[Wigsat-l] Rutgers: Scientists Strive for Gender Equality

[Sophia Huyer]

Scientists Strive for Gender Equality in Respective Fields
2 Mar 2009

Four University women scientists are fighting to promote gender equity  
among science, engineering and mathematics faculty on Rutgers' three  
campuses.

The professors were selected by the Rutgers Office for the Promotion  
of Women in Sciences to take part in the Rutgers University for  
Faculty Advancement and Institutional Re-Imagination, according to a  
press release.

The four professors include Georgia Arbuckle-Keil, professor of  
chemistry at Rutgers-Camden; Helen M. Buettner, professor of chemical  
and biochemical engineering on the New Brunswick campus; Judith Weis,  
professor of biology at Rutgers-Newark; and Maggie Shiffrar, professor  
of psychology at Rutgers-Newark.

The RU-FAIR professors created proposals specific for each campus  
regarding female faculty issues, according to the release.

"Each Rutgers campus has its distinct flavor and culture," said  
Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Joan Bennett, a  
professor of plant biology. "Our RU-FAIR professors are drawn from  
each of the three campuses and understand the different needs and  
histories of their respective units."

All three campuses seek to increase opportunities for communication  
among science, engineering and mathematics faculty as well as to  
improve mentoring of junior faculty by senior faculty to help women  
direct their career paths.

"Scientists are trained to do their science but not all that other  
stuff," Bennett said.

Weis, who submitted a joint proposal with Shiffrar, said their  
proposal would help junior tenured women get promotions and lead  
successful careers.

"I want to help women scientists at Rutgers, and I thought this would  
be a good way to start," she said.

Weis said her interest in the RU-FAIR program sparked because of a  
case in the 1970s when a group of women on the Newark campus did  
research on women's faculty salaries and promotions and realized they  
were not receiving promotions or raises fairly.

The case was led by two of the eight tenured women faculty at the  
time, Helen Strausser and Dorothy Dinnerstein, according to the release.

"They gathered data and showed that, no matter how you sliced it,  
women were discriminated against here," Weis said.

Weis said they won the case in 1974, but it was never documented. She  
said she wanted graduate students to do research on the case.

Mentoring is another key part of the Newark proposal, according to the  
release. In the release, Shiffar said mentoring can help junior  
faculty avoid common missteps, such as taking on too much  
administrative work - what she calls "administrivia."

Weis and Shiffrar plan to give every woman assistant professor in the  
sciences a mentor.

Buettner's proposal calls for workshops on promotions and tenure to  
inform junior faculty about the University-wide promotion and tenure  
instructions, according to the release. She also wants to create an  
appointments and promotions panel to bring together senior and junior  
faculty in the School of Engineering to discuss how the promotion  
process works.

"We also hope to get promotions for more senior faculty as well and  
bring women to more leadership roles," Bennett said.

Buettner said she also plans for professional development workshops,  
which aim to increase communication among women faculty, according to  
the release.

"When I came here [in 1990], I was the only woman in chemical  
engineering," she said. "There were other women in the School of  
Engineering, but we didn't interact much. It was a wave hello across  
the parking lot kind of thing."

Arbuckle-Keil said she has been at the University for 20 years. When  
she began her career at Rutgers-Camden, there were only seven tenured  
women in chemistry, physics and biology, she said. Now, although there  
are other women, she remains the only tenured woman in that department  
on campus, she said.

"We have an equal number of female students to male students, so why  
shouldn't we have an equal number of female faculty to male faculty,"  
she said. "I would just like to be able to see more female faculty on  
the Camden campus."

Arbuckle-Keil, who graduated from Rutgers-Camden in 1983 and returned  
as an assistant professor in 1989, also said she hoped for more  
communication among women scientists by establishing informal research  
seminars that would include women from all three campuses.

According to the release, Arbuckle-Keil said she plans to survey all  
Camden's current science, engineering and mathematics faculty - male  
and female - about how they spend time. Questions proposed, for  
example, are if women faculty members spend more time than their male  
colleagues assisting students, she said.

Arbuckle-Keil said she did not want to just improve academic life in  
Camden for women, but for men as well.

"I don't want to feel like I'm asking for something special for  
women," she said. "If we make it better for women, I believe we can  
make it better for everybody."
By Ariel Nagi


 From www.womensnet.org.za
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