AASWomen January 17, 2014
Issue of January 17, 2014
eds. Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, Nick Murphy, & Nicolle Zellner
SPECIAL EDITION: CSWA Climate Site Visit Program for Astronomy Departments
1. Policy
2. Procedure
3. Benefits
4. Chair's Perspective
5. APS CSWP Climate for Women in Physics Site Visit Program
6. Affecting the Climate for Women in Physics: The CSWP Site Visit Program
7. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
9. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter
1. Policy
From: Joan Schmelz via womeninastronomy
At the AAS meeting in Indianapolis, IN in June 2013, the AAS Council approved a proposal by CSWA to implement Climate Site Visits for astronomy departments. These site visits are modeled on the highly successful visits done by the Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) for physics departments. The CSWP index, procedures, and summary web pages formed the basis for the CSWA proposal.
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/01/cswa-climate-site-visit-program-for.html
Back to top.2. Procedure
From: Joan Schmelz via womeninastronomy
CSWA Climate Site Visits for Astronomy Departments will be initiated by an invitation from the department chair and will ordinarily last one day. The CSWA chair and the department chair will decide upon a convenient date for the visit. The CSWA chair will select a visiting team of three senior astronomers, usually from among current and former CSWA members.
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/01/cswa-climate-site-visit-program-for_14.html
Back to top.3. Benefits
From: Jessica Kirkpatrick via womeninastronomy
As a graduate student, I participated in a Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) joint site visit of the physics departments at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs and University of California, Berkeley. The site visit was very valuable for both departments in highlighting not only the areas where we could improve in creating supportive environments for women, but also areas where we were doing quite well.
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/01/cswa-climate-site-visit-program-for_15.html
Back to top.4. A Department Chair's Perspective
From: Ed Bertschinger via womeninastronomy
In 2009, the MIT Physics Department hosted a Climate Site Visit for Women and Minorities from the APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics and Committee on Minorities. As a relatively new department head with interest in improving the status of women and minorities, I thought it would be a good practice. I was unsure how it might be regarded by the faculty, but I paved the way by getting from buy-in from my department's Visiting Committee. The procedures followed were very similar to those described in the earlier blog post CSWA Climate Site Visit Program for Astronomy Departments - Procedure. The main difference was the presence of a member of the Committee on Minorities, so that the site visit also assessed the climate for minorities. I had specifically requested this addition and was very pleased it could be accommodated.
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/01/cswa-climate-site-visit-program-for_16.html
Back to top.5. APS CSWP Climate for Women in Physics Site Visit Program
From: Susan Blessing [blessing_at_hep.fsu.edu] and Deanna Ratnikova [ratnikova_at_aps.org]
From the 2013 April 23, Women in Astronomy Blogspot
Since 1990, the American Physical Society (APS) Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) has conducted site visits to physics departments at research institutions and national laboratories to assess and improve the climate for women. Through the Climate Site Visit Program, a team of physicists visits physics departments or labs to catalogue the problems that women face and to suggest potential improvements. The site visit program has been heralded for leading the physics community to a deeper understanding of the climate for women physicists in academia.
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/04/aps-cswp-climate-for-women-in-physics.html
Back to top.6. Affecting the Climate for Women in Physics: The CSWP Site Visit Program
From: Meg Urry [meg.urry_at_yale.edu]
STATUS magazine, 2007 June
Each scientific institution has its own culture. Some are welcoming and relaxed. In others the atmosphere is more formal, almost corporate. But occasionally the climate feels hostile or alien to women. Often it is hard for insiders to see just what is wrong and/or to effect change. Then it is time to seek some outside advice.
To read more, please see
http://www.aas.org/cswa/status/2007/JUNE2007/CSWPSiteVisitProgram.html
Back to top.7. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
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Back to top.8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
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Back to top.9. Access to Past Issues
http://www.aas.org/cswa/AASWOMEN.html
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
Back to top.- Cswa Climate Site Visit Program For Astronomy Departments - A Department Chair's Perspective
In 2009, the MIT Physics Department hosted a Climate Site Visit for Women and Minorities from the APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics and Committee on Minorities. As a relatively new department head with interest in improving the status...
- Cswa Climate Site Visit Program For Astronomy Departments - Benefits
As a graduate student, I participated in a Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) joint site visit of the physics departments at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs and University of California, Berkeley. The site visit was very valuable...
- Cswa Climate Site Visit Program For Astronomy Departments - Procedure
CSWA Climate Site Visits for Astronomy Departments will be initiated by an invitation from the department chair and will ordinarily last one day. The CSWA chair and the department chair will decide upon a convenient date for the visit. The CSWA chair...
- Cswa Climate Site Visit Program For Astronomy Departments - Policy
At the AAS meeting in Indianapolis, IN in June 2013, the AAS Council approved a proposal by CSWA to implement Climate Site Visits for astronomy departments. These site visits are modeled on the highly successful visits done by the Committee on the Status...
- Site Visits
Do you think your department could use an external review of its climate for women? The American Physical Society (APS) has a whole program set up for conducting site visits. There's also a similar program directed toward the climate for minorites....