UNL’s School of Natural Resources will host “Women in Science: Challenges to Gender Equality” from 6-8 p.m., Nov. 11 in the Hardin Hall auditorium (Room 107). The seminar is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided at 5:30 p.m. and free parking will be available.
The seminar will address gender disparity in science-related fields and provide personal accounts of being a woman in science.
“Less than fifty percent of those earning doctorates in almost all science fields are women, and the percentage of women in engineering fields has recently reached a plateau or declined,” said Jasmine Mausbach, a sophomore environmental restoration science/environmental studies/Spanish triple major. “Additionally, after obtaining degrees, more women than men leave science and engineering, meaning fewer women hold influential leadership and tenure-track positions.”
Mausbach said she was motivated to help organize the event because gender disparity in science-related fields is an important issue that “needs to be addressed.”
“And I’m a woman in science, so it hits close to home,” she said.
Speakers include:
• Tala Awada, associate director of the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station • Jenny Dauer, assistant professor of practice in science literacy • Dana Divine, survey hydrogeologist • Christine Haney, environmental studies program coordinator/adviser • Patricia Wonch Hill, research assistant professor of sociology • Mary Anne Holmes, professor of practice and director of ADVANCE-Nebraska • Karrie Weber, assistant professor of biological sciences • Donna Woudenberg, post doctorate drought management specialist and lecturer in women’s and gender studies
“Guest speakers will discuss gender inequities that exist in the science-related fields of academia, as well as share personal accounts of their career paths,” said Ashley Alred, SNR graduate student and seminar co-organizer. “The goal is to shed light on these issues to a general audience of undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and staff to get a collaborative, productive conversation started about gender inequality.”
For additional information, click here.
