I have been thinking a lot this week about the contribution I would make to the Diversity in Science carnival. This month's theme is women in science and there have been a number of professionally successful female scientists. As I've said a gazillion times though, the reason I moved this blog to science blogs was not to discuss my scientific accomplishments (and trust me, there are many to discuss), but because I felt like people were interested in hearing the perspectives of a wife and mother.
I did my PhD in a department with 28 faculty members -- 25 men and 3 women (that's 11% broads). One had children (that's 4% broads with offspring, which sounds silly when there is only one of them). There were no female postdocs in the department. I felt like I was in a tremendous academic environment, but that I had few resources to help me learn to incorporate motherhood into my career. I figured, at the very least, I share how I do it. And even when I find that I'm doing it wrong, that can still serve as an example. That's the persepctive I can offer, although it is certainly not the only persepctive. Mary Ann Mason writes in an article in this month's Chronicle if Higher Education on Role Models and Mentoring, "Female role models are important for what they stand for -- the possibility of success -- whether or not they have a personal relationship with a particular student or young faculty member." There is an important role for simply being a woman in science and people learn by watching how we conduct ourselves. A huge h/t to Martin Frank for sending this article to me. I'd like to try to get back to it in the next few days because there is a lot of great stuff in there on role models and mentoring.
But it's easier to show you why I admire Dr. Diamond than it is to describe her to you. Here's she is teaching undergraduate anatomy. I suggest watching the first 5-10 minutes.
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Comments
I am the sole female postdoc in our lab, and I have zero female mentors at work. There are about 25 people in our group but all of the higher-up positions are held by men. White men, with the exception of 1 Asian guy.
Posted by: emaila | March 26, 2009 1:10 AM
I don't know the exact number of students or faculty in our program but I do know there are only 2 female faculty members (plus one adjunt) out of maybe 15 faculty. However the graduate students are about 75% female. My program is the leaky pipeline exemplified.
Also just wanted to say, I went to Cal and although I never had a class with Dr. Diamond I did have other amazing teachers in IB and it made me proud to see some fantastic teaching coming out of Berkeley.
Posted by: eleanore | March 26, 2009 8:06 AM
Wow - well I'm guess I'm the exception rather than the rule. My department is female-dominated. We currently have maybe 4 male graduate students and 2 male post-docs. Our faculty is mostly female, including our department chair.
I watched part of the Dr. Diamond video and I can see why Isis thinks she is smoking. This woman is incredible. I am in awe of how she has the class engaged.
Posted by: x-ine | March 26, 2009 9:20 AM
... make that Dr. Isis. I posted without proofreading. My apologies.
Posted by: x-ine | March 26, 2009 9:22 AM
This woman is amazing!! I wish there were more women like her at all universities, it would make learning any subject much more interesting. I studied plants, but this lecture is making me feel like I should have done more animal/human studies. I've been having a few discussions with my female friends (who are also in science) about the lack of representation of women in science. It's making us even more determined to try to continue on in science and do hot, hot research like the Dr. Isis.
Also, Dr. Isis I'm really enjoying the lectures you're putting up lately. Please feel free to keep them coming :o)
Posted by: amcgrawa | March 26, 2009 10:27 AM
I'm just getting ready to enter grad school to eventually teach at a university (I hope!!), and she is EXACTLY what I aim to be. Passionate, engaging, intelligent. I can only imagine how fulfilling it must be to be so well loved the students know your habits (and love them) and cheer when you start the class.
Posted by: Katie 2.0 | March 26, 2009 11:30 AM
A number of years ago, I took human anatomy from Dr. Diamond. People weren't cheering at the start of every lecture as in the video, but her dynamic lecturing style was exactly the same. Her office hours were always packed with students, which was further testament to her popularity and approachability. I also was in a lab on the same floor as Dr. Diamond's and she always said hello to me in the hallway. I'm glad to see that she hasn't changed.
Shout out to Dr. Bill Clemens in IB too. He was another good one who treated everyone with respect.
Posted by: stickypaws | March 26, 2009 2:27 PM
Wow. That's really inspirational. I especially like the idea of lunch with the students (although I can't imagine finding the money to pay for it anymore). I am teaching a new course in the fall that has turned out to be much larger than I would like it to be -- I hate the anonymity of large classes. Maybe I can work in a weekly coffee break to get to know the students better.
Thanks, Isis!
Posted by: Anonymous | March 26, 2009 3:51 PM
wow, the excitement in that room is amazing. if i had an a&p prof who was that excited about the brain, i would have jumped on the neuro bandwagon much sooner than i did.
i have always found myself seeking female role models to look up to and learn from. i think that the older generation of women in science particularly have MUCH to teach us. one of my most important science role models has told me some incredible stories from her walk through life as a scientist.
Posted by: leigh | March 26, 2009 7:09 PM
This is really inspirational. I could so feel the love in that classroom. Thanks for sharing it with us, Dr. Isis.
Posted by: Laura | March 27, 2009 8:25 AM
I am an undergraduate who has been required to take only one biology course for my major. Due to this dedicated woman's gifted elocution of this subject I am taking notes and bringing questions into my UC classes that pertain to HOW we think. To know HOW we are accessing our brains offers food to further the bigger picture of not only scientific reasoning but our abilities to think out and in the box while useful formulaic methods are used. Thank you, Professor Diamond. You sparkle!
Posted by: Bea Smith | April 20, 2009 8:13 PM