[phas-dept] This week's colloquium speaker, Joan Schmelz

[Kurtis Williams]

Hi everyone,

This week our colloquium speaker will be Joan Schmelz, current program director for the Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowships at the National Science Foundation, a professor of physics at the University of Memphis, and the chair of the American Astronomical Society's Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy.  She will be talking with us about unconscious biases in hiring, promotions, and tenure.

There is a good possibility that Dr. Schmelz will have to give her colloquium via Skype, since Washington, DC is about to be hit by a major snowstorm.  Either way, colloquium will be held as normal in room 127 at 4pm on Thursday.

However, if she does make it, she will be available to meet with people on *Friday* morning, and perhaps for a short time after lunch.  I'd like to schedule a group discussion with as many faculty as can make it on Friday morning, so please let me know your availability then.  If you would like to meet with her one-on-one as well, please let me know.  Students (undergrads and grads), postdocs, and anyone else on this email list are strongly encouraged to set up times as well; just email me the best time.

Faculty, if you would be able to join us for dinner Thursday night, please let me know.

Kurtis

Title: Unconscious Bias in Hiring, Promotions, and Tenure

Abstract: We all have biases, and we are (for the most part) unaware of them. In general, men and women BOTH unconsciously devalue the contributions of women. This can have a detrimental effect on grant proposals, job applications, and performance reviews. Sociology is way ahead of physics and astronomy in these studies. When evaluating identical application packages, for example, male and female University psychology professors preferred 2:1 to hire “Brian” over “Karen” as an assistant professor. When evaluating a more experienced record, at the point of promotion to tenure, reservations were expressed four times more often about Karen than about Brian. This unconscious bias has a repeated negative effect on Karen’s career (Steinpreis, Anders & Ritzke 1999, Sex Roles, 41, 509). In this talk, I will introduce the concept of unconscious bias and also give recommendations on how to address it using an example for a faculty search committee. The process of eliminating unconscious bias begins with awareness, then moves to policy and practice, and ends with accountability. For more information, please see the University of Michigan Advance web site (http://sitemaker.umich.edu/advance/).

Dr. Kurtis A. Williams
Assistant Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Texas A&M University - Commerce
Tel: (903) 886-5516
Kurtis.Williams at tamuc.edu

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