While the biological sciences have achieved gender parity in the undergraduate and graduate career stages, this is not the case at the faculty level. The WEBS (Women Evolving the Biological Sciences) symposia go beyond traditional scientific training and professional development to address factors critical to women's persistence in faculty careers: community and empowerment. Through a series of panel discussions, personal reflections and skills workshops, WEBS creates a community-based professional development experience and a space for participants to grapple with central issues affecting their scientific careers. Longitudinal qualitative survey data suggest that WEBS bolsters the participants' confidence and empowerment, in addition to providing concrete skills for addressing a range of issues necessary to navigating scientific careers, leading to increased career satisfaction and career self-efficacy (i.e., the belief in one's capacity to pursue their chosen career). These results highlight the importance and need for programs and opportunities for women in STEM that go beyond training in scientific skills and traditional professional development to include those that create a sense of community and empowerment.
American Sociological Association, the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and WEPAN. She acts as reviewer and presenter for WEPAN and ASEE conferences and has published in the Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering and The Journal about Women in Higher Education. Litzler earned a PhD and MA in Sociology and a BA in Communication with minors in Spanish and Women's Studies. Her dissertation, "Sex Segregation in Undergraduate Engineering Majors" was focused on understanding the individual and institutional reasons women are disproportionately represented in certain engineering majors.
She investigates the historical and cultural dimensions of underrepresented groups' participation in science, technology and engineering and the reasons why white males still dominate these fields. Prof. Eve A. Riskin, University of Washington Eve Riskin received her BS degree in Electrical Engineering from M.I.T. and her graduate degrees in EE from Stanford. Since 1990, she has been in the EE Department at the University of Washington where she is now Associate Dean of Diversity and Access in the College of Engineering, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of the ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change. With ADVANCE, she works on mentoring and leadership development programs for women faculty in SEM. Her research interests include image compression and image processing, with a focus on developing video compression algorithms to allow for cell-phone transmission of American Sign Language.
The goal of On-Ramps into Academia was to increase the pool of women faculty available to all universities by providing professional development to PhD-level women in industry or research laboratories who wished to transition into faculty positions. Unlike the more traditional strategy of institutions recruiting female faculty from other universities to increase the number of female faculty in science and engineering departments, this strategy increases the number of female faculty nationally. On-Ramps is a new approach to faculty recruitment. PhDs in science and engineering can leverage their nonacademic skills and experiences into successful careers as faculty members.Interviews with On-Ramps into Academia workshop participants revealed three core barriers that can influence the viability of transitioning to academia, particularly for women. We also discovered that the new career also has major rewards for those who make the transition. We next describe the On-Ramps workshops and discuss the challenges and benefits of on-ramping.
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