UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON    Winter 2009

Women Studies 485 /Physics 451

Issues for ethnic minorities and women in science and engineering

Course Home Page

SCHEDULE"A" denotes the first hour (12:30-1:20) and "B" the second hour (1:30-2:20) for each class period.  The schedule is organized around the three parts of the course: Historical and Current Status, Climate Issues and Succesful Interventions and Policy Issues and Agenda for Action .  Speakers in underlined italics  are confirmed; those in italics only are tentative.
NOTE:  some dates may change with speaker availability.

Last Update 30 December 2008

  Student Presentation Schedule

Jan 6
A. Introductions and Goals.  Definitions.
B.  Overview of Status, Climate, Policy
Jan 8
Stories of Individual Scientists -- Their lives and contributions
[Choose Presentation Dates and Topics]  
reading assignment
Jan 13 Historical Overview and the numbers and policies behind the stories
reading assignment
Jan 15
Guest speakers on current status of UW Faculty (A.  Fraga, B.  Quinn - tentative)
reading assignment
Jan 20
A. History of UW's women and ethnic minorities in Science & Engineering since 1970 (Remick)
B.  Discuss Assignments

reading assignment

Jan 22
A.  Statistics of high school math and science
B.  Transitioning from high school to college to careers
reading assignment
Jan 27 A.  US Faculty Status (Nelson Reports)
B.  Discussion of Statistics Reports
[Statistics Report Due]
reading assignment
Jan 29
A.  Guest Speaker(s) on Changes in a Lifetime
B.  [Choose intervention program for UW Intervention Report]
reading assignments
Feb 3
Introduction to Climate and how to measure it
reading assignments
Feb 5
Panel on Successful Programs at UW.  ADVANCE , WISE, GO-MAP, Pre-MAP, etc.
reading assignments
Feb 10
A.  •Student Presentation:  Climate at K-12 Level
B.  •Student Presentation:  Interventions K-12 Level
reading assignments
[Project and Policy Memo Proposals Due]
Feb 12
Academic Climate for Minorities and Impact of administrative interventions:  Guest: Buck
reading assignments
Feb 17 Climate outside Academia:  Government, National Labs, Industry, International Issues
reading assignments
[UW Intervention Report Due]
Feb 19
A.  Role of Professional Societies
 Guest: Briceno, Nance, Yitamben
B.  •Student Presentation:  Role models and stereotypes
reading assignments
Feb 24 Guest:  Helen Remick -- examples of UW/State/National policies, how they were implemented, and what was their impact.

reading assignments
[Personal Reflection Due]
Feb 26
A.  Introduction to Policy.
B.  Previous policy memos.
reading assignments


reading assignments

Mar 3
A. •Student Presentation:  Testing and Standards in K-12 OR College/Graduate (SAT/GRE)
B.  •Student Presentation:  National Equity Laws (FMLA, Nepotism, Title IX)
[First Draft Policy Memo Due]
reading assignments
Mar 5
Guest:  Kate Quinn
Sloan study and Balance@UW, PACW, ADVANCE, etc.  Policy Usage
reading assignments
Mar 10
A.  Science in Elections and Federal Policy -- issues for minorities and women
B.  New Mexico initiative
Mar 12
Discussion of current policy memos
Final Summary and Discussion
reading assignments
March 16
Final Paper Due
Final Policy Memo Due


Each student is expected to lead a class presentation. Students will choose a topic from among those topics marked by bullets (•), or a related topic to be approved by the instructors. Each student will select one of the topics for her/his presentation session. Depending on the size of the class, students may work in groups for these presentations.  Choices of presentation topics will be made in class Thursday, Jan 8.