry the entire day about whether your children are in an appropriate child care situation, your productivity at work will suffer. If you're convinced that you're doing the best you can with day care-and that the best is good enough, then when at work, your primary focus can be work. AWIS: Do you notice the differences between the way men and women approach a task?
AWIS: What are the most important characteristics for which to search in mentors or other advisors?
AWIS: Is there a single pattern that women interested in a career in scientific research should follow?
It's never too late to change direction, however, or to consider an unconventional career path. Ph.D. recipients who have returned to medical school can be found in research as
AWIS: May women starting out in your field contact you for guidance?
AWIS: What (or who) was the worst hurdle in entering science? How did you overcome this barrier?
In fact, I was looking for mentors. April 13, 1996 Dr. Sandra Greer, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Maryland at College Park, is ardent in her belief that we must ensure that women scientists contribute to America's leadership in the global scientific community. In fact, in October 1994 she chaired a nine-member national advisory committee that sponsored the first national Women in Science Summit at Mills College in Oakland, California, to create the foundation for an action plan to advance women's leadership in science. Out of that conference came Advancing Women's Leadership in Science, an action plan to the year 2000. She believes that effective mentors and role models can definitely help women stay in science and help women scientists advance their careers. "Every time someone told me I couldn't succeed in science, I became even more resolved to pave the way for other women," says Sandra.
Dr. Greer's curriculum vitae lists her many academic accomplishments and distinguished professional record. What may be most interesting to women in science here at Dartmouth is that in 1995 the University of Maryland at College Park recognized Dr. Greer in a special way with the Woman of Influence Award. This particular award seems very apropos for a woman whose message has always been that there is a place for women in science and for women as leaders in science. This informal talk is open to all students, across all disciplines, undergraduate and graduate. Refreshments will be served. Make time to meet and hear Dr. Sandra Greer. Dr. Greer will also be presenting a technical seminar earlier in the day on April 18, open to all who are interested. Her colloquium is entitled "Structure and Properties of Living Polymer Solutions" and will be held in 107 Steele at 10:30 AM. May 11, 1996 The following essay by Lynn Margulis is exerpted from a book put out by The Association for Women in Science, "A Hand Up:Women Mentoring Women in Science" For as long as I can remember, when someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always answered "an explorer and a writer." Explorer of what? As a child, I didn't know: Undersea cities, African jungle pyramids, unmapped tropical islands, polar caves. "Whatever will need exploring," I said without hesitation. Today, nearly incessantly, I explore with passion the inner workings of living cells to reveal their evolutionary history. And, as soon as I learn something new about bacteria or insect symbionts that helps explain the history of life on the Earth's surface, I write about it.
Because no one in my early life ever even explained the existence of science, I never realized until adulthood that I could participate in the great adventure of science as a profession. Unlike many friends, neither as an adolescent nor as a young adult did I wait for "my prince to come." Rather I expected some‹any‹opportunity to join serious expeditions. Then, as today, I read nearly everything in sight: Bottle labels, train schedules, recipes, Spanish poetry, and novels. Decades ago, on the south side of Chicago, I used to ride the "IC" (Illinois Central Railroad) some 40 minutes, both in the stifling heat of summer and the freezing cold of winter, at least once weekly to the downtown "Loop" for ballet. Ballet classes (demanding, exhausting, French, and irrelevant) were sufficiently escapist to be captivating before scientists or exploratory missions were available in my life. One film moved all of us dancers of those days: We all idolized red-headed Moira Shearer prancing in her Red Shoes. Set near Nice on the Mediterranean, close to a place with a marine station (Villefranche-sur-Mer) that I would get to know many years later, this romantic movie mesmerized my dancing classmates. The talent of this beautiful ballerina in the prima donna role was exhilarating, as was her true love for her sexy, handsome beau. I remember anger at the melodrama of that movie, however. I thought the dichotomy of her life that led to her self-instigated fate utterly ridiculous.
Caught between the pressure of career and love, she could only resolve the conflict by suicide. Why hadn't she simply married her lover, borne her children, and continued dancing? Hollywood resolved her dilemma tragically, making the young heroine jump to her death from the summit of a sea wall. What infuriated me was the idea that the healthy, beautiful, and ambitious ballerina had to accept the "either-or" notion imposed upon her by the two men who ran her life. Should she simply have opted for everything, however, she would have deprived the film of its trumped-up fatal conflict. Wasn't a strong family life and a career possible for Moira Shearer's character? Isn't such a full life even easier today in the age of food storage by deep freeze, the private automobile, the dishwasher, and the laundry machine? At age 15 I was certain that the ballerina died because of a silly antiquated convention that insisted that it is impossible for any woman to maintain both family and career. I am equally sure now that the people of her generation who insisted on either marriage or career were correct, just as those of our generation who perpetuate the myth of the superwoman who simultaneously can do it all‹husband, children, and professional career‹are wrong. Today, many students, especially women, ask me for enlightenment, how to combine successfully career and family. When they learn I have four excellent, healthy, grown children and never abandoned science even for a single day in over 35 years, they request my secret. Touting me as an example of an American superwoman, they label me a "role model" (a term I despise). But there is no secret. Neither I nor anyone else can be superwoman.
The unreality of such expectations, coupled with the gross inadequacy of our educational system‹such as it is‹often leads to despair temporarily relieved by mind-numbing drugs‹marijuana, whiskey, cocaine‹or other escapes. Each husband, wife, and child in this sea of false hope suffers the crushing pain of inadequacy. In the United States, we value the beauty and strength of youth, but, as a culture, we disdain love for children as "touchy-feely" and denigrate home-making as trivial and unworthy. We marginalize or expel the elderly and ridicule life on communes. By no means are the homeless on the street the only ones without homes. Unwilling to care for our greatest resource and those in direst need‹our infants and children‹we, speaking through money, debase their instructors, despising the seriousness needed to acquire a fine education. Our culture laughs at the intellectual while lauding the merely acquisitive. I have not in any way overcome these stresses or resolved these common problems. I have just ignored them, as if they were laws that do not apply to me. Looking beyond such social heartaches, I chose intellectual exploration as my way of life and allied myself with nonhuman planetmates, with the scientific quest, rather than devoting myself to an arbitrary integrity of family and human community. And of course, I never jumped off the ballerina's cliff; the thought of abandoning life itself has always been unthinkable. Be warned, though, I do not offer a recipe for personal fulfillment‹superwoman does not exist, even in principle. Mine is the story of scientific enthusiasm and enlightenment coming to a foolish and energetic girl who turned down dates on Saturday night and who never watched television. The point is that I was willing to work. This is not a statement of advocacy, as no single answer or easy path suits every woman. Probably, I have contributed to science because twice I quit my job as a wife. I abandoned husbands but stayed with children. I've been poor, but I've never been sorry. Children, husband, and excellence in original science are probably not simultaneously possible. Yet women who feel the urge must be encouraged to pursue scientific careers. Such women need our help. If life does not pose its problems as melodramatically as a Hollywood movie, neither does it resolve them so cleanly or definitively. Yes, women can, of course, be superb scientists, but only at great sacrifice to their social life and its obligations. Most critically, productive women and girls must be surrounded by supportive and loving men and boys. We all need a cultural infrastructure that respects the deep needs of our young children and older family members. Let us hope that the provision of such enablers as scholarship monies, family leave opportunities, enlightened health insurance programs, imaginative and indulgent day care for preschoolers, and afterschool play programs will increase the probability that talented and determined women will contribute much more to the scientific adventure in the future than they ever have been able to in the past. By Liz Maier '97 November 16, 1996
In this issue, I will introduce four women scientists at Dartmouth‹a current graduate student, a recent Ph.D. candidate, and two professors‹and their opinions on the importance of mentors in their own careers. In a subsequent issue, I will share the experiences these women have had juggling career and family obligations and their advice for aspiring professors and graduate students. Of the four women I spoke to, Alice Shumate is the only one who is currently enrolled in a graduate program at Dartmouth. A graduate of Wellesley College, Alice is in her fourth year of study in the Environmental and Evolutionary Biology Program. Her research under Professor Matt Ayres focuses on the evolution of the pheromone system in beetles. She said that it was her "amazing undergraduate advisor" at Wellesley who stimulated her interest in evolution and inspired her to go to graduate school and ultimately to teach at the university level. "I really strive to be as good as she is at what she does," Alice said of her advisor. "I would love to emulate her. I don't think I would feel that as much with a male advisor."
Celia Chen had a similar experience in the classrooms of Dartmouth, where she got her undergraduate degree from 1974 to 1978‹the preliminary years of coeducation at this school:
After working in consulting and on public policy issues in Washington, Celia returned to Dartmouth in 1988 to pursue a Ph.D. in ecology under Professor Carol Folt, and since attaining her degree in 1994, she has worked as a research assistant in Professor Folt's lab. Celia will be leading the Jamaican portion of the biology foreign study program this winter. Both Alice and Celia recognized women in their pasts who had encouraged them to pursue careers in science; for Professor Laura Conkey of the Geography Department, however, science was a field that she stumbled upon her senior year at Harvard. She explained: "I felt a little science phobic at that time. I didn't have excellent training as a scientist in high school, and I felt like I couldn't do it. Obviously I had requirements in science and took some science courses by the end of my time at Harvard and found out that I really liked them. So there I was at the end of my undergraduate work with a degree in anthropology and not very much science experience but really knowing that's what I wanted to do."
[The all-girls' school] made a big difference to me, because at least at that point in my life, I felt I could do things... But choosing then to go to a school where women were very badly out-numbered in my class‹it was four to one at the time. I was really badly intimidated, and I think that had a negative effect on me. I didn't have very many women professors. One of the ones that I did have was another undergraduate who was teaching a math course. Well that was terrific! Here was an undergraduate who was teaching beautifully, who did a great job of encouraging, cajoling, enthusing, and that was a woman to look up to! Having people who are there doing what you want to do, you think, "Hey! I can do it!" Not every successful woman scientist had the benefit of female influence in her professional life, however. Professor Ursula Gibson of Thayer School is an example of a woman who achieved prominence in her profession despite a lack of female mentors. Professor Gibson majored in physics at Dartmouth and then got her physics graduate degrees from Cornell University, and though she did not encounter very many female physics professors, she adjusted accordingly: There were women whom I was aware of who were either graduate students or professors... my case may not be valid, because my mother was a professor of microbiology, so I grew up in a two professor family. Although I never really thought of her as a professional woman, I did know what her job title was. I am sure the intimidation factor [was low]; I mean, if Mom can do it, I can do it! I suppose subliminally, that has always been there for me. In college, the person I would refer to as my mentor was male. He was a physics professor here that I got to be very good friends with... In graduate school, my advisor‹who was also male‹turned out to be a really nice person. In terms of going to somebody for advice or support, I didn't feel like the gender thing made a difference. In the interviews with the small sample of successful women scientists with whom I spoke, a majority felt that having female mentors played an influential role in their decision to pursue a career in science. The Women in Science Program helps to balance the dearth of women faculty members in the sciences at Dartmouth by offering the Peer
By Susannah Maurer August 16, 1999 The WISP Peer Mentoring Program was launched seven years ago by two upper-class students who understood the benefits of a supportive and encouraging relationship between upper- and under-class students, especially for women in science. The recent trend in peer advising on campus (EDPAs, DAPAs, the Older and Wiser Program, etc.) attests to these benefits. The WISP mentoring program itself reaches the greatest number of women of all WISP programs (about 200 students each year), and it continues to be one of the most popular programs that WISP offers. Yet, every year student surveys responding to aspects of the Peer Mentoring Program continue to be mixed. Some students have the ideal bonding experience while others may meet just once and the relationship never materializes. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee of success, no formula that can make the mentoring pairs work every time. But there are ways to improve the chances for success.
Since these programs are primarily student-driven and exist to serve student needs, they require a special commitment and enthusiasm on both sides. Many mentors have expressed frustration with the shyness or lack of commitment on the part of the mentees and vice versa. One student wrote that "it is important to keep in contact with your partner and not just let the relationship fizzle out" and another that "regular communication is the key" to making the mentoring program work. First-year students sign up to be mentees because they are interested in science, and they want to hear about courses, majors, professors, and internship or research opportunities. While the relationship may not develop as naturally or easily as it would with a friend, it's still important to persist. "Be flexible with hours/meeting times. And try to meet as much as possible, even if it's just over a bagel before class," recommended a participant. A few friendly blitzes to your mentee can make a difference, too.
During my own first fall term, I enormously appreciated the few connections I made with upper-class women because they represented the sense of stability and assuredness that my under-class friends didn't have. They were reminders of the confident, well-adjusted student I could be in time. It was difficult to ask for help, though, and if the upper-class students had not been reaching out to me, I might not have met them at all. As an upper-class student, and especially as a woman in science, it is important to encourage incoming students, to help them understand that they have the opportunity to make Dartmouth their community too, that they have dozens of opportunities to take advantage of, and that they are surrounded by students who want to help and encourage them. For one mentor, the best part of the Peer Mentoring Program was "helping confused first-years. I wish I had had that as an incoming student Šand meeting other first-year students, which is sometimes hard to do." The relationships people build with other students at Dartmouth can be just as important as the classes they take. The most valuable part of one mentee's experience was just "meeting my mentor, an excited, talented woman with many interests similar to my own." A supportive one-on-one relationship can make the difference in building the extra confidence women in science sometimes need, and it plants the seed for the growth of a network of support. By Kathryn Greer October 5, 1999 After arriving at Dartmouth as a first year student, the WISP internship was one of the first programs I heard about. Through this program, first year women are matched with faculty researchers and participate in real-life research with these sponsors. The laboratories of the internships are located on campus, at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC), the VA Medical Center, Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) and the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL). The internships involve a 10 hours per week commitment in the winter and spring terms. Some students traveled to and from work in a lab with a specific schedule, while others make their own hours, working at different hours each week on their own schedule. Fremonta Meyer '00 worked with Dr. Lorraine Pfefferkorn on a project on cell signaling in the DHMC department of microbiology and immunology. She learned biological techniques such as western blotting, and also had the opportunity to write in a scientific report format early in her college career. She enjoyed being immersed in a research atmosphere and appreciated the nurturing environment the internship provided. Emily Lesher '02 worked with Carl Renshaw and Xiahong Feng last year in the earth sciences department. They "looked at the effects of surfactant - a material used to clean up groundwater - on the naturally occurring clays associated with the systems
I worked with Professor Laurie Snell in the math department, creating classroom material for a course called Chance in the News. This is a class offered in high schools and colleges all over the US that teaches mathematical concepts through real-life scenarios. I summarized articles that involved mathematical problems, adding to the end of the summary a list of analytical questions based on the article. I enjoyed my internship very much and appreciated the opportunity to meet people in the math department. I was able to develop my writing skills, as well as to learn to look at the world around me in a new light as a possible application of mathematical and scientific principles to analyze. One '02 intern, Jessica Morey, worked last year with Charles Racine and Michael Ferrick at CRREL, studying permafrost thawing in Alaskan boreal forests. They analyzed the "physical and chemical properties of permafrost cores from degrading and stable forests in interior Alaska." Jessica not only obtained skills necessary to analyze the permafrost underlying these forests, but she also received a trip to Alaska! Jessica continued working at CRREL over the summer, after her WISP internship had ended, and was invited to join a trip of scientists traveling to Alaska for research. You never really know what you could end up doing with a WISP internship! All of the interns I spoke with said they would recommend that a first year woman interested in science participate in a WISP internship. Fremonta Meyer firmly believes that a WISP internship "helps you establish personal contact with a professor, at a time when getting to know teachers in your large [introductory] science courses can seem
Fremonta also mentioned, "it gives a great introduction to the research process, and with a level of support that may not be available later in your undergraduate years." Students can see at an early point in their college careers how the research world works, allowing them to see first-hand if research is what they truly want to do. By obtaining this experience, students can determine if scientific research is something they would like to pursue as an upperclass student or even as a possible career. Emily mentioned "even if I don't pursue hydrology, the field my project focused on, I have a step up in the fact that I know what research is all about." No matter if the internship is in a department you decide to major in or if it is completely unrelated, the experience of doing some kind of scientific research can help you in future research endeavors. On the other hand, WISP internships can also help you find a major! Emily said, "at the time I applied for the internship, I didn't know what I was going to major in, but working in the [earth sciences] department showed me that earth sciences was something I definitely wanted to pursue. Now that I've had that experience, I feel like I have a stronger background in earth sciences." By pursuing a WISP internship in this field, Emily had the opportunity to see many more aspects of the earth sciences department than she would have by simply taking an introductory class.
If a WISP internship sounds like something you would like to pursue, be sure to go to the information session this Wednesday, October 6th, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM in room 100 of Cummings Hall, at the engineering school. Good luck and get ready for a great year! |
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