November 1, 1999
Professor who headed MIT committee that found systematic discrimination against women faculty to speak at UW forum
Who:
Mary C. Potter, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and chairwoman, Committee on Women Faculty in the School of Science.
What:
Fall forum of the University of Washington’s President’s Advisory Committee on Women.
When:
Nov. 10, 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Potter will be available for interviews from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Where:
The Husky Union Building (HUB) 108 on the UW campus.
Details:
Mary C. Potter, MIT professor of brain and cognitive science and chairwoman of the committee that issued a nationally recognized report detailing systematic discrimination against women faculty members in MIT’s School of Science, will speak at the UW about the report and its aftermath. A panel representing UW faculty, staff and students will respond to Potter’s remarks.
Five years in the making, the final report was issued earlier this year and grabbed national headlines with findings that senior women faculty were shortchanged in areas ranging from promotions and salaries to office space and access to research money. The report also found that while junior women faculty tend to be positive and hopeful, they become frustrated and discouraged as they move up the academic ladder and are treated differently than their male colleagues. The study, which prompted MIT officials to acknowledge that gender bias exists, also praised administrators for acting after inequities were revealed. The school began taking corrective measures in 1995 after the committee released preliminary findings.
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For more information, contact Denice Denton, chairwoman of the UW’s President’s Advisory Committee on Women and dean of the College of Engineering, at (206) 543-0340 or denton@engr.washington.edu. Potter can be contacted in advance of the forum at (617) 253-5526 or molly@psyche.mit.edu. Background information on the study, with introductions by MIT administrators, can be found on the MIT Web site at http://web.mit.edu/fnl/women/women.html.
