Climate for Women Students at WPI

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Climate for Women Students at WPI

• Diversity Womens Programs

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Diversity Womens Programs Mission

• To support diversity on the WPI campus by
• Providing leadership in campus efforts on issues
  of diversity and pluralism
• Providing support and advocacy to women students
• Providing pipeline programs aimed at achieving
  greater diversity at WPI

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Do Women at WPI Need Support and Advocacy?
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Highest Percentage of Women by Department

• Biology/Biotech 69 (151)
• Biomedical Engineering 51 (58)
• Biochemistry 51 (29)

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Lowest Percentage of Women by Department

• Manufacturing 20 (3)
• Management 19 (27)
• Humanities 18 (2)
• Mechanical 18 (99)
• Physics 15 (8)
• Electrical Engineering 9 (44)
• Computer Science 8 (44)

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Quality of Life Survey Responses

• Student Life initiative using ACT standardized
  instrument in Jan, 2003
• Administered to 1,895 students
• Stratified sample, women and minorities
  over-represented
• 39 return rate (better than expected)
• 264 women, 411 men responded

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Quality of Life Survey Summary

• In general, women are happy with their quality of
  life at WPI
• There appear to be some issues around career
  planning, probably due to the number of women in
  bio-related majors
• There appear to be some issues around health care
  provisions for women

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Issues not identified by survey

• Perception of different admissions criteria for
  women
• Bitterness regarding different financial
  assistance for women
• Assumption that women at WPI are all bio majors
  (and that bio is less demanding than other
  majors)
• RIBS Syndrome
• Tokenism in the classroom

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ODAWP Efforts to Support Women Students

• Mailing to prospective students with welcome and
  Woman to Woman Your First Year at WPI
• Development of womens brochure in progress
• Prospective student overnight programs
• Reception for incoming women students and parents
  during orientation

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ODAWP Efforts to Support Women Students

• Girls Night Out (GNO)
• - Series of social events
• - Planned by a committee of women students
• - Intended to help women build same-sex
  friendships

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ODAWP Efforts to Support Women Students

• Fall speaker on sexual assault
• Womens History Month programming
• Professional development workshops (e.g.
  soldering, computer confidence workshops)
• Conduit of relevant information (e.g. aerobics,
  job fairs, RAD classes)

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ODAWP Efforts to Support Women Students

• Womens Industry Network (WIN)
• - Cluster networking program between women
  students and professionals
• - Industry sponsored (CISCO Systems, Compaq/HP,
  GE, Turner Construction, Gillette)
• - Dinner and topic one night each term
• - Clusters meet independently

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ODAWP Efforts to Support Women Students

• Society of Women Engineers Advisor
• Women in Electrical and Computer Engineering
  Advisor
• Athena Project Steering Committee
• Community Council
• Sororities (as needed)
• Advocacy and support on an individual basis

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ODAWP Efforts to Support Women Students

• Training initiatives
• - Diversity training for student leaders (e.g.
  resident advisors, orientation leaders, peer
  learning assistants)
• - Inter-cultural gender communication workshop
  for TAs
• - Sexual harassment workshop for faculty and
  graduate students

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ODAWP Efforts to Support Women Students

• Computer Science Unlocking the Clubhouse
• Physics Sheila Tobias
• Promotion of faculty postings in Faculty for the
  Future and other Outlets

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Conclusion

• Women are generally happy with their experience
  at WPI
• Some women shun special programs targeted at
  women
• ODAWP efforts focus on identified needs including
  opportunities to make female friends and career
  transition issues