====== WIMS Teacher-Scholar Cohort ======

This page seeks to organize the notes/thoughts/suggestions of our WIMS teacher-scholar cohort.  
{{:wims:wims_teacher_scholar_cohort.pdf|The original proposal}}

===== Objectives from Original Proposal =====

  * make STEM more relevant and accessible for women and non-majors
  * generate ideas on how to leverage the IQ Center to improve our pedagogy and research
===== Challenges =====

While WIMS faculty understand the continuing--sometimes masked--challenges for women in science (who doesn't have a good story about that?), our students tend to be blissfully unaware.  There are general issues on campus with women's hesitation to take on leadership positions.

  * These issues aren't isolated to WIMS; they're pervasive throughout W&L culture.  How can we make positive change across the campus?

  * How to teach persistence/following through?  There is a lot of failure and negative results in STEM.  How do we teach that that is okay?

===== Ideas =====

  * Show examples of women in the field
    * act as role models
    * show there are different ways to be/do a scientist/mathematician
    * how questions change with women's involvement
    * more speakers - finding female speakers

  * Rethink the problems we assign
    * not the stereotypical "think pink" and make the problems more feminine, but ...
    * questions that are more interesting/relevant to a general audience, perhaps social implications ...

  * Change how participation happens in class
    * allow more time for students to formulate an answer first before calling on someone or asking for volunteers to answer
    * encourage female students to keep talking if they are cut off

  * Involve male colleagues with these ideas/changes

  * Use both one-on-one mentoring and group encouragement
    * during one-on-one mentoring let students know that they're not alone in how they feel -- give personal examples
    * fight the "[[http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Impostor_syndrome|imposter syndrome]]"


===== Questions =====

===== Opportunities =====

  * The HHMI grant has funds for course development and supplies for a new course or module that relates to STEM
  * Emphasize transferable skills

===== Suggestions =====

===== Action Items =====

==== Teamwork Discussion ====

  * Discussion leader: Lynn Chin, Sociology -- November 6
  * Starting discussion:
    * assigning roles
    * size of teams
    * leadership within the team
    * sense of ownership
    * defining expectations
==== Leadership Roundtable Discussion ====

  * Invite panelists: Shana Levine, Nicolaas Rupke, Megan Schneider, and Jeffrey Shay
  * Invite participants: students and faculty, with a (slight?) WIMS emphasis

  * Starting questions:
    * what is leadership?
    * how do you develop leadership skills?
    * how do you find leadership opportunities?
    * how do faculty/upperclassmen help encourage/nurture leadership skills in students?



===== Discussion/Comments =====