April 1996: Volume 9, Number 4

Parents or Professionals -- Do Women Have to Choose?


Q: What would have made combining a family and career easier for you?
A: Being born a man.

--Response of a medical doctor and mother of four to a question asked by the authors of Women and the Work/Family Dilemma (1993).

This month the Ms. Foundation for Women will sponsor the fourth annual Take Our Daughters to Work Day. Ms. launched this public education program in 1993 as a way of encouraging girls between the ages of nine and fifteen to see professional work as an integral part of women's lives and as a way of encouraging girls to believe in themselves and their abilities. Going to work with adult mentors--parents, grandparents, cousins, adults, and friends--gives girls the opportunity to learn firsthand about the exciting options available for them to realize their dreams for the future.

But what do we tell our daughters when their dreams include combining work in the labor market with motherhood? How will motherhood influence our daughters' professional ambition and achievement? How will it affect others' estimations of their professional competence? Will the young women of tomorrow need to be superwomen to successfully integrate children with a career?

Many women believe that the widely acknowledged glass ceiling is securely buttressed by an equally transparent and formidable maternal wall which further hinders working mothers' career progress. While the optimists among us would hope that greater equity will be achieved between men and women in both the domestic and professional spheres by the time our daughters come of age, the stories of working parents here at IU illustrate that integrating children with professional competence and achievement is currently no simple task.

In order to get some idea of how women in the IU workplace manage to balance family and work, we solicited some anecdotal evidence through an informal e-mail questionnaire. Approximately sixty faculty, graduate and returning women students, and professional/clerical staff responded to our informal survey. Our respondents, the majority of whom are women, told us about their parenting roles, discussed how having children has affected their career progress, and offered suggestions about how IU could make this balancing act a little easier for them. As men and women struggle to figure out how to make dual career marriages or single parenthood work in the domestic sphere, what kinds of institutional policy adjustments are necessary to accommodate the relatively new needs of working mothers and fathers?

"Tenure or Children?"

Today's women faculty trying to combine teaching, scholarship, and family may find themselves propelled by an outdated and narrowly defined work ethic that requires the support of a family structure which has not really existed for several decades. One male assistant professor who is the co-primary caregiver of two children comments that: "It is not the kids so much that reduce productivity, but the fact that neither of us has the other spouse full-time at home doing all the invisible labor that in the past made the working spouse more productive. Senior faculty who are either childless or have had wives who attend to domestic details have no idea about how the world has changed with the liberation of women and the arrival of the two-career family. All of the models and expectations assume one parent working and the other at home nurturing the productivity of the working spouse.

While most of the women faculty who shared their experiences with us commented that motherhood has caused them to become more efficient teachers, writers, and researchers, the majority of our respondents also said motherhood has indeed slowed their career progress. One woman professor noted "having children means that you put in, literally, thousands of hours in childcare and family time that your childless colleagues don't. I think I was several years longer in rank as an associate professor than I would have been without children." A new assistant professor and mother of three who sees herself as a "bright and talented individual with much to contribute to [her] field, department and university" points out that motherhood has affected the quantity, but not the quality, of her research. Noting that it may take her several years longer to accumulate the amount of work her colleagues do during their pre-tenure years, this professor questions whether she and her childless colleagues should be compared equally on the same tenure time line. Another new faculty member says that she knows her current book project will take longer to complete than it would if she did not have children: "I am not seen as ambitious by my peers, although I would argue that I am."

This professor notes that some universities, including UCLA, Yale, and Stanford allow tenure track faculty to stop their tenure clocks for one year for the birth or adoption of a child. Other suggestions included more on-site, affordable, quality childcare which includes infant care and a drop-in service. Many faculty suggested that a whole semester of leave with pay should be available to women who give birth or adopt. One person requested a campus-wide policy that allows faculty and graduate students to count childcare as part of their travel budgets for conferences. And another respondent pointed out the need for a forum in which to discuss ways that children can be more fully included as valuable members of the university communi- ty.

Working Toward a Degree with Kids in Tow

The graduate and returning women students who shared their experiences with us focused their comments toward two primary issues. The first was the all-pervasive problem of good quality, affordable child care, and second was the extent to which having children has slowed their progress toward their degrees. Several respondents commented that IU has a woefully inadequate support network student parents. One undergraduate observed, "IUB has very little flexibility for the older student and for the most part makes us feel unwelcome. Thank goodness for the Returning Women Students Program. It's the only thing that has kept me in school. I graduate next May and plan to go to grad school." A doctoral student who also works as a project coordinator on a federal grant is more pointed in her observations: "In the nine years I've been in Bloomington, I have not seen any major effort on the part of the concerns of parents." IU's Strategic Directions Charter recognizes the widespread need for more affordable quality child care on campus, but most graduate and returning students felt that their academic commitments all too frequently force them to choose between being good parents and being successful students. Students commented that their participation in the two cooperative campus day care centers provided an affordable, rewarding child care option for students and staff with limited incomes.

One male graduate student, who shares care of his two young children equally with his wife, feels that his participatory fatherhood causes his colleagues to view him as more professional because he is doing his work under more difficult circumstances. Nearly all of the graduate students we heard from felt their parenthood added years to their degree program, and several suggested this might be a standard reason for justifying extension of the candidacy deadline.

It's Like Doing a Juggling Act on Ice with Kitchen Knives

That is how one clerical worker characterized her continuing attempts to balance responsibilities at home and in the workplace. She said that short of putting her job on the line, she has always put her children's welfare first. All staff who shared their experiences with us, except those who work part-time, described doing double duty to meet all their responsibilities. One clerical worker commented that while the professors she works for understand when her children need her, they still want their work to be completed on time. One professional staff woman offered this sanity preserving advice: "Don't try to be superwoman; don't try to be June Cleaver; and try not to feel guilty about working."

Despite the guilt many women feel about their dual commitments, many commented on the satisfaction they derive from working. One PA who has revised her current career goals suit her parenting role says she enjoys both her children and her job: "I derive enormous satisfaction from working. I need the intellectual stimulation of having something else to think about other than family issues, and I like spending time with other adults."

All of our respondents at all levels noted that good child care makes it possible for them to do their work. An office coordinator with two children offers a graphic illustration of the need for affordable child care: "When both of my children were in day care full time in the summers, I barely made any money. After paying the sitters, I would have less than $ 50 - $75 left over from my paycheck. If we didn't have my husband's income, I could not have afforded to work during that time." Such problems become even more consequential for single parents.

Other suggestions included encouraging use of flex-time schedules by professional and clerical staff, providing care and/or paid time off for children's sick days, and offering summer programs for teens and pre-teens. One of our male respondents, who is co-primary caregiver of his four children and two foster children, offered the following innovative policy plan: Provide parents with a 90% option--90% of salary with benefits. He notes: "The shorter workday could reduce the need for aftercare programs and provide a few more hours per week of contact between parents and children. A workday that extends from 8:00 to 5:00 leaves too many children unattended."

Advising Our Daughters

One woman faculty member offers the following advice: "I think as we help our daughters grow into a world with more choices available to them, we probably need to let them know that pursuing both a high-achieving career and raising children may mean giving up things that they don't see their male counterparts giving up. My career is what I do for me, but it takes up all my time away from my children. There is really no other time left. Of course, all this could be averted if our daughters choose to marry only men who will be equal domestic partners."

Perhaps by the time the young participants in Take Your Daughters to Work Day enter the workplace as contributors rather than observers, our domestic and institutional vocabularies will more fully reflect women's and men's expanding roles. Perhaps by that point the phrases working father and working mother will have more similar connotations than they do today.

Nevertheless, no one who responded to our informal survey regretted having children. One woman advised---"Do it by all means! You can work out the problems as you come to them." Another woman said: "It's worth it. Having kids is so fulfilling, so sanity preserving, such a joyful experience that I wouldn't trade it for the world."

--Susan Moke

From the Dean

A few years ago a friend of mine consulted a therapist. During the course of the initial interview, the therapist asked my friend what she wanted out of life. My friend replied that she thought her list was not unusual--she wanted to succeed at her career, to have a good rela- tionship with her partner, to be an accessible mother to her children, to have time for a few good friends, and enough room at home to make it all possible. "You want too much!" replied the therapist.

The pressures of balancing family and work may fall more heavily on women than on men. Social science evidence suggests that most women have two jobs--one in the paid labor market and one at home. Even when fathers are active participants in their children's lives, they frequently describe themselves as "helping." It is the woman who maintains the children's schedules in her head--when is school? What if there is no school? Or what if there is an emergency at day care? It is not necessarily that the mother is the alternate or emergency caregiver, but it is likely to be her job to have a plan. Another difference is that mothers usually are responsible for the maintenance work: They buy the clothes, give the baths, arrange the haircuts, and trim the fingernails.

Even when women and men are in the same situation, there may be a different reaction to the same behavior of men and women. For example, when a man leaves a meeting to pick up his son from soccer practice, the group concludes that he is an involved father and a great guy. When a woman leaves a meeting to pick up her son from day care, she worries the group will conclude that she is not serious about her job, not committed to excellence, or not ambitious enough.

This same difference in reaction may occur with the simple matter of whether to have children. Asked by a prospective employer whether he intends to have children, the male applicant's A+ answer is yes. It shows he is stable, serious, and ready to settle down. A woman, asked by the same employer the same question, can only give failing answers. If she says she wants to have children, the employer worries that she is not committed to her career, that she will take time off to have the children, or she will become unreliable when they are sick. If she says she does not plan on having children, the same employer wonders about her. In the employer's world, the model is that women want children; what is wrong with this woman who does not?

Part of our work at the Office for Women's Affairs involves finding ways to deal with these reactions, stereotypes, or institutional barriers. I serve on the Child Care Task Force which has worked to increase quality, affordable child care on campus. At conferences, such as OWA's Women and Work, we offer programs which discuss strategies for balancing the many roles of women. Our mentoring programs, the Women Partners Program and the Women Faculty Mentoring Program, are opportunities for women to explore different strategies or to develop new models on these issues. Finally, the Office for Women's Affairs has been involved from the beginning in campus discussions on family leave. Recently, I have been working with the faculty councils to move forward on this issue.

Finding ways to make children and work a better fit is part of the larger issue of finding balance in our work and non-work lives. While not everyone has children, everyone has something important in the non-work part of his or her life. The need for balance and the necessity of the University to recognize such needs is a matter of interest to everyone.

Mothers in Science

In February of 1996, USA Today ran a cover story on the 25th anniversary of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). In the article, National Academy of Sciences President Bruce Alberts claimed that men have finally caught on: "There are now so many women--so many dramatically outstanding women [in the sciences]--that it doesn't occur even to the most conservative or backwards -looking male that there is any difference in [women's] ability to contribute." On a less optimistic note, Alberts adds that "Where the system fails women is in not making it possible to combine a career in science with having a family."

Marriage and family are frequently cited as key factors that negatively impact the careers of women scientists. Both men and women scientists of all generations have reported encountering the belief that marriage and motherhood are incompatible with demanding scientific careers. The logic behind this belief states that good science is all-consuming; thus the roles of wife and mother are a distracting priority for women scientists.

Studies of the effects of marriage and motherhood on research productivity, however, do not support those intuitive claims. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, sociologists Jonathan Cole and Harriet Zuckerman have shown that for most women scientists, science and mother- hood can mesh well. They found that, on average, married women scientists with children published as many papers each year as single women, and that married women with children published more than married women without children. But Cole and Zuckerman add that although research performance is not affected, marriage and children do have an impact on the careers of women scientists in ways that require further comparative inquiry.

Project Access, a large-scale study from Harvard University which examined the careers of male and female scientists who started out on an equal footing with prestigious postdoctoral fellowships, found persistent gender disparity in career outcomes. Conducted by sociologist Gerhard Sonnert and physicist and historian of science Gerald Holton, the study provides clear evidence of a glass ceiling in most academic fields (with the exception of biology) and shows how family-related issues such as raising children and two-career households disproportionately affect women. The study also revealed that female scientists with children are at least six times more likely than male scientists with children to be working part-time.

Women Scientists at IU

Integrating the demands of a research career with marriage and motherhood can be very complicated: It requires organization, compromise and, occasionally, sacrifice. In an informal survey, we asked women scientists at IUB to share their views regarding careers and family. Not surprisingly, we found experiences that ranged from the positive to the negative, as well as a variety of strategies for balancing work and family.

Nearly all of our respondents commented on the importance of having an accommodating partner who shares family responsibilities. One woman summed up this sentiment with the statement that the first essential is, of course, the right partner. Yet despite the acknowledged contributions of many right partners, a consensus emerged that the caregiver role is still greater for women than for men. Studies such as Project Access suggest that when caught between work and family life, women are more likely to consider the impact on family and more willing to make sacrifices in their careers. Some respondents noted that while they know many professional moms who are now staying at home, they do not know any dads who have done so.

Sophie's Choice: Career or Children

The literature on women in science increasingly suggests that for many women scientists, motherhood presents a Sophie's choice: career or children. Most women scientists who opt to have children imply that timing the children's births is critical for maintaining a productive research career. Consequently, many younger women scientists state that they are delaying motherhood until they have received tenure, often uncomfortably aware that the biological clock and tenure clock are ticking away simultaneously.

In our informal survey of women scientists, we heard that there is no ideal time or right time for having children. Several graduate students described how their flexible schedules and very supportive departments were conducive to having a family, while others reported being told they were stupid to get pregnant. One student commented that her advisor had even introduced her as a housewife. Another scientist who categorized herself as having worked too much on [her] career, admitted having regrets now and then about not making a different choice and having children.

Child care and adequate insurance coverage pose serious concerns for those who do elect to have children. Local options for quality infant day care, in particular, are limited and prohibitively expensive on a graduate student income. Several respondents to our informal survey called for more child care on campus. Others pointed out that obtaining health insurance can be a nightmare for those postdocs who are not considered university employees. Student health are not considered university employees. Student health insurance policies can be inadequate for covering maternity and pediatric expenses.

Changing Attitudes and Making Choices

For many mothers working in the sciences, entrenched notions about what it means to be a scientist exacerbate the difficulties of integrating long work days with family demands. In her book Women Changing Science, author Mary Morse notes that "working long hours has become a badge of honor in this country, and scientists have refined the concept of long hours to extraordinary limits. Despite increased efficiency during the day (no coffee breaks and regularly skipping lunch), one woman scientist says she worries that her need to plan her work around a 5:00 pick-up at the day care center might be interpreted by her colleagues as a signal that she is not serious about a career in science.

Entrepreneurship offers another answer to the question of how to create a supportive work environment for women scientists with families. According to Census Bureau statistics, throughout the 1980s the number of businesses owned by women grew four times as fast as the number owned by men, while the National Research Council reports that in 1989, 11% of women Ph.D. scientists were self-employed compared to only 6% of men. One faculty scientist who left academe found that starting her own business part-time provided maximum flexibility for pursuing her career while providing quality care for her children.

Hard career choices and occasional compromises must often be made. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women scientists may spend many years underachieving professionally because of decisions they make regarding family life. But it is important to recognize that these choices do not have to impose final limits on women's careers: as children grow up, opportunities for career growth can also be pursued.

While the responses to our survey were mostly optimistic, these collective experiences imply that we can do much more to provide support systems and policies that facilitate combining work and family life. And that would be to everyone's benefit.

-- Alex Capshew, OWA's Coordinator for Women in Science Project

Concerns of Graduate Women at IUB-A Report to the Trustees

As part of a panel of graduate students speaking on various issues, Elizabeth Johnson, a graduate student in Computer Science, presented the following report to The Campus-Community Committee of the IU Board of Trustees last January. In May, the Committee will again meet with the graduate student panel to respond to its reports.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the committee about the concerns of graduate women. In preparing for my presentation, I talked to many women on campus about their experiences as graduate students at IUB. I do not presume to speak for all women graduate students--their experiences and needs are too diverse for one person to convey. I have identified several common themes, however, which are important to a large number of women. I would also note that these are not necessarily concerns solely of interest to women--I suspect that many men would echo my comments as applying to their experiences at IU.

Real Life Concerns

One difference between graduate and undergraduate students is age. Consequently, practical issues such as marriage or long-term relationships, children, and financial self-sufficiency weigh more heavily on the graduate population than on the younger undergraduates. We cannot stress enough the need for adequate and secure financial support for graduate students. On the health insurance side, better coverage for expenses of pregnancy is a specific concern. One woman found that although the policy promised support for 80-100% of the usual expenses of childbirth, her actual coverage was closer to 60% even though she had no complications.

Child care and spousal employment are major issues for graduate women. Having affordable, secure, and flexible child care available on campus would enable graduate women to concentrate on their studies and teaching. Obtaining employment for partners is an important factor in the decision about which school to attend. Women who came to Bloomington with spouses or partners expressed a need for help in finding out about local jobs. Even an information sheet describing major employers and how to learn about job opportunities would help a great deal.

Graduate women are also concerned about their future after graduation. As the job market shrinks in academia, many graduate students are eager to explore opportunities in industry or government, but find that faculty in their departments have little knowledge of these sectors.

Finally, students see departments as inflexible and unsupportive in dealing with students whose careers do not fit the traditional mold. Several students wondered how one goes about adjusting the pace of graduate school, especially the seven-year candidacy clock, if a leave of absence or part-time study is required due to illness, pregnancy, or family responsibilities. If policies for helping in these situations exist, many students do not know about them.

Departmental Power

While we appreciate the need for departments to function independently, strong departmental autonomy can leave graduate students feeling they have no one to turn to when problems arise. Problems may include loss of advisor due to tenure denial, sexual harassment, or, in the case of one disabled student, the feeling that she is not given the same support from faculty as other graduate students. These situations are not unique to women, but can be exacerbated by the isolation felt by many women due to their minority status in most departments. A student is at the mercy of her department despite the time, money, and effort she has expended in her studies. One woman questioned the fairness of a university which promises a degree to undergraduates in four years while denying a similar commitment to graduate students who have achieved candidacy.

This sort of departmental power also causes women to be hesitant in reporting sexual harassment by faculty or other students. Whether a charge is upheld or not, women feel that they may be retaliated against by faculty for having spoken out. One woman was told by faculty members in her department that she had "brought [retaliation] upon herself." Unless departments are held strictly accountable for this type of behavior, the atmosphere will not change.

Lack of Women Faculty

I was heartened to read recommendation 21 in the Strategic Directions Charter: "Ensure that women are recruited, appointed, and retained in all areas of the university, and that women students are encouraged to enter all academic fields." I believe that one key to encouraging women to enter all academic fields is to increase the number of women faculty members in those fields.

The problem is particularly acute in the sciences. In October 1992, the CIC Conference on Women in Science and Engineering was held in Bloomington. The IU Team at that conference developed an action plan to improve the climate for women in science and mathematics at IU which included recommendations about increasing the numbers of women at all levels. That year, the total number of women faculty in astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer science, geography, geological sciences, mathematics, and physics was 18 (out of 248 total faculty). The current number of women faculty in these departments is 17, a net loss of one. Two departments--chemistry and computer science--have no women faculty members. Yet in 1994-95 and 1995-96 alone, out of 13 faculty members hired in all eight departments, only one was a woman. A woman graduate student in one of these departments captured the feelings of many: "I feel I have no role model and think how discouraging it is to visualize my future as a professor when the only examples I have are men who are married to a woman who does not work and so can stay home and take care of the children, clean, cook, shop, etc. Not because they aren't sympathetic, but simply because they have different life experiences, they can't offer me the career guidance I need. I want to see how a successful female professor balances family and scholarship, without the benefit of a wife."

This lack of women faculty can produce a male-oriented departmental culture, resulting in the isolation of women graduate students from vital departmental life. An example is the tendency in some departments for organized departmental socializing to revolve around male-oriented activities such as sports. One woman commented that "this is seen by several women as perpetuating a system in which women have a more difficult time finding general support in their studies than do men."

It is extremely important that the university make more than an on-paper commitment to increasing the numbers of women faculty. If women candidates are turning down job offers from IU, the University should make an effort to determine if certain aspects of the University could be changed to attract more women. Several graduate women also commented on the closed-door nature of the recruitment and hiring process in their departments. We are not suggesting violation of the confidentiality of the job search, but there must be a middle ground which allows scrutiny by interested graduate students. Until this happens, our only conclusion when we look at the figures listed above is that the University is not committed to change in this area.

Conclusion

In this report, I have attempted to outline some of the concerns expressed by graduate women students at IUB. I have not suggested specific solutions--some of the problems go to the heart of the University structure and require much more than the cursory treatment I have given them. It is my hope that this dialogue will result in concrete changes which improve the University atmosphere for all graduate students -- both women and men.

Elizabeth Johnson works in the areas of parallel and distributed computing. She is a founding member of the Bloomington Chapter of the Association for Women in Science.

Honors and Awards

The Office for Women's Affairs recently announced two of its annual awards. The recipients will be honored at a ceremony on October 3, 1996.

The OWA Distinguished Scholar Award recognizes an IUB faculty member's outstanding scholarship and involvement in efforts to enhance women's lives through research, teaching, or service. This year's recipient, Professor of English Judith Anderson, was nominated by her colleagues as an "exemplary scholar who has been indefatigable in her concern with educational and institutional issues at all levels of the profession." Chancellor Kenneth Gros Louis commends Professor Anderson's selection for the award: "From the beginning of her career, Judith's work in all areas of academic life has provided a model for others to follow. She brings to her teaching the same attention to detail and concern for accuracy and completeness that she brings to her research. And if that's not enough, she's a delightful colleague."

As one of the world's leading scholars of the literature of the English Renaissance, Professor Anderson has published widely on the work of Edmund Spenser, on issues of biographical and historical truth, and on the growth and structure of the English language. Her recent books are Words that Matter: Linguistic Perception in Renaissance English, forthcoming from Stanford University Press, and a collection of essays, Spenser's Life and the Subject of Biography, forthcoming from the University of Massachusetts Press for which Professor Anderson is co-editor.

The Eva Kagan-Kans Memorial Award recognizes excellence in a graduate research paper in Women's Studies or in any area of Soviet, Russian, or East European Studies reflecting women's concerns.

Anne Bolt, a Masters student in the School of Music, won the first-place award with her essay, "A Music of Their Own: A Gendered Comparison of 19th-Century German Leider." Ms. Bolt, a piano performance major who studies with the world-renowned pianist Menahem Pressler, wrote her paper in a class on music and society taught by Dr. Estelle Jorgensen.

Danusha Goska, a graduate student in Folklore, won the second-place prize for her essay, "Running Barefoot Over Stubble." Ms. Goska wrote her paper in a semiotics class taught by Professor of Folklore Richard Bauman. In the paper, Ms. Goska examines her own ethnic heritage through interviews with her Slovakian mother. She uses linguistic analysis to investigate the extent to which Eastern and Southern European immigrants experienced a loss of their own culture in coming to America.

Karen Frane, OWA's administrative assistant, has recently been selected as the 1996 recipient of the Campus Life Division Staff Award. The award recognizes the exceptional contributions made by staff outside the Division to the quality of student life on the Bloomington campus.

New Women Faculty

This year, 23 of the 67 tenure-track faculty hired at IUB were women. Through the course of the academic year, we have introduced all but the following four new women faculty.

Assistant Professor of Music: Gretchen Horlacher (Ph.D. from Yale University) has been a lecturer in music at the University of California-Santa Barbara and Assistant Professor of Music at the University of California-Riverside. Her research focuses on the music of Igor Stravinsky and on issues of musical rhythm in the twentieth century. She presented a paper this fall to the national conference of the Society for Music Theory about Steve Reich's music. In addition to her music theory work, she remains active as a pianist.

Sara Pryor, Assistant Professor of Geography (Ph.D. from the University of East Anglia in Britain) teaches in the Climate and Meteorology Program. Dr. Pryor conducted most of her doctoral research at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada. She served as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Her interests include synoptic scale meteorology and applied environmental research. Professor Pryor's current research focuses on the modeling of atmospheric chemistry, transport, and deposition.

Professor of Voice Patricia Wise received a BME from the Music School of the University of Kansas and then went to New York and subsequently to Europe where her career as a lyric coloratura soprano took her to the leading opera houses and concert halls of the world. Professor Wise has based herself in Vienna, Austria for the last 20 years where she was recently awarded the title of "Kammersinger" after her many years as a leading artist with the Vienna State Opera. She continues to perform when her busy teaching schedule allows.

Lisa Russell, Assistant Professor of Applied Health Sciences in the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (Ph.D. from the University of California-Los Angeles) teaches in the areas of health education and behavioral sciences. She is conducting a study of the relationships between the history of child abuse and dimensions of homelessness among homeless and runaway youth. Professor Russell's other main area of research examines human behavior before, during, and after natural disasters. As a researcher trained in Public Health, she approaches these studies with the goal of informing interventions that will reduce morbidity and mortality rates among communities.

Share a Laugh with Us

Next fall, the office for Women's Affairs will sponsor a women's humor cartoon contest. Sharpen your pencils and boot up those computers! More specific information will be published in our September 1996 newsletter, but here are some basic rules for those of you who like to think ahead.


Entries will be exhibited in the Indiana Memorial Union during Arts Week (October 25-November 3, 1996).

Last Updated: May 9, 1997
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