Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 7, 2003|Volume 32, Number 10

'Women Mentoring Women' program launched

Yale has launched an initiative to encourage the development of supportive professional relationships between women graduate students and faculty.

The seed for "Women Mentoring Women" was planted in 2002, when the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation chose Yale as one of 14 universities nation-wide to participate in the "Responsive Ph.D." initiative, which examines doctoral education and develops recommendations for change. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences chose to focus on mentoring and held two roundtables last year on the theory and practice of establishing such relationships.

At the kick-off event for "Women Mentoring Women" on Oct. 30, speakers stressed the importance of mentors to the mission of the academy and the well-being of its members.

Graduate School Dean Peter Salovey, the Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology, moderated the discussion. Vilashini Cooppan, assistant professor of comparative literature; Pamela Schirmeister, associate dean of the Graduate School and lecturer in English; and Meg Urry, professor of physics and astronomy, shared their views.

In his introductory remarks, Salovey noted that "When mentoring goes well, it's not just an advisor-advisee relationship, but blossoms into a professional collaboration and friendship that may last through life."

Urry admitted that as a graduate student, she "didn't value mentoring or pay much attention to gender differences." However, she noted, in her own field, women are scarce -- only 3% of all full professors in physics in the U.S. are female. "The science of physics is gender blind, but physicists aren't," she said.

Schirmeister, who advises students in the humanities and some of the social sciences, said, "Mentoring plays a crucial role to the success of graduate education. ... For a student to become an independent scholar, to be able to learn how to teach, go on an interview, give a job talk, and figure out how professional success fits into the rest of her life, gender does matter. A female graduate student is going to find it easier to discuss this puzzlement with a female advisor. ... Maturing into a scholar is exceptionally difficult. Having a woman mentor may make it easier."

Cooppan spoke theoretically, addressing "the discursive conditions of mentoring," and noting that most counseling that spans personal and professional issues is done privately, in the "liminal spaces" at the margins of academe. She advocated for more support and commitment to female students and junior faculty, especially those of color. "We need to change the culture of mentorship" and make it a central element of graduate education and faculty retention, she asserted.

Central to the program is a website to facilitate mentoring, conceived by graduate student Angelica Bernal and designed by graduate student Michael Seringhaus. The database (http://bin.yale.edu/~mrs52/wff.html) lists both professors interested in serving as mentors and graduate students looking for mentors. Potential participants enter their departmental affiliation, research interests and contact information in order to find a suitable match.

Sponsors of the initiative are the Women Faculty Forum, Graduate Career Services and the Graduate School.

-- By Gila Reinstein

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Harold Koh is appointed as next Law School dean

Clinton asserts 'shared responsibilities' among nations . . .

'Women Mentoring Women' program launched

Budget plans for the coming year

Event to explore ethics of media coverage in wartime

Colleges' sustainable dining initiatives are focus of conference

Women astronauts will talk about their 'Place in Space'

Computer scientists to develop ways to protect privacy online

Exhibit looks at Robert Damora's '70 Years of Total Architecture'

Yale Rep show explores collision of politics and culture in America

Her native landscape inspires Irish writer's 'desperate themes'

DeStefano hopes 'game plan' will bring him to Olympics

Study: Recovery rates from childhood leukemia . . .

Memory-enhancing drugs may actually worsen . . .

Dr. Robert Arnstein, counselor to generations of students, dies

World-renowned oncologist Dr. Paul Calabresi passes away

Rare form of obsessive compulsive disorder linked to gene mutation

Older patients may not be prepared to receive diagnosis, study says

Symposium will examine 'American Literary Globalism' . . .

Koerner Center to showcase emeritus faculty member's works

Researchers sequence and analyze the DNA of an ancient parasite

Two books on slavery are winners of the Douglass Prize

United Way Campaign nears halfway mark in meeting its goal

Yale Books in Brief

Campus Notes