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March 2010

Women's Committee Meeting - March 17, 2010
Bigelow 217

Members Present: Dina Pandya, Danielle Fino, Kim Grodzki, Stephanie Murphy, Evy Mervine, Kristen Davis, Fay Cali.

Field Work and Family Life Event - March 25, 2010, Clark 507

  • Steph contact Roland about appetizers for 100.
  • Kim will contact Facilities about setting up the room class room style. Also provide soft drinks
  • Kristen can pick up wine and beer. Target 100 people. Kristen will send flyer to post doc list. Evy will send to the student list.
  • AV support from Graphics  - DF will remind
  • Steph will check with KP about gifts for 7 people.
  • Dina – ask Graphics about creating a banner. Shindigz?
  • Dina will add images of the panelists to the lightbox for the slideshow
  • Sign up sheet for women’s committee events list.

Intro: Introduce our committee; announce April 8 webinar; mention women’s lounge; mention the Linda Morse Porteous Award; mention our survey and why we’re doing this.  Introduce our moderator and panel.

Questions: Talk about who you are and what you do. Describe the path you took to get to where you are now.  Please say how long you’ve been at WHOI, how often you go into the field, and the make up of your family.

  • If you have children or others dependent on you, how do you manage their care while you’re away.
  • For those with children, how do you think your kids handle absences?
  • Describe how you / your partner being away from home affects primary relationships.
  • Describe how you / your partner being away affects your career.
  • Are there things you regret about (your partner) having to be away so often?
  • What do you like to do in your time off/vacation?
  • Have you developed tips or tricks for reducing the impact of your absence/partner’s absence from the home?

Audio Conference: Assertive Communication - April 8, 2010 1 pm – 2 pm, Clark 271

  • Kim will order coffee, water, juice.
  • Danielle will contact Matt about AV support.
  • Fay will bring cookies.
  • Dina will make a flyer.

Women’s lounge in Clark

  • People are using it. Added a bulletin board, a rug, a small radio, and a microwave.
  • Need to get some photos up. Evy will send an announcement to the committee and we can announce this contest next month.
  • Ernie is adding an outlet to the women’s lounge in Redfield.

Annual meeting - June 3, 2010, Clark 507

  • Dina will check on speaker’s availability (Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper) and confirm a date.

Linda Morse Porteous Award 

  • Evy will get in touch with the committee/HR. Fay Cali will help as well.
  • Remember to communicate with the award donor who is selected.

Scholarship – keep it on our radar.

Women’s Committee website - Is not viewable from outside. Should it be? Review the site to see what can be made public.

Postdoc update -  Kristen discovered postdoc scholars don’t get maternity leave. She has been talking to Yoder about this, as have a few others. This policy hopefully will change. This is an issue with retention of women in science. Kristen attended a conference EMPOWER and they are putting out a paper detailing statistic – she’ll share that with the committee.

Each department has a different approach to hiring. How much effort is made to bring the spouse in/ helping to find work for spouse.