From Susan Feiner ([EMAIL PROTECTED]):
Greetings Economists: I have some good news. FIPSE (fund for the
improvement of postsecondary education) has invited the preliminary
proposal I prepared with Myra Strober and Janice Madden (and Rebecca Blank)
back as a full proposal. They received 1900 preliminary proposals, asked
275 to come back as full proposals and will fund 55 to 60. Below is a
summary of our proposed project:
Proposal Title: A World Without Women? Just Add and Stir. or Enriching
the Graduate School Experiences of Female Doctoral Candidates in
Traditionally Male Disciplines - Begining with Economics.
Abstract. This three year project calls for the establishment of a cross
campus mentoring network in which female economics professors at the rank
of associate or full professor at non-PhD granting institutions will be
trained to mentor up to three female graduate students. Each
participating department will also have a supportive senior (most likely
male) economist working as a liaison between the graduate faculty, the
mentors, the grad. students and the project directors. If funded the
project will begin in Fall, 1994 with a three day conference for mentors
and grad. program liaisons on techniques for mentoring and methods of
assessing the successes or failures of mentoring relationships. A two day
conference is planned for the begining of year two to assess project
progress. The project plan also calls for education and outreach to the
economics profession on issues relating to the chilly climate. The project
will conclude with a gala conference in which project results are shared
with interested faculty from other disciplines in which women are
traditionally underrepresented.
The project directors are: Susan Feiner, Myra Strober and Janice Madden.
They solicit support in the following areas:
1) female economists willing to serve as mentors could write letters and
send them to Feiner (Dept. of Economics, Hampton University, Hampton VA
23668) indicating your willingness to participate AND your reasons for
believing that such a project is likely to be of help.
2) female grad. students who would like to be mentored and why. be as
specific as possible.
3) phd granting institutions with three or more female grad. students who
would like to participate in this project. letters of interest would be of
great assistance in submitting the proposal.
4) help with preparing a narrative statement on the importance of mentoring.
text of the proposal follows. thanks. respond off line to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
* * *
"A WORLD WITHOUT WOMEN?" "JUST ADD STIR." OR
ENHANCING THE GRADUATE SCHOOL EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN PURSUING DOCTORAL
DEGREES IN TRADITIONALLY MALE DISCIPLES.
I recall very vividly my first day in class. Three seats in front of me,
three seats in back of me, and two seats on either side were left vacant.
I was a complete pariah in that social setting (the graduate school of
Harvard University)...The men were positively unable to interact with me.
(Marian Boyken Pour-El in A World Without Women. David Noble. 1992.
p.xiii)
We were shut out ... we were shown we didn't belong ... I was completely
isolated. I did not have access to the normal channels of communication,
debate and exchange in the profession - those informal networks where you
get the news, the comment, the criticism, the latest reports of what is
going on ... I had been exiled (from) the 'inner reaches' of the
profession. (Naomi Weinstein, ibid.)
Perhaps the most curious, undoubtedly the most painful, part of my
experience was the total isolation in which I found myself ... I was
clearly a serious threat to my fellow students' conception of physics as
not only a male stronghold but a male retreat. (Evelyn Fox Keller, ibid.
p.xiv)
Introduction
Despite the fact that a great many more women are enrolled in graduate
programs in traditionally male fields today than there were 20 or 30 years
ago, many of the same problems continue to confront female doctoral
candidates. Research has shown how the social/intellectual isolation
described above, combines with the derision and outright ridicule from some
male professors and graduate students to undermine female doctoral
candidates.1 The proposed model is an attempt to remedy these deficiencies
in graduate education, begining in the field of economics, through
mentoring and climate control. Dissemination within economics is built
into the aspects of the project relating to the chilly climate, while
dissemination to other traditionally male disciplines will occur during the
concluding three day conference open to professors from all disciplines.
The focus of this capstone gala conference will be the adaptation of the
stages of intervention to other disciplines. Preliminary discussions with
senior female faculty in philosophy and mathematics indicate great
enthusiasm for this project.
Problem Identification.
We
