Laying seige to the ivory tower

There's a good article on women in academic science from the NY Times.

It's based on a October workshop at Rice: "Negotiating the Ideal Faculty Position", funded by NSF's Advance program. I applied, along with 700 other female scientists (!), but didn't get in. Ah, well.

The NY Times article overviews the issues (old news to those of us in the profession) rather professionally -- the usual patronizing tone is missing. Also, it appears in the Science section, not Lifestyles (formerly the "Women's Page"), as is so common for articles about women's career issues.

And even more commendable is the non-sensational, contextual, non-heteronormative mention of hot-shot-scientist Deb Niemeir's 2-body problem:

Dr. Niemeier, who acquired her own two-body problem recently when she began a relationship with a woman who has two children, suggested responding to questions about children with, “Could you tell me how that factors into your evaluation?” or, “Right now, I am looking for the best job I can get.”

Coming from a profession whose leadership positions are so overwhelmingly held by men, I finished the article feeling.... stronger, somehow, to know that out there somewhere were women deans, department heads, and hot-shot scientists.

If you, missed the meeting, too, you may want to read the course material posted online:
http://www.advance.rice.edu/negotiatingtheidealfacultyposition/resources.html

scientiae-carnival