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European Research and Education ProgramsWhat's in them for you? To read the Vision and Change 2011 final report click here _________________________ Vision and Change Face Book Page
 To join the facebook group
click here
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Greetings!
In February I returned from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, D.C. where I witnessed a formal release of a report two years in the making titled "Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education - A Call to Action.'' This report built upon numerous earlier reports, but went further in its "Call to Action." The report stemmed from 500 biological sciences faculty and administrators and 231 undergraduates who met during a July 2009 conference called, "Transforming Undergraduate Education in Biology: Mobilizing the Community for Change." Together they defined five core concepts and six core competencies to biological literacy. They understood that biology had become more interdisciplinary with fields such as genomics, proteomics, meta genomics, computational biology, synthetic biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, and systems biology and that greater emphasis needs to be placed on modeling, computation and data analysis tools than ever before. The issue is how to prepare the undergraduate for future biological courses beyond just understanding the natural world. After much discussion and debate, Vision and Change participants agreed that all undergraduates should develop a basic understanding of the following core concepts. These are: 1) Evolution, 2) Structure and function, 3) Information flow, Exchange and storage, 4) Pathways and transformations of energy and matter, and 5) Systems. The core competencies and disciplinary practice include: 1) Ability to apply the process of science, 2) Ability to use quantitative reasoning, 3) Ability to use modeling and simulation, 4) Ability to tap into the interdisciplinary nature of science, 5) Ability to communicate and collaborate with other disciplines, and 6) Ability to understand the relationship between science and society. These competencies and others cannot be adequately measured solely by correct answers on multiple-choice tests, but must be assessed through demonstrations of students' thinking and scientific problem-solving abilities. Implementation of this change requires student-centered learning; developing courses that must be active, outcome oriented, inquiry driven, and relevant. Research experience would be an integral component of biological education for all students; the idea is to introduce fewer concepts, but present them in greater depth. For those of you who attended a standard large lecture hall for beginning biology, this change could be very exciting! The University of Minnesota cut the ribbon on their Science Teaching and Student Services Center (STSS) in August of 2010 with 10 active learning classrooms, along with 2 lecture halls and 5 multipurpose rooms. These active learning classrooms were talked about repeatedly during this AAAS session. In these active learning classrooms, the faculty member becomes a coach as 100 students (9 students per round table connected to the Internet, and projector) collaborate on research projects. Teaching in this kind of environment is very unsettling for some faculty members. I saw first hand how thrilling it was to see what the students could do with the power of the internet, a table computer, and collaboration among themselves, resulting in active learning. For those of you who may join us next year in Vancouver, Canada for the AAAS meeting, the Education Section, of which I am a member, would like to have one of the lecture halls set-up as an active learning environment to show the faculty and attendees what active learning is and how it will change undergraduate biological education today. Stay tuned! We may get it approved! We remain united in friendship through science, 
Dee McManus National GWIS Executive Director
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| National GWIS News
National Activities
Nominations Committee Announcement By Nominations Committee Chair, Michelle Carter, and members Melissa Wilson Sayres, and Alexis Rudd The Nominating Committee of Graduate Women in Science invites all members to participate in nominating candidates for elective offices. This may be done individually or collectively through the chapter in which you hold membership. Do not overlook nominating yourself. The Nominating Committee is interested in receiving the names of everyone who is interested in serving in a national office. A Nomination form outline follows this Call for Nominations. Please share this information with other members you know who may not be receiving this newsletter. The list of candidates, along with brief biographies and photos, will be included in the Bulletin and in the April e-newsletter. Nominees for national office and for elected national committees will be selected from a slate of members who have expressed an interest in furthering the objectives of GWIS and who wish to help strengthen the operation of the organization. To be included on the ballot, completed nomination forms must be received by the Nominating Committee no later than 5:00 pm on Monday, April 15th, 2011. With this extended deadline we are especially interested in nominations for the Treasurer position. All positions will receive leadership training and mentoring from experienced ex-office bearers. Please return completed nomination forms to the Nominating Committee: Chair, Michelle Carter (carte008@umn.edu), Melissa Wilson Sayres (mwilsonsayres@gmail.com), and Alexis Rudd (abrudd@gmail.com). Forms may also be mailed to Michelle Carter, 401 Elm St, Farmington MN 55024.
Nominees are needed for the following National Offices:
President-Elect: Serves one year and automatically advances to President
Vice-President: Serves one year and advances by election to President-Elect
Member of the Board of Directors: Serves a 5 year term with fifth year as Chair; is usually a past National GWIS Officer
Membership Secretary: Serves a two year term
Treasurer: Serves a one year term
Member of the Omega Chapter Committee: Serves a three year term with third year as Chair
Member of the Nominating Committee: Serves a three year term with third year as Chair
Nominees must be in good standing with dues paid, and must subscribe to the objectives of the Organization. Thank you for helping to create a stronger National organization of Graduate Women in Science.
The nominations form should include the following information: Name of Office or Committee: Name of Candidate: Address: Chapter: Field of Science: Present Position (title and employer): Past Positions: Experience in GWIS: Chapter Offices: Chapter Committees: National Offices: National Committees: Attendance at National Meetings (where and when): Special Qualifications for Office/Committee: Administrative Ability: Interest and Enthusiasm: Responsibility: Other: Note: For Chapter nomination, this form should be completed by an officer of the Chapter. Nominated by (individual name or chapter officer): Chapter: Address:
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Chapter News
Nu Chapter - Penn State University
Nu Chapter had a busy month in February! Our month ly Inside the Scientists Studio series featured the College of Agriculture in February with speakers Dr. Chad Dechow, Associate Professor of Dairy Cattle Genetics, and Dr. Gabriella Varga, University Distinguished Professor of Animal Science.
The week of February 21-27 was Women in STEM Week in State College! We hosted several events throughout the week including an Ice Cream Parlor Social and a Ceramics Social at a local downtown pottery painting studio. We hosted a movie night featuring "Top Secret Rosies", a film about female mathematicians during World War II, and had a service night, where we prepared for some of our upcoming school science fairs.
 On February 27th, we hosted our annual Voices Conference. This year's theme was Leadership and over 80 participants listened to great speakers and panelists on topics such as Managing Cultural Clashes within Academia, Building Relationships: Mentoring, Collaborations, and Networking, and Leadership Skills: their importance and how to get them. Our keynote speaker was Dr. Karin Foley, Associate Dean for the Eberly College of Science and the chair of the Penn State Commission for Women.
We hosted two Brown Bag Discussions in March: "Recognizing and Confronting Harassment in the Graduate Environment", presented by Peggy Lorah, the Director of Womens Studies, and "Get Ready to Finish your Dissertation" by Dr. Felipe Montes.
We also participated in the Easterly Parkway Elementary School Science Fair and the Park Forest Middle School Science Fair, collaborating with the undergraduate organization Penn State Association for Women in Science. We presented the Extraction and fluorescence of chlorophyll, a pickle battery, and polymer and slime.
I am also pleased to share that Nu Chapter has been selected to receive the Penn State Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Outstanding Service Award at the 2011 WISE Recognition Awards and a Penn State Student Leadership and Service Award from the Penn State Office of Student Activities.
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Past Fellowship Winners - Where are they now? By Melissa A. Wilson Sayers (Nu Chapter) Dr. Styliani Goulopoulou, GWIS SDE Fellowship Winner 
Dr. Styliani Goulopoulou Sigma Delta Epsilon Fellowship, 2008 Postdoctoral Fellow Medical College of Georgia Dr. Styliani Goulopoulou completed her graduate studies in the Department of Exercise Science at Syracuse University. Her graduate work was focused on cardiovascular autonomic regulation in health and pathological conditions such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension. She also worked on projects examining the cardiovascular autonomic regulation in individuals with Down syndrome. Dr. Goulopoulou used acute exercise and nutritional manipulations as physiological stressors to perturb the cardiovascular system and assess its responses in humans. She also employed exercise training as an intervention to assess the effects of physical activity on high blood pressure and Type II diabetes. Dr. Goulopoulou defended her dissertation entitled "The effects of aerobic exercise training on venous function in humans with hypertension" in January 2010 and started a post-doctoral training position in the Department of Physiology, at the Medical College of Georgia in February 2010. Although her doctoral training was in human physiology, she decided to change pathways and joined the lab of Dr. Clinton Webb (Department of Physiology, Medical College of Georgia) to train in basic science and integrative vascular biology/physiology. Dr. Goulopoulou's current work focuses on the function of the reproductive vascular bed (i.e. uterine artery). She is interested in investigating the balance between vasoconstrictor and vasodilatory mechanisms in the uterine vascular bed during pregnancy. Further, Dr. Goulopoulou is interested in examining how pre-pregnancy obesity and diabetes affect maternal vascular health. Her immediate plans include studies on the effects of adipose tissue inflammation and non-pharmacological interventions (i.e. exercise training) on maternal vascular health during pregnancy and post-partum. Dr. Goulopoulou's post-doctoral training will last 3 years and her future goal is to become an independent faculty member in a university setting where she will have her own laboratory. She envisions that after her post-doctoral training she will be able to test her hypotheses in both animal models and human studies, performing and promoting translational research in women's cardiovascular health. Dr. Goulopoulou has been extremely successful in the years after being awarded the Sigma Delta Epsilon Fellowship in 2008: she was awarded a Graduate Student Investigator Award from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine in 2008, the Founders Staff Fellowship from the American Heart Association for 2008-2009, the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from The Professional Development Programs of the Graduate School at Syracuse University in 2009, the Doctoral Award for Excellence in Research from Syracuse University in 2010, and, most recently a three year (2010-2013) NIH Postdoctoral Training Grant to be completed at the Integrative Cardiovascular Biology Medical College of Georgia, Vascular Biology Center. We wish her continued success and are very pleased to have been one of her supporters during her formative research years! |
National News
Leadership without the Lime Light - Undergraduate Women's Leadership Report from Princeton University
A new study conducted by researchers at Princeton University reports that despite women dominating higher education enrollments, they opt for less glamorous -- but often equally labor-intensive -- leadership roles compared to their male counterparts that dominate high-profile executive positions at the most prestigious student organizations. Yet, women tend to outperform men academically. The full report can be found at: http://www.princeton.edu/reports/2011/leadership/. While both kinds of leadership are important, students who hold high profile leadership positions report that such positions in which they come in to contact with senior administrators provide the opportunity to develop a professional persona, hone professional skills, and learn what makes a large and complex organization run as well as valuable experience in taking responsibility, managing people, budgets, and events, and delegating to others. The kinds of behavior and attitudes that have given rise to this trend have led the authors of the study to suspect that this may not be just a Princeton phenomenon.
Faculty Mentoring Resources from the Michigan State University
Michigan State University (MSU) has one of the best web pages that provide resources on faculty mentoring for those new to this topic as well as those already involved in a mentoring program. MSU resources and general resources covering a range of issues are followed by mentoring resources for specific academic areas and faculty members. Links are given for extensive bibliographies and mentoring programs at higher education institutions in the U.S. and Canada. The page is updated and revised as new material for mentoring appears online. The web address to the page is:
http://fod.msu.edu/LeadershipResources/mentoring/index.asp#1
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International News
University World News
With international competition and collaboration between universities growing apace, it has never been more important for higher education managers, researchers, scholars and public officials to keep abreast of developments in their field and in rival and partner institutions worldwide. University World News is the first high-quality truly international newspaper and website, dedicated to providing such coverage. Supported by some of the world's most experienced education journalists, and aimed at higher education readers worldwide, it is offering a weekly emailed newspaper plus access to a dedicated news website - free of charge. Their web address is: http://www.universityworldnews.com/ 
International Professors Project
The International Professors Project (IPP) is a non-profit global network of professors who have begun working as "Academic Citizens of the World" on university campuses in developing countries around the world. Their ambassador professors and instructors, including expatriate, full, associate, graduate, and retired, teach, mentor, and conduct local research as they internationalize college and university faculties in their host countries. IPP is an innovation, inspired in large part by current trends towards globalization.
The objectives of IPP are:
- Working to meet the higher education faculty needs around the world
- Helping less developed countries improve domestic educational opportunities
- Spreading partly by our dedicated networking diffusion, with each participating university making its own cultural, social, ideological, ecological and technological contributions.
International Professors Project was founded to create and maintain a new institutional pathway towards an appropriate and 'developing-world-sensitive' internationalization of higher education.
IPP's mission is to provide organizational, logistical, administrative and financial support to a corps of international professors, instructors and scholars who have chosen to pursue assignments or career tracks outside their home countries. If you would like more information please visit their web site at: http://www.internationalprofs.org/
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| Useful Links for Information and Advice on Funding, Job Opportunities and Career Development
Getting Ready for a Postdoctoral Position? Here are this Years Best Places to Prepare for the Challenge of Setting up Your Own Laboratory
Today Postdoctoral positions are required training for a scientific career. The 2011 list for best places to gain the training necessary to prepare for the challenge of setting up your own laboratory is here: http://www.the-scientist.com/2011/03/1/45/1/
Advice on Applying for an Academic Position
Dr. Eliza Woolf gives advice on applying for an academic position in her posting on October 13th 2010 on the Inside Higher Ed website. Her ten point advice can be found at: http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/on_the_fence/woolf7
Advice on Negotiating for an Academic Position
An associate professor in the humanities in a sate university in the south offers seven succinct rules for negotiation like a professional in your first academic position in the March 14th Inside Higher Ed website. The link to the article is: http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2011/03/14/essay_on_how_to_negotiate_during_the_academic_job_process
Women and Underrepresented Groups Links
Northeastern University Page
Preparing for a Dual Career
The Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at the Carlleton College - This is a great collection of case studies of dual career couples in geoscience as well as other disciplines on the SERC website. This collection illustrates a number of different solutions to the "two-body" problem, based on a variety of job search strategies. The web page also includes a number of other resources for dual career couples.
Dual Career Search Engine from Inside Higher Ed - Inside Higher Ed has a search engine that help search and map for jobs that helps keep dual career couples together. The link to the web page is: http://www.insidehighered.com/career/seekers?page=dualsearch.php#dual
Advice from Dual Career Administrators in Higher Education
Micheal and Carol Harter write about the road to leadership as a dual career administrators in higher education in the March 30th Inside Higher Ed issue: http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2011/03/30/essay_by_husband_and_wife_team_of_university_administrators
Job Search and Career Links
Northeastern University Page
American Association for the Advancement of Science Page - Membership to this site is free but you have to input your information and establish a web account.
Post Doctoral Fellowships in the Biological Sciences - This page, sponsored by the University of California, Berkeley, provides information on some fellowships for postdoctoral researchers in the biological sciences.
Scientific Grants and Funding Links
American Association for the Advancement of Science Page - Membership to this site is free but you have to input your information and establish a web account. And you can opt to receive a weekly e-mail for grant deadlines.
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