RIP Sally

Sally Ride inspired so many.  Full Text  Thankfully, Sally Ride Science lives on.

Local history: In Syracuse, it was one small change for infants, one large step toward equality

When I clicked on this story, I assumed it would be about today's Great Cloth Diaper Change, an  attempt to break the world record for simultaneous cloth diaper changes.  However, it addressed access to changing table; the first suit addressing the lack of facilities for fathers (and the assumption that only moms did this particular familial duty) was in 1985, about our very own Syracuse Hancock Airport.  Read on.
Published in the Post-Standard, April 21, 2012
 By Karen DeCrow, Contributing writer
Syracuse was ahead of the game!
In Miami, Fla., 165 diaper changing stations are being built in men’s rooms and common areas of city properties. A story by Charles Rabin in The Miami Herald reported city commissioners voted in February to spend $45,000 to install baby diaper-changing stations in men’s rooms across the city, “after an hour of heated argument between the measure’s sponsor and the disgruntled police union president.”
The model: a Syracuse lawsuit filed in federal court, establishing that changing diapers is no longer women’s work (Northern District of New York).
My client, the Fathers’ Rights Association of New York State, brought the Syracuse Department of Aviation to U.S. District Court in July 1985. In September 1986, thanks to a decision by the late Judge Howard Munson, there was a celebration of the opening of a gender-free fathers’ and mothers’  nursery, with a ribbon cutting and the changing of two infants by their fathers; one the son of the assistant corporation counsel, the other the son of the president of the fathers’ rights group.
Our lawsuit addressed: sex discrimination against men who were denied equal facilities; sex discrimination against women, who were assumed to have the total responsibility for children while traveling; and the rights of children to be cared for by both parents.

FULL STORY

Karen DeCrow, an attorney and author from Jamesville, NY, is in the National Women's Hall of Fame and writes an occasional column in The Post-Standard.

Dr. Lillian Na’ai Alessa Speaks on Water, Technology, and Sustainability

As part of the course requirements for FOR797, students share responsibility for reporting on the WiSE Professions Speaker Series.  The following was prepared by Emily Handelman, Dana Burke, and Elysa Smigielski.

Dr. Alessa brought humans to the forefront in her discussion on water and technology on Tuesday, April 17, 2012, where she not only brought powerful ideas on sustainability but also enthusiasm and dry wit that kept the audience engaged and enlightened.

            Dr. Alessa works within the framework of Social Ecological Systems, a concept noting that humans exist within a biophysical environment. Humans, she said, are the drivers of land use change and have kept sustainability in an ivory tower, but also possess the power to work with and adapt to the changing environment. Her talk centered around the concept of adaptation and its use in addressing the problem of climate change.  In particular, she framed her discussion around the use of place based knowledge, the use of humans as environmental sensors, and the use of technology as a tool, rather than the means to an end.   Technology, she said, cannot be engineered to apply everywhere.  Thus, by relying on our human sensors – our expert observers and note-takers of places in which they live – researchers and scientists can better use this place based knowledge in developing solutions and policies.  

Alessa’s talk concluded with a discussion of some of the tools she and her team have developed in order to document and analyze placed based knowledge. In particular, she explained a software program called Architecture for Integrated and Dynamic Data Analysis (AIDA) that collects social data information in order to map social values across the landscape. She noted that AIDA is in essence a social networking tool for information.

Dr. Lilian Na’ia Alessa is the Director of the Resilience and Adaptive Management Group at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. Dr. Alessa received her B.S. in general biology and her Ph.D. in cell biology from the University of British Columbia. She has also served on the board of the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States. This talk was a joint presentation of  SUNY ESF’s Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Seminar Series and the Cross-Disciplinary Seminar in Hydrology and Biogeochemical Processes.   The seminar was sponsored by the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, the Graduate Student Association, and the ESF Women’s Caucus.

Garland and Alestalo: Transforming Workplace Culture

As part of the requirements for FOR496/797, students share responsibility of reporting the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series. This was prepared by Brianna Reed

                Dr. Marie Garland, Executive Director for the NSF-ADVANCE initiative and Ms. Sharon W. Alestalo, Program Manager for SU ADVANCE and WISE, presented their experience on Advance: Transforming Workplace Culture at ESF on Tuesday, February 7, 2012 as part of SUNY-ESF’s Women in the Scientific and Environmental Professions Spring Seminar Series.

                Dr. Garland discussed recent headlines from news articles that focused on the need for more women to enter careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields.  There are many theories as to why women have not gained gender equality in the STEM fields such as institutional barriers and common stereotypes.  She used graphs to show the fact that women consistently choose not to develop careers in engineering, mathematics and computer sciences, although these amounts have been gradually increasing.

                Sharon Alestalo discussed the NSF-ADVANCE program that went into effect one year ago at Syracuse University.  This a program funded to ensure women have a greater presence in STEM fields in the university.  She presented the current statistics of the lack of women faculty in departments such as physics and mathematics and showed that our values are low in comparison to national figures.  Alestalo discussed the four main parts of the plan: Recruitment, Connect, Extend and Transform.  Within these tactics, women will be connected with mentors, have access to workshops and the males in each department will also be engaged in the discussions and programs.

                Alestalo and Garland defined the success of the NSF-ADVANCE program to be flexible and dependent on each department.  An external evaluator has been asked to oversee the progress of the program.  Both Alestalo and Garland are excited to be a part of the program and have high expectations that it will result in a large achievement for the university culture. 

Dr. Garland received her education at the University of New Hampshire and Ohio State University.  She has previously been a professor at Ithaca College and was the Director of Faculty and Staff Diversity at Cornell University.  Sharon Alestalo received her education at Chapman College and University of Albany.  She has been the Executive Director at Girls Incorporated of CNY, Director of Student Enrollment at OCC, Program manager of the federal Health and Human Services Project at SU.

She said/he said/we said: how family talk sheds light on language and gender-- Georgetown Linguist Deborah Tannen

Sponsored by SU Communication & Rhetorical Studies, iSchool, Department of Linguistics, Women in Science and Engineering, and Women's and Gender Studies.

Everyone assumes everyone else thinks like them, and that if they don't, there is something wrong with them.

Men vs. women:  Why don't men stop to ask directions?  People assume that "You mean the same as I would mean in that circumstance."  So women stop, make a connection, and haven't lost anything by asking.  Men, on the other hand, lose power by asking, and besides, the other guy won't know either, but won't admit it, and they will get lost anyway.  (None of the interviewed women worried about being intentionally misdirected.)   Women tend to face one another when they speak, and lean in.  Men sit at angles--which could be perceived as disinterest in what the partner is saying.   However, it isn't the case that men don't care about connections, and that women are disinterested in power. 

Girls vs boys.  Girls tell each other secrets to negotiate closeness and connection; they also cannot tell a secret to someone they don't like.  Hence, cliques.   A boy's best friend is the one he does everything with, the one who will be on his side in a fight.  They negotiate who is good at what, and play fighting is very common.  Boys are sensitive to being put down or pushed around as these affect status.  (Don't tell me what to do).  But one-upsmanship can be fun!  Girls, on the other hand, often dislike braggarts.

Moms vs daughters:  Can't say anything to daughter, because its perceived as criticism.  Daughters think:  she's always criticizing.  This is true, but it's out of care.

Sisters:  Sisters are always compared, and there is a hierarchy. Intentions and abilities are important.  Often think issue is with content of what is said, but it is often how it said (direct, circuitous, ritual)/

Questions:

In selecting a therapist, is gender important?  An effective therapist is aware of the differences and bias due to gender, and allows for it.

How much is nature vs nurture?  Combination of both.  Can tease some out by looking at cultural differences.  In every culture, boys fight for fun, whereas girls will fight because they are mad.  There are others who think all nature or nurture.  Men are more likely ot argue for biological, women to say cultural.

What about training salespeople?  Tell to make eye contact.  She would bet that successful salespeople. like the therapist, allows for differences, cross-cultural differences as well (e.g., Korean and American south will not look at folks with higher status in the eye)

Evolutionary Aspects of Gender and Sexuality.

Joan Roughgarden, Professor Emerita, Biological Sciences and Geophysics, Stanford University.  Evolutionary Aspects of Gender and Sexuality.  Dr. Roughgarden challenged Darwin's theory of sexual selection with a discussion of “social selection" in which gender roles and sexuality are adaptations which facilitate cooperation in complex societies.  This lecture was a joint presentation of the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions and Adaptive Peaks lecture series and GSA’s Shifting Paradigms annual lecture.

Negotiation--advice and role-playing exercises

Roseanne Ecker, Director of Career Services at SU.    If you've been offered a job, should I ask for more salary than they offer?  Yes!  Isn't that rude?  Well, you should remember that EVERY raise and bonus that you receive will be calculated as a percentage of your salary.  If you start at less than you could, the cumulative loss over your career there--adds up mighty quick.  And if there happens to be a freeze on raises (as happened to one of the audience members), you will be stuck at that too low rate.  What if they can't provide more?  This is always a possibility, but if you don't ask, you won't ever know.  Also consider if there are other things that can help you do what it is that you are being hired to do.  Training?  Equipment?  Lab space?  Assistants?  Computers and software?  If they cannot provide you with your own, will you have adequate access to existing lab spaces, vehicles, and help to carry out experiments or teach the bazillion lab sections you are expected to offer?  It may be that you don't want more money, but for personal reasons (commuting costs a fortune, the need for eldercare is on the rise) you need flexibility in your schedule (set own hours, or the ability to work from home a few days a week...if you provide a convincing argument why this can help them meet their goals (rather than just reduce your commuting costs--although reducing gas usage is a great societal goal, it many not  be in their business plan at this point in time), you are more likely to be in a position to receive these amenities.  And when it works, they will have gained your expertise and loyalty, eliminating their need to conduct another search, train a replacement, and the time costs of bringing said person up to speed--all costly propositions (especially if they continue to botch their efforts to set up employees to succeed, and have to do it all over again).

Climate change: can forests keep pace

Dr.  Lindsey Rustad, Hubbard Brook Team Leader & Research Ecologist, Center for Research on Ecosystem Change, US Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Durham, NH and Associate Research Professor, Department of Plant, Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Maine.  Climate Change:  Can Northern Forests Keep Pace?  Sponsored by the Department of Forest and Natural Resources Management and the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology.  Dr. Rustad reviewed climatological data associated with climate change, survey results about perceptions of climate change, and what the northern forests and the species that use it for habit might look like in the future.  A joint presentation of the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions and the Cross-disciplinary Seminar in Hydrological and Biogeochemical Processes. 

Assertion and Dealing with Difficult People

Catherine Gerard, Sally Rock-Blake, Vadym Pyrozhenko of the Conflict Management Center described the core concepts of assertion in order to more effectively communicate with others while maintaining and defending your rights, demonstrated how reflective listening (http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/uploadedFiles/parcc/cmc/Reflective%20Listening%20NK.pdf) and assertion can be work together to better manage conflict when dealing with difficult people (http://www.scribd.com/doc/18024/Dealing-with-Difficult-Peopleprimarily by preventing you from also becoming difficult.). Participants had the opportunity to practice these techniques.  Their overview is posted at http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/uploadedFiles/parcc/cmc/Managing%20Agreement-Assertion%20Skills%20NK.pdf.  Sponsored by the Conflict Management Center, PARCC, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.

HR Brown Bag Presentation: Retirement Planning for Women

 

Women tend to live longer than men, have more gaps in employment for child or elder care, and take lower paying positions to trail a spouse.  Helen Chambers and Stephen Donella, Jr., CFP, from ING introduced questions women should consider in retirement planning, and explained the optional savings programs available to ESF employees.   Sponsored by the Office of Human Resources.