WiSE at Duke

WiSE reading group - From Lori Norton

A few years ago, I led the reading group with Mia Markey, Melissa Pasquinelli, Navina Hamilton. I had a lot of fun doing it. The basic duties are to find books or articles on topics of interest to WiSE participants. So first we would send an email over the WiSE and Gradwomen listserves to see if anyone was interested in participating. Then we'd decide whether a lunch or evening meeting would work best for the participants. Most of the time, the meetings were held in the evenings. Then you reserve a room for the duration of the meetings (every two weeks for a semester).

When I first came to Duke, Susan, who led the group before me, would photocopy articles and distribute them via campus mail to all participants one week prior to the group meeting. In 2000-2002, Mia and I decided to select books for the group to read (Managing Martians, Winning the Games Scientists Play, Athena Unbound, and Ms. Mentor's Impeccable Advice for Women in Academia). In 2002-2004, Melissa, Navina, and I used online articles from Science Next Wave and posted the links on the reading group webpage ( http://www.duke.edu/web/wise/reading_group_03_04.htm). For photocopying articles, there is the issue of copyright, which would need to be investigated before they were distributed. For books, a portion of the WiSE budget was set aside to buy books. At the meetings, if there's money, you can provide light snacks. If I recall correctly, Susan provided light dinners, since photocopying is cheaper than buying books. At the meetings you just have a round-table discussion of the topics at hand. Usually they lasted an hour.

In terms of time, most of the time commitment involves organizing the participant email list, determining a meeting time, signing up for a room, and deciding on the material. If buying books are involved, then you will need to purchase the books and be reimbursed. Tong can describe the reimbursement procedures. I think the easiest solution was online articles because they only needed to be posted on the webpage. Plus anyone on the WiSE listserve could attend when you emailed the meeting reminders.

posted by Tong @ 7:12 PM