thusspakezuska | November 2, 2006Regular reader and blogger Michael Anes wrote to tell me:
I haven't heard any Scienceblogging on the gender equity report issued this morning and profiled on the Chronicle? Did you check it out?...My post and challenge is here -- I'd be interested in your take on the issue and the action I suggest!
(For modesty's sake I removed the line where Michael told me how great I am.)
Michael is referring to the new report issued by the AAUP, AAUP Faculty Gender Equity Indicators 2006, and discussed in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The report contains, as you might expect, dismal news for women…
thusspakezuska | November 2, 2006Ask a Science Blogger asks:
UPDATE:
THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE OCT. 27TH ASK A SCIENCE BLOGGER ANSWER
What's the most underfunded scientific field that shouldn't be underfunded?...
I can't presume to know the definitive answer. But I can give you one answer: a field that's not even on the radar screen for nearly everyone. We all know women routinely go to see their gynecologist, and women's reproductive health is an important issue. What's the equivalent for men? Do you hear of men routinely going to see their andrologist? The closest thing they have is a urologist, and that's just not…
thusspakezuska | October 31, 2006So I'm at a conference where the majority of attendees are white males. Well, after all, it is an engineering conference. Anyway, given the demographics, do you expect to walk into any particular parallel session and find that there are only two, three, maybe five white males, and the remaining 25 to 30 session attendees are comprised of ten or 12 white females and the rest minority women and men?
Where have all the white men gone? Long time passing.
The easiest way to clean all the white males out of your parallel session is to title it "Diversity" and to schedule talks on:
The…
thusspakezuska | October 30, 2006So I'm at the Frontiers in Education conference, and there's so much good stuff going on my brain is on overload. Plus, there are other people here who call themselves feminist engineers! It was worth the price of admission just to be in their company. And there are men who are giving papers talking about gender! White male engineers talking about race! Where has this conference been all my life?!?!?! Seriously, I can't believe I never went to this conference before. It totally rocks.
Also I met Bill Scher, blogger at Liberal Oasis, and author of Wait! Don't Move to Canada! A Stay…
thusspakezuska | October 25, 2006Well, I'll never work in academia again after those last two posts.
I suppose if my migraines ever get under control I can always go back to industry. Pharma is always desperate for experienced medical writers and they pay better than academia anyway. Plus the hours are better. Let's just hope pharma doesn't give a crap about my blog.
Which brings me to the topic of this post. Why do you think that I am able to rant so freely, express the truth so bluntly, expose morons to the blinding light of revelation with impunity, all under my real name? It's because I have no job. And I'm not…
thusspakezuska | October 25, 2006As I promised, here is the email I received from President Lewis Duncan of Rollins College after I wrote a blog post on his comments on the Karpova-Tonegawa affair. My commentary on his email is in brackets and italicized. Email and my commentary after the jump.
Dear Ms. Frank, [sic]
I take strong exception to your misleading interpretation and extrapolation of my quote in the Boston Globe.
How disappointing that a fellow scientist would be so presumptuous in her perspectives. [This is lame.
'You're a scientist, so you're supposed to be rational, and you aren't being rational, so are…
thusspakezuska | October 24, 2006Back in early August, I wrote about the Karpova-Tonegawa controversy at MIT, and about Rollins College president Lewis Duncan's comments on the topic in the Boston Globe.
More on the Karpova-Toadygawa story. This may be the best part of all. Because you see, Zuskateers, it isn't just Toadygawa who's had his true colors exposed. Consider this quote from the Boston Globe:
If the accusations are deemed true, [MIT president] Hockfield will face the task of standing up to one of MIT's greatest luminaries, someone who brings in tens of millions of dollars of research funding. "This may…
thusspakezuska | October 24, 2006I'm reading two books at the moment (in addition to the five or so others I've started and gotten halfway through and not finished...well, they'll always be waiting for me to come back...someday...). The first is Sisters in Science: Conversations With Black Women Scientists on Race, Gender, and Their Passion for Science, by Diann Jordan, Purdue University Press.
The second is Exposing Men: The Science and Politics of Male Reproduction by Cynthia R. Daniels, Oxford University Press.
Just from the introductions, both books promise an exceptionally good read. I promise you a review of…
thusspakezuska | October 23, 2006Got this from Kate, who got it from Coturnix, who was apparently sent there by Shelley....Factorizer!
I swear I am not making this up. This is what it gave me the first time:
"If God had a name, it would be Zuska."
The second time it said "Zuska plays Minesweeper with real mines." Hee.
It changes every 30 seconds so I have no idea what you will see when you look below. Refresh the page and it will change again.
thusspakezuska | October 21, 2006So, you ask us bloggers this week...
...What's the best science TV show of all time?...
For real-life science shows, I guess I would have to pick NOVA. This is because Mr. Zuska, who is not a scientist or an engineer, will actually sit and watch Nova and become absorbed in the program and occasionally ask me questions about what they are talking about. He once watched an entire program on string theory called The Elegant Universe. He even watched part of it a second time. I watched it with him but I had to cover my eyes when the little vibrating string graphics were on the screen because…
thusspakezuska | October 20, 2006I have lots of nice blogs in my blogroll to the left. Nearly all of them deal with gender and science or gender and engineering or gender and science & engineering. In some of the blogs you'll find discussions of race issues as well as gender. But I don't think race is a central topic in any of those blogs.
Where are the women blogging on science & gender & race? Where are the men blogging on science & gender & race? (men have gender too, you know) Does anybody know of any good blogs that deal with these topics? Please, please, please let me know if you do.
thusspakezuska | October 20, 2006 So, I'm catching up on my Chronicle of Higher Education reading, and I come across this article (you need a subscription):
A Finger on the Pulse of Cool
Finding out what young adults consider cool is the key to success for advertisers and marketers. College students alone spend billions each year on electronics, entertainment, fashion, and food. So when companies like Nike, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft want to figure out how best to appeal to young consumers, they track down Carl Rohde.
Mr. Rohde, who teaches cultural sociology at the University of Utrecht, in the Netherlands, insists he is "…
thusspakezuska | October 16, 2006My fellow SiBling Dr. Charles has written a post about women and breast cancer that is a gift. Skip the pink ribbons and read what he's written. That dude can tell a story.
Dr. Charles quotes Audre Lorde from The Cancer Journals on women with breast cancer as warriors; the patient he's examining has read Lorde and has foregone reconstructive surgery or a prosthesis after her mastectomy. The post ends this way:
Regardless of whether a woman replaces that which has been taken from her or decides to go without, she is a noble warrior, tragically drafted into a bitter war. A good war, worth…
thusspakezuska | October 15, 2006It's Ask a Science Blogger time again....
...A reader asks: Is severely regulating your diet for a month each year, as Muslims do during Ramadan, good for you?
Here's hoping my doctor and pharmacist SiBlings will take on this question and give us a medical perspective. I'm going to approach "is it good for you?" from some other directions.
In this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, ten women share memories of Ramadan, traditions from their home countries, and offer up a few family recipes. Ramadan and fasting sounds like it is very good for them.
In Istanbul, women embroider handkerchiefs…
thusspakezuska | October 13, 2006Dr. Shellie has a post on the National Academies report and the ensuing discussion on Inside Higher Ed. Dr. Shellie says:
I am increasingly frustrated with the issue of discrimination against women in academia. Rhetorically, women are being put in the position of having to prove that discrimination exists, against the claims of their opponents, who claim that the gender ratio in science is in fact due to other factors (biology, interests, etc.).
I don't like the way this debate is framed. It puts women in a weak position, to argue the evidence for their own poor treatment.
And anyway, I…
thusspakezuska | October 13, 2006It's Friday, and I've had two whole days this week without migraine, plus one day with a headache that only lasted an hour. So far today (9:16 a.m. as I write) I do not have a headache and the sun is shining, which, as Zuskateers know, constitutes the makings of a perfect day for Zuska. In the spirit of Scienceblogs Fridays, I offer you this trifle.
Tuesday morning I woke up without a headache and the sun was shining. So out I went to enjoy a delightful brunch at one of my favorite Chestnut Hill spots, Roller's Expresso. While reading the Philadelphia Inquirer, I was reminded of a visit…
thusspakezuska | October 9, 2006Gleanings from my inbox, in lieu of something creative...I've had a stinking migraine every stinking day for the past week...Be sure to check out the info on the DuPont award - they've been handing it out since 1956. I know I just posted a previous entry maligning the awarding of prizes in general...but if you are going to hand out prizes, this seems as good a reason to do so as any I can think of. If our esteemed leaders in the scientific and engineering community could muster one-tenth the amount of enthusiasm for winning awards of this type as they do for the Nobel variety, we'd all be…
thusspakezuska | October 6, 2006Shane asked the following:
So Zuska, just to be clear, did your post mean to suggest:
1. The structure of science is hostile to or biased against women, leading to an under-representation of women at its highest level. Eliminate this bias and more women would be awarded the Nobel Prize *in the future*.
OR
2. Women currently at science's highest level are being discriminated against. Were it not for this bias, more women would have won Nobel Prizes *this year*.
OR other?
Shane, I like the way you phrased 1 and 2, with the exception that in #2, "more" should be "some".
Why limit…
thusspakezuska | October 3, 2006From the Ask a Science Blogger feature...The 2006 Nobel Laureates will be announced on Monday, October 2. Any early guesses as to who this year's honorees will be?...
I'm thinking...I'm thinking...yes, it's coming to me...the winners will be...
...
...
...
...
A bunch of guys.
thusspakezuska | October 3, 2006I am breaking my word from yesterday in order to post news about this report because the results are so disturbing I can't keep them to myself. I want someone else to be upset with me. From The Chronicle of Higher Education:
Black men are underrepresented at institutions of higher learning over all, and even more so at flagship universities in the 50 states, says a report released on Wednesday by a national research center.
The report, "Black Male Students at Public Flagship Universities in the U.S.: Status, Trends, and Implications for Policy and Practice," was written for the Joint…