AASWOMEN Newsletter for October 16, 2015
Issue of October 16, 2015
eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Meredith Hughes, Elysse Voyer, & Heather Flewelling
This week's issues:
1. Sexual Harassment in Our Astronomical Community
2. A Culture of Silence
3. Still Anonymous
4. Astronomy community rallies in support of victims in Berkeley sexual harassment case
5. Career Profiles: Astronomer to STEM Education Policy Executive
6. Is There a Land of Equality for Physicists? Results from the Global Survey of Physicists
7. L'Oreal USA Announces 2015 For Women in Science Fellows (incld. astronomer Sarah Ballard!)
8. Her Code Got Humans on the Moon-And Invented Software Itself
9. Job Opportunities
10. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
11. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
12. Access to Past Issues
1. Sexual Harassment in Our Astronomical Community
From: Daryl Haggard [daryl.haggard_at_mcgill.ca]
Our community has been galvanized this week by the announcement of a Title IX finding against astronomer Geoff Marcy and his subsequent resignation from UC Berkeley. Below are a collection of pieces by the AAS and CSWA leadership, as well as the breaking stories from Buzzfeed's Azeen Ghorayshi. Several of the other inclusions in this week's newsletter discuss the impact of these findings and our community's response. There are many more. Thank you all for your activism -- please keep working to educate yourselves and your institutions about sexual and other forms of harassment, and to protect students so that fewer of our next generation of astronomers will grow up to be survivors. We thank the courageous women who pursued the Title IX complaint and continue to offer our support to any persons in our community who have experienced or are currently experiencing harassment. -Eds
* "President's Column: A Letter to AAS Members on Sexual Harassment" by Meg Urry (October 15, 2015)
http://aas.org/posts/news/2015/10/presidents-column-letter-aas-members-sexual-harassment
* "AAS Statement on Sexual Harassment by Faculty" AAS Council Resolution (adopted October 15, 2015)
http://aas.org/governance/council-resolutions#marcy
* "CSWA Chair's Message to the Greater Astronomical Community on Harassment" by Christina Richey (October 12, 2015)
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.ca/2015/10/cswa-chairs-message-to-greater.html
* "Famous Berkeley Astronomer Violated Sexual Harassment Policies Over Many Years" by Azeen Ghorayshi (October 9, 2015)
http://www.buzzfeed.com/azeenghorayshi/famous-astronomer-allegedly-sexually-harassed-students
* "Famous Astronomer Intends To Resign After Sexual Harassment Investigation" by Azeen Ghorayshi (October 14, 2015)
http://www.buzzfeed.com/azeenghorayshi/geoff-marcy-resignation
Back to top.2. A Culture of Silence
From: Jessica Kirkpatrick via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
This week the Astronomy community was rocked by the news that Geoff Marcy was found to have violated campus sexual harassment policies after a six-month investigation by Berkeley's Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination.
Until Buzzfeed News broke the story last week, Marcy's habit of making women uncomfortable was an "open secret" in the Astronomy community. Yet many people are reacting with frustration, saying: "If everyone knew, why didn't we do something sooner?" or "I am a woman in astronomy, how come no one told me?" The Marcy situation highlights a larger problem we have within the structures of academia: a culture of silence.
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2015/10/a-culture-of-silence.html
Back to top.3. Still Anonymous
From: Joan Schmelz via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
[Today's guest blogger is Still Anonymous. She can tell you her story in her own words.]
On Friday, Buzzfeed's article on Geoff Marcy's serial sexual harassment - and UC Berkeley's non-response - went live. The story has enough momentum behind it for Geoff to toss off a non-apology to the CSWA as if pleading ignorance and promising maturation and growth make any difference this time. As if they ever have.
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.ca/2015/10/still-anonymous.html
Back to top.4. Astronomy community rallies in support of victims in Berkeley sexual harassment case
From: Daryl Haggard [daryl.haggard_at_mcgill.ca]
by Miriam Kramer
More than 200 astronomers from institutions around the world are calling for the New York Times to retract a story detailing a sexual harassment investigation into a prominent astronomer. That investigation ended with the astronomer, Geoff Marcy, apologizing for his behavior without receiving disciplinary action beyond imposing a zero tolerance policy for the future.
To read more, please see
http://mashable.com/2015/10/13/geoff-marcy-sexual-harassment
The original letter, penned by astronomer Laura Lopez, is available here
http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~lopez.513/Letter/Letter_to_NY_Times.html
Comments from The NYT's Margaret Sullivan are here
http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/was-times-too-soft-on-scientist-found-guilty-of-sexual-harassment
Back to top.5. Career Profiles: Astronomer to STEM Education Policy Executive
From: Stuart Vogel via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy and the AAS Employment Committee have compiled dozens of interviews highlighting the diversity of career trajectories available to astronomers. The interviews share advice and lessons learned from individuals on those paths.
Below is our interview with Anita Krishnamurthi, an astronomer turned STEM education after-school executive and advocate. If you have questions, suggestions, advice to share, etc. about this career path, please leave a comment below.
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2015/10/career-profiles-astronomer-to-stem.html
Back to top.6. Is There a Land of Equality for Physicists? Results from the Global Survey of Physicists
From: Rick Fienberg [rick.fienberg_at_aas.org]
by Rachel Ivie and Susan White
This article uses data from the Global Survey of Physicists to examine differences in access to resources and opportunities for men and women on a country-by-country basis. This was originally published as a feature article in a special issue of Physics in Canada examining women in physics.
With the exception of Germany, we find that women have significantly fewer resources or opportunities - or both - in every country for which we had adequate respondents to conduct the analysis.
To read this article, please see
https://www.aip.org/statistics/reports/there-land-equality-physicists?dm_i=21LG,3QFUS,EMUFG9,DFW1E,1
Back to top.7. L'Oreal USA Announces 2015 For Women in Science Fellows (incld. astronomer Sarah Ballard!)
From: Daryl Haggard [daryl.haggard_at_mcgill.ca]
L'Oreal USA today announces the five recipients of the 2015 For Women in Science Fellowship, which honors female scientists at critical stages of their career with $60,000 fellowships to advance their postdoctoral research. Celebrating its twelfth year in the U.S., the L'Oreal For Women in Science program has awarded 60 postdoctoral women scientists nearly $3 million in grants. The announcement is being made in conjunction with Ada Lovelace Day - an annual event aimed at raising the profile of women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
The five fellows exemplify the broad range of research women in STEM are pursuing across the country: Sarah Ballard, a postdoctoral fellow in exoplanetary astrophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Julie Meyer, a postdoctoral scientist in marine microbiology at the University of Florida; Sarah Richardson, a postdoctoral fellow in synthetic biology at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab's Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) and at the University of California, Berkeley; Claire Robertson, a postdoctoral scientist in cancer bioengineering at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab; and, Ming Yi, a postdoctoral scientist in condensed matter physics at the University of California, Berkeley.
To read more, please see
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/loreal-usa-announces-2015-for-women-in-science-fellows-300158431.html
Back to top.8. Her Code Got Humans on the Moon-And Invented Software Itself
From: Elysse Voyer [elysse.voyer_at_gmail.com]
by Robert McMillan
Margaret Hamilton wasn't supposed to invent the modern concept of software and land men on the moon. It was 1960, not a time when women were encouraged to seek out high-powered technical work. Hamilton, a 24-year-old with an undergrad degree in mathematics, had gotten a job as a programmer at MIT, and the plan was for her to support her husband through his three-year stint at Harvard Law. After that, it would be her turn-she wanted a graduate degree in math.
But the Apollo space program came along. And Hamilton stayed in the lab to lead an epic feat of engineering that would help change the future of what was humanly-and digitally-possible.
To read more, please see
http://www.wired.com/2015/10/margaret-hamilton-nasa-apollo
Back to top.9. Job Opportunities
For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their organizations, a list of resources and advice is here: http://www.aas.org/cswa/diversity.html#howtoincrease
- Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, Western Washington University
https://jobs.wwu.edu/JobPosting.aspx?JPID=6571
- Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, Physics and/or Astronomy Education Research, Western Washington University
https://jobs.wwu.edu/JobPosting.aspx?JPID=6653
- Assistant/Associate/Full Professor of Physics & Astronomy, University of Utah
https://utah.peopleadmin.com/postings/45860
10. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
To submit an item to the AASWOMEN newsletter, including replies to topics, send email to aaswomen_at_aas.org
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When submitting a job posting for inclusion in the newsletter, please include a one-line description and a link to the full job posting.
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Back to top.11. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
Join AAS Women List by email:
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Back to top.12. Access to Past Issues
http://www.aas.org/cswa/AASWOMEN.html
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected].
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