Panel Discussion at Holy Cross to Feature Three Noted Professionals Discussing Women and Science

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross will present a panel discussion with three esteemed science professionals Diann Jordan, Sheila Tobias and Elga Wasserman titled "Celebrating Women and Science: Lessons from the Past and Directions for the Future" on March 20 at 4 p.m. in Hogan Suite A, on the fourth floor of the Hogan Campus Center. The discussion, free and open to the public, will be followed by a book signing.

Diann Jordan, a tenured professor of biological sciences at Alabama State University and an educational consultant, is the author of the forthcoming Sisters in Science: Conversations with Black Women Scientists on Race, Gender, and their Passion for Science (Purdue University Press), the first book of interviews with prominent black women scientists across the United States. Before going to ASU, Jordan worked for more than 10 years as a professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she was the first woman faculty member ever hired in the soil and atmospheric sciences department, as well as the first African-American woman to be tenured in a research science department. Jordan has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Women of Color in Science and Technology Certificate of Merit in 1997 and the Faculty Enhancement Award for Diversity and Human Rights in 1999 from the University of Missouri.

Sheila Tobias, a renowned feminist and author of Faces of Feminism: An Activist’s Reflections on the Women’s Movement (Westview, 1997), has made an art and a science of being an outsider to science and mathematics, and a household name for her books Overcoming Math Anxiety (W.W. Norton & Company, 1994), They’re Not Dumb, They’re Different (Research Corporation, 1994), Breaking the Science Barrier (College Board, 1992) and Rethinking Science as a Career (Research Corporation, 1995). A noted consultant on college and university curricula whose work has been supported by the Ford, Rockefeller, and Sloan Foundations, she is currently the coordinator of the Sloan (Foundation) Science Master’s Outreach Project.

Elga Wasserman, author of The Door in the Dream: Conversations with Eminent Women in Science (National Academies Press, 2002), holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Harvard and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Her groundbreaking book profiles the small number of women scientists who have achieved the high honor of being elected to the National Academy of Sciences as a way to explore the personal and professional challenges confronting current and future women in science. Wasserman is a noted speaker as well as an experienced professional in science, law and university administration. Her work offers an in-depth look at the everyday issues confronting women in male-dominated fields.

The event is sponsored by the Lilly Vocation Discernment Initiative, women’s and gender studies, Africana studies, environmental studies, Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies, pre-medical and pre-dental program, the science coordinator’s office and the departments of biology, chemistry, mathematics and computer science, physics and psychology.