April 1997: Volume 10, Number 4
Support Staff Classification: a Big First Step
In 1995, IUB undertook a classification project intended to provide clearer and more accurate job descriptions for support staff, more equitable ranking of jobs, and fairer, more flexible compensation of employees within these rankings. The new classification structure was
implemented January 15, 1997. In our February issue of the Majority Report, we solicited reactions from support staff and supervisors to the project. We received approximately 25 responses to our request. The majority of staff who responded to our survey registered significant disappointment in the project. Their objections center on the very problems the project was designed to remedy. Many of our respondents feel the job specifications used to describe their positions are inaccurate, and the job groupings are inequitable. They said the
reclassified salary structure neither allows for flexibility nor rewards performance and senority.
To put these responses in a larger context, we discussed staff reactions to the project with CWA President Barb Lentz, who was a member of the classification committee, with IUB Human Resources Director Maurice Smith, and with HR's Associate Director of Classification and Compensation, Linda Rasmussen. While Lentz says that three months after implementation of the project staff morale remains very low, Smith and Rasmussen describe the classification as an initial step in a larger project that will enable the university to more effectively compensate staff for both length and quality of service.
A new classification structure was necessary because the old classification system, which had been in place for more than 30 years, was both unmanageable and outdated. The Weaver study of the 1980s did not significantly consolidate IUB's classification system. "It isn't possible," says Maurice Smith, "to develop a fair, competitive compensation program around such a diffuse structure." One of the project's major goals was to establish equitable rankings of employees
with markedly similar duties and levels of responsibility. Based on position analysis questionnaires (PAQs) completed by all support staff, the classification project reduced the previous system of 900 job titles to 181 job titles. The classification committee used a mathematical formula that assigned points for various degrees of required knowledge, supervision, problem solving, etc., to group the tasks people identified as parts of their jobs into job titles. They then ranked these new titles into newly devised classifications.
The table indicates how the previous classifications compare with the current ones (the numbers inside the chart show how many staff members were distributed from each old category into each new one). While comparisons of these two ranking systems are useful in a number of ways, assuming a one-to-one correspondence between them is problematic for several reasons. "First, we completely changed the valuing system for jobs," explains Rasmussen. "There are some cases where we don't have the old rank at all. Classification activity was frozen for well over a year."
In addition to developing equitable ranking of jobs, the classification promised more equitable compensation in line with salaries offered for comparable jobs in the South Central Indiana area. The major compensation goal was to move every staff member up to the minimum salary in her pay range and to eventually move all experienced employees to the mid-point of their ranges. Lentz says she hoped the classification would result in "everyone getting some kind of raise." When the classification was implemented, 467 support staff received upward salary adjustments. Although Smith and Rasmussen note that the university came up with $500,000 for these raises, some staff comment that the classification "merely lowered the salary mid-points and maximums so that it looked like everyone was closer to their mid-points." The table above provides some information about correspondences between the old and new salary ranges.
Respondents to our informal survey indicate as much dissatisfaction over status as over money issues. Many staff members object that the simplified classification structure, reduction of job titles, and misleading job specifications demean their jobs and undervalue their responsibilities. One woman commented, "I find the new titles have actually taken away something from my position. My [previous] title included the word coordinator,' and did not include secretary.' . . .
I feel I've been cheated. In the event that I ever look for other positions, coordinator' would look much better on a resume than secretary.'" Other staff said the job specifications written by
William Mercer, Inc., a human resources consulting firm engaged by the university, neither described their responsibilities nor achieved equitable rankings of similar positions. "The specifications didn't come close to describing the jobs," notes one woman. "The university is
diverse and complex. In one department, the secretary could do everything from receptionist [duties] to payroll. In a larger department, two people would handle the same duties." Another
staff member commented that her position and others like it were so "completely misranked [and] unappreciated" that after over 32 years of service to the university, she is beginning to consider leaving her position.
Lentz concurs that the specifications "dumbed down" people's jobs. Rasmussen comments that although the job specs are generic, Mercer did an okay job with them. "The problem," she says, "is that Mercer was off site. We are now working to make these IU's job specs." Rasmussen and her staff are currently revising the specifications "to better capture the work, knowledge, skills, and abilities" required of IU support staff. Once the revised specs have been reviewed and adjusted by the appropriate departments, they will be published on the Human Resources Home Page. Smith and Rasmussen predict that the revisions will be completed by June of this year.
After receiving notice of their new ranks, about 450 employees appealed their job titles and/or classifications. Using the same mathematical formula devised to rank positions, the appeals committee re-evaluated those rankings, and ended up adjusting 100 employees' classifications. After the appeals process was completed, but before the January implementation date, HRM's Andy Heck (Assistant Vice President, Human Resources Management) and Maurice Smith re-evaluated the classifications. In a series of individual meetings with heads of schools and major support units across campus, Smith says he and Heck asked the administrators a series of questions about how the classification would impact their operations. . . .We sat down afterwards and looked at that feedback, considered the issues it raised, and made changes. All the issues they brought to our attention were addressed.
Thus, Smith and Heck adjusted rankings for approximately 300 of IUB's 1700 support staff. [A query for HR: Were these 400 people considered in the appeals process? If not, could you tell us where they came from?] Reports generated by CWA indicate 249 employees were moved up in rank; 21 were moved down; and seventeen received a change in title but not in rank.
Did the adjustment improve the classification, or did it skew the equity the original formula-based determinations attempted to establish? Several of our respondents noted that the adjustment disadvantaged staff working for unit administrators who had less influence or less interest in advocating for their support staff. One woman said, "the influential supervisors got their clericals upgraded, and others who were at least as deserving got nothing." Articulating their exception to the last-minute adjustment, in which they did not participate, Lentz and CWA
resigned from the appeals committee. However, Smith says:
I don't believe the adjustment skewed the proportional equity the project was meant to establish. If the result was that the adjustment made [the classification] more workable, more acceptable, and more capable of us being able to move on to the next phase of the project, it was time, energy, and results worth doing.
Smith and Rasmussen characterize the classification as a major step in a series of steps. "The new classifications," notes Rasmussen, "will serve as a springboard for devising a pay delivery system that recognizes seniority and performance and that allows us to reference ourselves to the marketplace." Smith comments that "there's no question our staff salaries are below where the institution would desire them to be." Recent implementations have left many support staff distrustful and distressed. Any future changes will have to be made within that context.
--Susan Moke
I hope you enjoy this issue of the newsletter in which we celebrate the accomplishments of many women on campus and report on our survey about the staff reclassification project. Special
thanks to everyone who contributed their time and energy so that we could write the
reclassification article. As always, we'd like to hear from you. Our previous issue about faculty
affirmative action goals and about first women at IUB also brought some interesting mail we
wanted to share.
As the semester comes to a close, I want to introduce you to our new department secretary, Rae
Schmidt. Rae received her B.A. in English from Clemson University in South Carolina in 1996
and moved to Bloomington that summer. In her free time she enjoys fabric arts, horticulture, and
dance. We are excited by the skills and energy Rae brings to the Office for Women's Affairs,
and we look forward to her input and ideas in our future programs and projects.
Have a good summer!
I have read with mounting appreciation the entirety of the February 1997 issue of the Majority
Report. The article A Proper Scientist was most absorbing. My warm congratulations to you on
the quality and timeliness of everything in this issue, especially that concerning Mary Bidwell
Breed. I included considerable information about her in my 668-page book The Development of
Chemistry at Indiana University 1829-1991. Keep up your good work.
--Harry G. Day, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
I couldn't help noting that Candida Garcia Brady, BS 47, is cited [in the February Majority
Report] as the first Latina graduate. When we interviewed IU Northwest's Angeline Prado
Komenich for our March/April issue, she said that her sister, Sulima Prado (BA 44), was one of
the first Hispanics to attend college. Her other sister, Olive Prado, finished her BA in 1949 and
went on to earn a master's in 1972.
--Judy Schroeder, Editor-in-Chief of the IU Alumni Magazine
I just finished reading the recent newsletter--very good. I enjoyed it and learned from it. The
way the statistics were done on gender distribution within the IU faculty was especially
useful.
--Sue Tuohy, Assistant Professor of Folklore
I enjoyed the latest newsletter and its hiring goals story but am wondering why political science
wasn't listed in the departments.
--Doris Burton, Assistant to the Chair, Political Science
Ed's Note: Our omission of political science from the chart describing COAS
women faculty utilization and hiring goals was an oversight. In 1995, IUB's political science
department had 33 faculty members; 24.2% of these were women. Women constitute 30.3% of
the available pool of qualified applicants. Thanks for calling our attention to the oversight. We
apologize for the omission.
I was gratified to read your careful analysis of gender distribution and hiring goals for Indiana
University Bloomington faculty in the Majority Report. The historical perspective that you
offered was more interesting than most similar articles that I have seen. I also appreciated the
care that you took to incorporate the percentage of women available in specific hiring pools
using data from the National Research Council. It is particularly important that we look at such
data when we are attempting to make changes in an institution.
In general, I found your article enlightening and informative; however, I have one criticism. I
was surprised to notice that the Indiana University School of Education was noted for the
particularly large gap between the pool of available applicants in the past six years that was
approximately 62 percent and the 35 percent of women currently utilized. You probably do not
know that in the past six years, out of 56 hires in the School of Education, 35 were women for a
hiring rate of 62.5%. This suggests, when looking at the percentage available in the pool in the
last six years, that the School of Education has closely matched the percentage available.
Your tables might be even more useful if the percentage of available women in the past six years
was compared with the percentage of women hired in the past six years. That way, units like the
School of Education, (I am sure there are others, also) could be recognized for their achievements
in this important area.
--Frances Stage, Associate Dean for Research and Development, School of
Education
Honors, Awards, and Celebrations
As part of Women's History Month commemorations, the Office for Women's Affairs recently
celebrated women's noteworthy contributions of scholarship and of service to the university
community.
- Distinguished Scholar Award
- In a ceremony at the University Club last month, Chancellor Gros Louis presented the
OWA Distinguished Scholar Award to Mary Jo Weaver, professor of religious studies. A major
observer and critic of contemporary Roman Catholicism and of women's involvement in the
Catholic Church, Weaver is widely recognized for her insightful and influential scholarship, for
her inspired teaching, and for her committed service to women.
- Weaver is the author of New Catholic Women (1985) and of Springs of Water
in a
Dry Land: Catholic Women and Spirituality (1993); she is co-editor of Being Right:
Conservative Catholics in America (1995). Weaver's perceptive and often acerbic
comments on contemporary American Catholicism have appeared on the front page and
Sunday Book Review section of the New York Times and on NPR's All
Things Considered and Fresh Air.
- Weaver says she is honored to receive the award:
In a world where too many of us worry too much about whether we do enough,
have enough, make enough, the Office for Women's Affairs has created an annual oasis of
celebration that is relaxed, festive, and encompassing. It is an enormous honor to be part of this
company to stand in a group with Helen Nader, Peggy Intons-Peterson, Winona Fletcher, Judith
Anderson, Martha McCarthy, my friend Karen Hanson, and my long-time partner in crime Susan
Gubar.
- Outstanding Staff Award
- OWA's Outstanding Staff Award, which recognizes a staff member's commitment to
advancing the status and concerns of women on the Bloomington campus, went to Jan Harnett. A nurse
practitioner at IUB's Health Center, Harnett has provided women's health services to the IUB
community for 17 years. "Jan recognizes that through education," notes a colleague, "women are
empowered to be their own best health care advocates. She has touched many lives through her
excellent and compassionate health care." Before accepting her position at the Health Center,
Harnett was Director of Education at Planned Parenthood of Southern Indiana.
- Harnett's colleagues praise her committed mentorship of other women. One of her
nominators
notes that Harnett is "the perfect example of a professional woman who supports and guides
other women in their professional endeavors." Joan Catapano, Assistant Director and Senior
Sponsoring Editor at IU Press, was the first recipient of the award.
- Eva Kagan-Kans Award
- Also recognized at the ceremony were the winners of OWA's Eva Kagan-Kans Memorial
award, which recognizes excellence in a graduate research essay in Women's Studies or in any area of
Soviet, Russian, and/or East European Studies that reflects women's concerns. This year's
first-place winner was Robin Silbergleid, a doctoral student in English whose paper is titled
"Women, Utopia, and Narrative: Toward a Postmodern Feminist Citizenship."
- Michelle M. Fleming-Bizup and Cynthia Wiedemann Empen shared second-place honors.
Fleming-Bizup's winning essay is "Cross-dressing in Gender and Genre: Margaret Cavendish
and the Creation of the Feminist Utopia." She is a doctoral candidate in English. A Ph.D.
candidate in Art History, Empen submitted a paper titled "Disguise, Rebellion, and Gender in the
Civil War: Imaging the Female Spy and Soldier in American Visual Culture." Empen noted it
was encouraging to see graduate students' research acknowledged and appreciated.
- Women's Athletics Awards
- Isabella Hutchison, Associate Athletic Director of Special Projects, and Anita Aldrich,
Professor Emeritus of Kinesiology, will receive OWA's Fifth Annual Award for Support of Women's
Athletics. The awards will be presented April 23rd at the IU vs. Purdue softball game.
"Embrowning" the Ivory Tower
While sitting in the orientation session for new graduate students in my department, I
experienced a situation all too familiar. I immediately became aware that not only was I the only
woman of color I was the only person of color. When I decided to pursue my graduate degree,
I prepared myself for an environment where women and people of color have historically been
underrepresented; however, the lack of diversity I encountered in the academy was even greater
than I had anticipated. Over the past three years, being a black woman in a predominantly white
department and university has provided both challenges and opportunities for growth.
As the powerful and poignant documentary "Shattering the Silences" demonstrates, the "ivory
tower" has historically built moats, such as low retention rates and low representation of
students, faculty, and administrators of color. These barriers marginalize and exclude alternative
modes of scholarship that might undercut dominant social, cultural, and political views. As they
deal with both racism and sexism, some women of color find their critical thinking and writing
abilities constantly challenged. We often have to justify our scholarly interests as we seek
respect for our diverse points of view.
Although I have been fortunate to be in a department that respects difference, I have at times felt
taken aback as I found myself in the familiar position of representing a divergent point of view.
One of my most vivid memories of academic exchange occurred in a seminar where we were
discussing the question of identity and representation. We had read an article that addressed
whether, because of his scholarly achievements, renowned scholar Cornel West should identify
himself as black.
As we discussed the article, an intense debate ensued during which someone suggested that at
some level West, and I as well, should be identified as part Anglo because of our exposure to and
participation in the dominant intellectual process. My immediate reaction was laughter because
I thought my colleague was making a sarcastic joke. I even thought that he might be referring to
the hybridity of African-American culture. As soon as I realized that his contention was serious,
I began to explain the problems inherent in such essentialist thinking. By the end of the seminar,
I realized that my very existence as a black educated woman was being questioned.
After we all left the class tense and drained, I received an e-mail message from a fellow
classmate who apologized for the position of equivocation, definition, and defense in which I had
been placed. A couple of weeks later some of my other colleagues acknowledged that our
discussion had enlightened and expanded their perspective. I was reenergized. This experience
demonstrated to me that my education is not only a pursuit of knowledge but also a form of
activism in which I can generate a dialogue that challenges some ingrained beliefs.
As I prepare to take comprehensive exams and write my dissertation, I look back on the last three
years with guarded fondness. Not a day has passed since I moved to Bloomington that I have not
talked to my mother, who was herself the only one of a family of 15 children to receive a
bachelor's degree. Her constant support and prayer for "favor with humanity and God" is the
beacon that directs my path. In the times when I feel isolated, afraid, and overwhelmed, I repeat
my favorite Psalm: "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." I have
made it through the last three years because of my spirituality, the support of my family, and my
sisterhood with other women of color. Although the experiences and lives of Latina, Native
American, Asian, and black women vary, our commonality as women of color in academe forges
a bond that unites us in these struggles.
--Sharoni Denise Little
Majority Report Index
- Percentage of power positions (defined by title, paycheck, or responsibility) in corporate
America held by women: 2
- Number of the nation's 500 largest companies who count a woman among their top five
wage earners: 61
- Number that can also say 25% or more of their officers are women: 13
- Number of IUB's 7530 graduate students in the fall of 1996 who were African-American
women: 110
- Number who were African-American men: 83
- Number who were Latina: 76
- Number of IUB graduate students enrolled in the fall semester who were Latino males: 96
- Percentage of greeting cards sold that are purchased by women: 85
- Percentage of American high school students who graduated with a grade average of B or
better in 1966: 45
- Percentage who graduated with a grade average of B or better in 1995: 72
- Percentage of the 34,000 doctorates awarded nationally in 1993 that were earned by women:
35
- Percentage earned by African-American women: 1.4
- Year the first Ph.D. was granted to an African-American woman: 1921
- Number of minutes spent cooking each day by women who own microwaves: 55
- Number of minutes spent cooking each day by women who don't own microwaves: 59
- Amount of money the Library of Congress spent last year to create a braille edition of
Playboy: $60,000
- Percentage of IUB's 1,350 clerical staff as of October 1996 who are women: 90
- Percentage of IUB's 265 technical staff who are: 37
- Percentage of Americans who lived alone in 1970: 17.1
- Percentage who lived alone in 1995: 25
- Percentage of Americans living alone in 1995 who were women: 15
- Percentage of women aged 15 to 44 who were childless in 1994: 42
- Ratio of male to female graduate students in IUB's math and chemistry departments: 3:1
- Ratio of male to female graduate students in IUB's English department: 4:5
- Rank of health services on the list of fastest growing industries for the next ten years: 1
- Percentage of American workers who belong to unions: 14.5
- Percentage who belonged to unions in 1950: 35
- Median earnings of women working year-round in 1995: $22,497
- Median earnings of men for that period: $31,496
- Number of adults worldwide who say their companies participated in Take Your Daughters
to Work Day last year: 48.7 million
- Number of adults who participated by taking a girl to work: 16.6 million
April Index Sources:
1,2,3 Ms. Foundation; 4,5,6,7 IUB Registrar; 8,9,10 American
Demographics (March 97); 11,12,13 Sojourner (Dec. 93); 14,15
American Demographics (March 97); 16 Harper's (March 97);
17,18 IUB Office of Affirmative Action; 19,20 New York Times
(12/27/96); 21,22 U.S. Census Bureau; 23,24 IUB Registrar; 25
Bureau of Labor Statistics; 26,27 New York Times (2/23/97); 28,29
U.S. Census Bureau; 30,31 Ms. Foundation
Traveling Student Scientists and the CIC WISE Initiative
The Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), established in 1958, is an academic
consortium of 15 major teaching and research university campuses. Its programs and activities
extend to all aspects of university life except intercollegiate athletics. By focusing institutional
efforts and enhancing them through cooperative activities, the CIC and its member universities
have effectively complemented and augmented institutional programs without supplanting them
or reducing their individual importance.
In 1992, the CIC Conference on Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), held in
Bloomington, challenged each campus to write an action plan to improve the learning and
working environment for women in science and mathematics fields. As a response to the action
plan, the Bloomington Chancellor established a Women in Science Project within the Office for
Women's Affairs.
During the last decade, studies have consistently shown that the participation of women in
science and mathematics disciplines declines precipitously and disproportionately at each
successive level of the academic pipeline. These trends are apparent at Indiana University as
well. The Women in Science Program targets undergraduate, graduate, staff, and faculty women
in all science and mathematics fields through programs designed to inspire and encourage
talented women to choose and remain in these fields, to broaden their professional experiences
and opportunities, and to improve the learning and working climate at Indiana University. One
of the objectives of the CIC WISE Initiative is to promote professional development and
socialization into the discipline through participation in professional conferences.
With funding from the National Science Foundation, the WISE Initiative makes available
approximately 75 travel grants each year to women students majoring in science, engineering,
and mathematic disciplines at CIC institutions to enable them to present papers or posters at
professional conferences. WISE travel grants are limited to a maximum award of $250 per
student, with the students' universities matching the grant amount. Student awardees are also
asked to present their papers and to describe their conference experiences at an appropriate forum
on their home campuses.
OWA's Women in Science project administers the CIC WISE travel grant program. For the
1996-97 year, over 430 applications representing the 15 CIC institutions were received from
female students at B.S., M.S., Ph.D., and post-doctorate levels. Seventy-five travel grants were
awarded across the science fields for research presentations at national and international
conferences. The following eight women from IUB received funding for their research
endeavors:
- Karen L. Kessel, a doctoral candidate in anthropology; conference:
American
Anthropological Association Meeting in San Francisco; paper title: "Dominica's
Maintenance Act: A Case Study in the Impact of Global Development Discourse on Local
Practice."
- Janet W. White, a doctoral candidate in medical sciences; conference:
Society for
Neuroscience's 26th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.; paper title: "Voltammetric
Monitoring of Catecholamine Transport in Xenopus Laevis Oocytes Expressing the Synaptic
Vesicle Monoamine Transporter."
- Catherine L. Rogers, a post-doc in linguistics/cognitive science; conference:
32nd
Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Honolulu; paper title: "Prediction of
Foreign-Accented Speech Intelligibility from Segmental Contrast Measures."
- Tera R. Hurt, a junior in applied health sciences; conference: Eleventh
National
Conference on Undergraduate Research at the University of Texas, Austin; paper title:
"An Examination and Study of the Risk Factors for Cerebrovascular Accidents in
Afro-Americans."
- Hilda Vazquez, a junior in psychology; conference: Eleventh National
Conference
on Undergraduate Research at the University of Texas, Austin; paper title: "The
Reliability of Individual Differences in Women's Perception of Body Size and Affect."
- Heather Pickett, a senior in astronomy/astrophysics; conference: 190th
Meeting of
the American Astronomical Society in Winston-Salem; poster presentation: "Structure
and the Inner B Ring of Saturn."
- Paula X. Kover, a doctoral candidate in biology; conference: Annual
Meeting of the
Society for the Study of Evolution at Boulder; paper title: "Correlation between
Virulence and Vertical Transmission in a Plant Pathogen and its Consequences on the Evolution
of Pathogen's Virulence."
- Anne Mylott, a doctoral candidate in history and philosophy of science;
conference:
a session at the International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology
Biennial Meeting in Seattle, designed to honor IU Professor Frederick Churchill; paper
title: "Sex and the Single Pollen Cell."
In its first year of awarding monies, the CIC WISE Travel Grant program has met its objective to
encourage and support participation in professional conferences. Through the National Science
Foundation funding and CIC university matching funding, more than $37,000 has been
contributed to promoting professional development of young women scientists. The CIC WISE
Travel Grant program's fall application will be available October 1, 1997. All women enrolled
in science or mathematics degree programs at IUB are eligible to apply.
--Lynn K. Wilson, Women in Science Project Coordinator
New Women Faculty Round IV
Professor Kirsten Gronbjerg (Ph.D. from the University of Chicago) teaches
nonprofit policy and management in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Her
research interests include nonprofit funding structures, public and private welfare systems,
macrosociology and comparative studies, and population and demographic analysis. Gronbjerg
has held positions with the University of Chicago, the State University of New York at Stony
Brook, Hofstra University, Pitzer College, and Loyola University of Chicago.
Assistant Professor Nyusya Milman (Ph.D. from the University of Michigan)
joins IU's Slavics department as assistant chair for language instruction. Milman has taught
courses in business Russian, political Russian, methodologies of teaching Russian, and Russian
women's studies and literature courses. She is a native of Russia and a graduate of Moscow State
Pedagogical University.
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Ann Mongoven (Ph.D. from the
University of Virginia) teaches courses in religious ethics, including Christian and comparative
perspectives. She has special interests in medical, environmental, and gender issues.
Assistant Professor Ming Tai-Seale (Ph.D. from the University of California at
Los Angeles) comes to IUB's School of Public and Environmental Affairs from a visiting faculty
appointment at SPEA-Indianapolis. Her research focuses on health services, health economics,
and health administration.
Assistant Professor Vicky Meretsky (Ph.D. from the University of Arizona at
Tucson) joins IUB's School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Her research focuses on
conservation biology at single species and landscape scales. She also works with risk analysis, a
new tool for conservation planning, which she will combine with conservation biology.
Meretsky previously worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a Biometrician/Fisheries
Biologist.
Professor of Education Margaret (Peg) Sutton (Ph. D. from Stanford University)
teaches in the Educational Leadership and Policy Department. She previously served as Director
of Research and Gender Issues in International Basic Education at the Academy for Educational
Development in Washington, D.C. Sutton also served as the director of Stanford's M.A.
program in International Development Education. Her research interests include comparative
studies of gender and education, the role of international assistance in national educational
development and U.S. foreign policy, the connections between multicultural and global
education, and feminist and other critical epistemologies.
Assistant Professor of Library and Information Sciences Uta Priss (Ph.D. from
Dearmstadt University in Germany) studies the mathematical modeling of semantic relations in
lexical databases and thesauri. Her research is part of an interdisciplinary research project
involving mathematics, computational linguistics, and information science that attempts to build
a graphical interface for information retrieval using library classification systems. Her previous
work included consulting to the WordNet Project (Princeton University) and to the Department
of Economics and Computer Science at the Fachochschule Stralsund.
Announcements:
In the Company of Women:
In celebration of Mother's Day, the Office for Women's Affairs invites you to attend a workshop
titled Mothers and Daughters. The workshop explores our relationships with our
mothers in light of our relationships with our daughters and sons. Bring your mother or daughter
(must be at least 15 years of age) to enhance the workshop. Please dress comfortably.
The workshop, which consists of written exercises and discussion, meets in Memorial Hall East,
Room 127, on April 24 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The registration fee is $10.00. To register or for
information, call 855-3849 or E-Mail owa@indiana.edu.
OWA Receives SDI Funding:
The Office for Women's Affairs recently received Strategic Directions funding for its women in
science proposal. The project undertakes specific initiatives such as mentoring programs,
supplemental fellowship funds to recruit outstanding graduate students, and a distinguished
visiting scientist program for faculty members. Sixty-one projects received finding in this
second round of Strategic Directions proposals; of the 25 from the Bloomington campus, 14 went
to proposals where women faculty and staff are the project directors. Congratulations to all!
