thusspakezuska | July 30, 2007The word of the month is "balance", or so they tell me for the upcoming scientiae-carnival. I have been thinking for days about what I could write on this topic. What does balance mean to those without careers?
I can talk about stuff from the past, how I made choices about balancing career and relationship over a period of several years. First there was the decision to leave my life in Philadelphia and all my friends to move to Kansas, because I wanted to continue living with Mr. Zuska. That was a hard decision, but I was able to find a job that represented a significant career advance…
thusspakezuska | July 27, 2007What is this thing called feminist science studies?
Have you ever been asked that question, or perhaps asked it of yourself? You wanted a nice, short, pithy answer to hand over to your interlocutor. And yet, it's like being asked, what is this thing called science? The subject area is huge, the topics are diverse, the perspectives vary, contrasting and complementing one another.
Well. I don't have that nice, short, pithy answer for you today, but I do have a very nifty book to recommend: Women, Science, and Technology: A Reader in Feminist Science Studies, edited by Mary Wyer, Mary…
thusspakezuska | July 25, 2007From the Chronicle of Higher Education today:
A California state senator grilled Charles B. Reed, chancellor of the California State University system, and John D. Welty, president of its Fresno campus, on their commitment to gender equity in athletics at a special hearing here on Tuesday.
The senator is somewhat peeved about two recent settlements - one for $5.85 million to former women's volleyball coach Linda Vivas, and another for $3.5-million with a former women's swimming coach and assistant athletics director. After awhile, the millions start to add up, and people notice. You know,…
thusspakezuska | July 25, 2007Tara at Aetiology has a review of Danica McKellar's new book Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind Or Breaking A Nail. She also snagged an interview with McKellar which you can find here. She asks McKellar about her motivations for writing the book and also why she choose to weave examples around stereotypical "girly" things like fashion, shopping, and makeup, among other questions.
McKellar, for those of you who don't know or remember, starred as Winnie in the television series The Wonder Years. Afterwards she went on to earn a math degree summa…
thusspakezuska | July 24, 2007You may notice over the next few days some changes in the banner head. Two readers sent me their creations for a new TSZ banner and I am going to be trying them out to see how I like them and see how you like them. At some point I'll put up a post to ask for your feedback. Not this one. This one is just letting you know that things will be changing around for awhile.
thusspakezuska | July 24, 2007That fabulous group of women, the X-Gals, is back with the last of their installments in the Chronicle of Higher Education and it is truly Must Read C (of Higher) E.
This last installment is titled On the Origin of Academic Species and it is a cataloging of the various types of folks who've responded to their columns over the past year. Included, as might be expected, are The Generally Disgruntled, The Me-Too, The Condemning Wo/man, and The Dismissive Male. Of the latter, X-Gal Tess Isaac writes:
...when Jana described an adviser who told her to choose between work and family while her…
thusspakezuska | July 23, 2007Chris Smither did a show last night as part of the Upper Merion Concert Under the Stars series. If you aren't familiar with Chris Smither's music, you should be. He's great. The pictures I took of him on stage all came out crappy but I like this one I caught of him just before the show. His feet are mic'd during his performance and if you listened with your eyes shut, you'd swear he was accompanied by someone on percussion. But you wouldn't want to listen with your eyes shut because it's so fabulous to watch.
During the show he talked about a recent tour of Australia. He said…
thusspakezuska | July 20, 2007This Friday Bookshelf veers slightly off my gender and scienc/engineering bookshelf for a detour over to the general women's studies bookshelf. I hope you'll see why I think it's appropriate to this blog.
The book I'm looking at this week is Engaging Feminism: Students Speak Up and Speak Out edited by Jean O'Barr and Mary Wyer. It's a collection of writings by students in Duke University's women's studies program, from their works in various courses and some outside course work.
Readings are grouped into the following categories: Reasoning With Emotion, Exploring Relationships,…
thusspakezuska | July 20, 2007As seen in the Chronicle of Higher Education!
It all started innocently enough, with a protector acquired for a couple of bucks at the 2001 meeting of the American Chemical Society. After that he ordered some for his department. From there, the addiction -- er, collection -- grew.
And grew - to 465 and counting. Beware the ACS meetings, my children!
"I am not a weirdo," he says. "I just collect pocket protectors."
Or so he told the Chronicle...but see what he says on his own website...
"I'm not just a collector, I am also a wearer."
John A. Pojman is one bad-ass pocket-protector wearin'…
thusspakezuska | July 19, 2007Sandra at Omni Brain has posted a collection of interesting websites with cool science games for kids, most of them related to brain science. There are also resources for K-12 educators.
I especially like the Brains Rule web site. You just gotta check it out, and pass on the info to a curious kid of your acquaintance. I love the "Meet a Brain Whiz" feature, and especially the fact that the Brain Whiz talks about her hobbies and home life as well as her work. In my experience, young girls especially want to know the ways in which a scientist or engineer has a "normal" life in addition to…
thusspakezuska | July 18, 2007So I'm on the computer, trying to figure out how to go to the Caribbean in the winter cheaply, cursing the airline blackout dates and only half listening to the evening news when suddenly I hear something about the new Harry Potter book...hot dang! There it is! In the flesh! or would that be in the pulp?
Channel 6 ABC Action News had a story about a local family who received a package in the mail. The post office called them before they had even opened the package and asked them if they had received the Harry Potter book. "I don't know" said mom. She opened the package and sure…
thusspakezuska | July 18, 2007Well, the White House finally got around to naming the winners of the 2006 National Medals of Science. Of the 11 winners named, two - count 'em, two! - are actually women! Rita Colwell and Nina Federoff made the cut. Here's how the Chronicle of Higher Education summarized their accomplishments:
Rita R. Colwell, a professor of microbiology and biotechnology at the University of Maryland at College Park. Ms. Colwell, who was director of the National Science Foundation from 1998 to 2004, will receive the prize for creating a better understanding of marine microbes -- the agent that causes…
thusspakezuska | July 18, 2007From the WEPAN listserv:
What influenced you to pursue a career in information technology? What could we learn from you and other women working in IT that will increase the number of girls and women who are interested in the field?
The K-12 Informal Education Hub of the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), led by the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA), is conducting a three-phase study to determine what experiences or factors influence females to pursue work in information technology (IT). Study results will help guide efforts to increase the number of women entering…
thusspakezuska | July 17, 2007Here's something very cool: an award in physics that went to the groups, not to just the bigwigs who lead the group. It's call the Gruber Prize in Cosmology. Rob Knop writes about it:
What to me is coolest about this award is that it's going to the groups. Usually in science we honor and award the Warrior Hero, the single Big Name who was the brilliant and creative scientist who did everything. The Nobel Prize went to Smoot and Mather. Assuredly the reason for the Nobel Prize was extremely worthy, and assuredly those two gentlemen deserved it. But the Gruber prize recognized the team…
thusspakezuska | July 17, 2007From the Chronicle of Higher Education today:
Women who play sports in high school are more likely to earn a college degree than women who do not, according to a new study by Mikaela J. Dufur, an assistant professor of sociology at Brigham Young University, and Kelly P. Troutman, an adjunct instructor of anthropology and sociology at West Chester University of Pennsylvania...The findings..."suggest a societal benefit to female sport participation in the form of increased educational attainment," they say. Therefore, they argue, "rather than looking for ways to excuse schools from Title IX…
thusspakezuska | July 17, 2007The Chronicle of Higher Education reports
California legislators plan to look into whether there is widespread gender bias in the California State University system
following a lawsuit that resulted in a multi-million dollar award to Cal State-Fresno's former women's volleyball coach.
State Sen. Don Perata, a Democrat and chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, said lawmakers were alarmed by the cost of the case to taxpayers, and also want to find out whether Cal State had turned a blind eye to gender discrimination elsewhere in the system, the AP reported...Fresno State said it would…
thusspakezuska | July 13, 2007Two years ago today I wrote my very first blog entry, which wasn't terribly interesting, but I did invite readers to
listen to me rant about gender equity in engineering and science; Intelligent Design, the Christian Right, and the inadequate response of the scientific community; what's lacking in feminist critiques of science; and anything else that gets me riled.
How do I live up to my original promise? I do a pretty good job with the ranting business and anything else that gets me riled, I think. I write much less about Intelligent Design than I did in the early days of the blog,…
thusspakezuska | July 11, 2007I want to go to California and eat cheese. From the LA Times:
The benchmark for California cheese is higher than ever in a market that finally has caught up with a few pioneers who were way ahead of the curve. Both the flavors and types of cheeses are constantly evolving. From the highest end (an elegant triple crème made with cow's milk crème fraîche stirred into fresh goat's milk curds) to the more accessible (a creamy farmhouse sheep's milk cheese drizzled with a little olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt and cracked black pepper or a buttery, rich, handmade cheddar) -- cheese-wise…
thusspakezuska | July 11, 2007There's a great review over at Adventures in Ethics and Science on a book called The Ethical Chemist: Professionalism and Ethics in Science by Jeffrey Kovac. The book takes a case study approach to teaching ethics in science.
The case studies are concise but rich with possibilities, and range from situations one might encounter as a student taking chemistry classes (or dealing with professors) to issues that might face the academic scientist trying to make a discovery or the industrial chemist trying to shore up the bottom line. Each case is followed by a brief commentary that examines the…
thusspakezuska | July 9, 2007Ah, one last announcement for the day. We have a new blogger in Scienceblogs-land.
Moheb Costandi joined us July 1 and is blogging at Neurophilosophy. And apparently he has 5 different nifty rotating banners on his blog header.
Ah, if only I had one ounce of creativity, and/or knew how to use the appropriate software, I could create a banner for my blog that would be more exciting than spare black printing on a white background.
Which begs the question: what would a TSZ banner look like? Are you familiar with the look of the blog at the old site? I really miss those calm green leafy…