Distinguished Speaker Series

WiSE's annual event where a nationally known speaker is invited to address women in science and engineering.

About

WiSE annually invites an expert at the leading edge of science or engineering to speak about issues concerning women in these fields. Due to the prestige of the speakers, these events are widely publicized on campus and usually are co-sponsored with other organizations. We haven't yet selected a speaker for 2007-2008. Have a suggestion? Please let us know.

Past Speakers

Spring 2007: Dr. Angela Johnson
Unintended Consequences: How Science Professors Unintentionally Discourage Women of Color

Listen to the audio recording courtesy of the Pratt School of Engineering (MPEG-2 format through iTunes store, 40.2MB, 1:27:41). You will need iTunes to download the talk. You can also view her powerpoint slides.

Black, Latina and American Indian women are under-represented in the sciences. In this talk, Dr. Angela Johnson explores how the culture of science is closely aligned with the cultural skills of white middle class men, and discusses some of the teaching practices and cultural values which served to benefit white students and male students at the expense of women. The talk ends with a discussion of the potential for these practices and values to change in order for science departments to be more accessible to women students of color.
Dr. Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Educational Studies at St. Mary's College of Maryland, with an emphasis in Educational Foundations. An A.B. in Physics from Bryn Mawr College, Dr. Johnson taught physics in predominantly non-white high school and college settings for fourteen years before pursuing a doctorate in educational anthropology. Her areas of specialization include women of color who study science in predominantly white institutions, effective teaching in diverse settings, and retaining students of color in higher education. This event is co-sponsored by the Bouchet Society. During her visit to Duke, Dr. Johnson is also meeting with Parents@Duke for a discussion on adoption and parenting of children of color.

Spring 2006: Dr. Vasu Varadan

What is happening to women in science and engineering? At a time when women outnumber men at colleges and universities, the number of women attracted to the sciences is discouraging. Dr. Varadan, an accomplished professor of electrical engineering at the University of Arkansas, will expound on this major women's issue by describing her own experience as a minority woman in academia and by presenting current research in this field.

Spring 2004: Dr. Joan Roughgarden

Joan Roughgarden is a professor of theoretical ecology at Stanford University. She will speak on her book Evolution's Rainbow, a work that looks at evidence in nature to reject traditional evolutionary ideas about gender roles and sexual behavior and how science shapes and perpetuates these roles.

Fall 2002: Dr. Audrey Chapman

Audrey R. Chapman is the head of the Science And Human Rights Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Come learn what responsibilities science and the scientific community has to the battle for human rights.

Spring 2001: Jane Smith Patterson

As advisor to the Governor on Science & Technology Policy, Ms. Patterson is responsible for the management of policy issues, policy oversight for budget issues, and state planning and development of technology policy and deployment strategies. Ms. Patterson holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a graduate degree from the University of North Carolina School of Business, and a master's degree in liberal studies from North Carolina State University Graduate School.