Higher Education

While women have made enormous strides in higher education, progress has been uneven. Women now receive a majority of undergraduate degrees but disparities remain, particularly at graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral levels. Colleges and universities still reflect inequities based on race, ability, geography and income. And more efforts must focus on advancing women and women of color into tenured and leadership positions with institutions of higher learning. There is growing concern about the rising cost of higher education and how to improve quality and access. The financial crisis of 2008-09 has shrunk many endowment funds and reduced the number of scholarships available as well as making state and community colleges more competitive and less accessible. The effects of corporatization on college campuses are also a source of concern for the quality and independence of scholarship, including for women’s studies and other inter-disciplinary programs.

Scholarships Help Work Around Welfare Limits

Teaser:

Women's eNews: The Patsy Takemoto Mink Fellowship, named after the former Congresswoman from Hawaii, assists low-income women in gaining an education by awarding scholarships to needy women who are fighting for access to education. Mink strongly opposed the 1996 TANF law and the dismantling of Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

Source:

Women's eNews

URL:

http://www.womensenews.org/story/education/100607/scholarships-help-work-around-welfare-limits

Date:

June 9, 2010

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Expert Profile

Location:

United States

42° 18' 26.5572" N, 71° 16' 10.5708" W

See map: Google Maps

Member Organizations:

Wellesley Centers for Women

Sari Pekkala Kerr is an economist and a senior research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College. She joined the WCW in 2010. Dr. Kerr previously worked at the Government Institute for Economic Research in Helsinki. She also served as an adjunct professor or visiting scholar to the economics departments of MIT, Boston University, and the University of Kent at Canterbury. Dr. Kerr also has extensive private sector experience as an economic consultant for Charles River Associates and Keystone Strategy. Dr. Kerr received her Ph.D. from the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland.

Location

Wellesley, MA 02481

United States

42° 18' 26.5572" N, 71° 16' 10.5708" W

See map: Google Maps

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Why More Women Are Heading To Business School

Teaser:

Increasing numbers of women are heading to business school due to a weakened economy, the flexibility the degree affords and an effort by universities to actively recruit more female students. According to the U.S. Department of Education, women received 44% of M.B.A.s in 2007, up from 39% a decade earlier, which translates to a 75% increase in the last 10 years

Source:

Forbes

URL:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/16/mba-women-business-school-forbes-woman-leadership-education.html

Date:

April 16, 2010

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Why Business Schools Are Failing Women

Teaser:

For decades, M.B.A. programs have failed to attract a critical mass of female students, even as admissions offices scramble to target their recruiting practices at women.

The numbers of women pursuing business education remains low. While law and medical schools have nearly reached gender parity, M.B.A. programs admit only about 30% women annually.

Women M.B.A.s also lack professional mentors and role models in the classroom, where female faculty represent a minority.

Source:

Forbes

URL:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/12/business-school-women-mba-forbes-woman-leadership-women.html

Date:

April 12, 2010

Affiliate:

Spring Promotion Social

Submitted by jmumbey on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 5:42pm

Member Organization:

Center for Women and Gender

Date/Time:

04/23/2010

Come celebrate the promotion and tenure of women faculty members!

Location: Caine House

Contact: Wendy Holliday (435) 797-0731

Women Making Gains on Faculty at Harvard

Submitted by jmumbey on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 4:12pm

Member Organization:

Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study

By TAMAR LEWIN

Published: March 12, 2010

Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

Submitted by kpeterson on Mon, 03/22/2010 - 8:22pm

In an era when women are increasingly prominent in medicine, law and business, why are there so few women scientists and engineers? A new research report by AAUW presents compelling evidence that can help to explain this puzzle. Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics presents in-depth yet accessible profiles of eight key research findings that point to environmental and social barriers – including stereotypes, gender bias and the climate of science and engineering departments in colleges and universities – that continue to block women’s participation and progress in science, technology, engineering, and math. The report also includes up to date statistics on girls' and women's achievement and participation in these areas and offers new ideas for what each of us can do to more fully open scientific and engineering fields to girls and women.

URL:

http://www.aauw.org/research/whysofew.cfm

Member Organization:

American Association of University Women

Why So Few?

Submitted by jmumbey on Fri, 03/19/2010 - 4:09pm

Member Organization:

American Association of University Women

Date/Time:

03/25/2010

In an era when women are increasingly prominent in medicine, law, and business, why are there so few women scientists and engineers?

Drawing upon a large and diverse body of research, AAUW’s report provides compelling evidence of environmental and social barriers—including gender bias, stereotypes, and the climate within college and university science and engineering departments—that continue to limit women’s participation and progress.

Women Making Gains on Faculty at Harvard

Teaser:

Universitywide, slightly more than a quarter of Harvard faculty members are women, an all-time high, with the senior faculty accounting for most of the increase. Women also lead the engineering school, the law school, the education school, Harvard College and the Radcliffe Institute. And while Harvard extended 4 of its 32 tenure offers to women in the year before Dr. Summers’s speech, last year, tenure offers went to 16 women and 25 men.

Editorial:

Given the overlap between the biological clock and the tenure clock, helping more women into senior academic positions is especially difficult at Harvard, where tenure is unusually slow, coming only with promotion to full professor. Also, Harvard has long been known for recruiting outsiders to senior positions, rather than promoting junior faculty members.

Source:

New York Times

URL:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13harvard.html

Date:

March 12, 2010

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Risk and Opportunity for Women in 21st Century

Teaser:

The quiet revolution that has seen women across the developed world catch up with men in the work force and in education has also touched science, that most stubbornly male bastion.

Source:

New York Times

URL:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/world/europe/06iht-ffscience.html?pagewanted=1

Date:

March 5, 2010

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

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What We Do

NCRW is a network of leading university and community based research, policy, and advocacy centers with a growing global reach dedicated to advancing rights and opportunities for women and girls. We also have a Corporate Circle comprised of senior diversity professionals from leading U.S. and global member companies and a Presidents Circle of college and university leaders who share our commitment. NCRW harnesses the collective power of its network to provide knowledge, analysis, and thought leadership on issues ranging from reducing women’s poverty to building a critical mass of women’s leadership across sectors.

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