[GWAMIT] Empowerment Conference!

[GWAMIT]

Dear GWAMIT Members,

Registration is now open for the 2014 GWAMIT Empowerment Conference:
http://gwamitempowerment2014.wordpress.com/
RSVP soon - event capacity is limited!

When: April 10-17 (events detailed below)
Where: MIT Campus<http://whereis.mit.edu/>
Info and RSVP: <http://gwamitlead2013.wordpress.com/> http://gwamitempowerment2014.wordpress.com/
Contact: gwamit-spring at mit.edu<mailto:gwamit-spring at mit.edu>


Opening Keynote - Wonder Women: sex, power, and the quest for perfection

Speaker: Debora Spar, President Barnard College. Author of "Wonder Women: sex, power, and the quest for perfection”<http://wonderwomenthebook.com/>

Time: Thursday April 10, 5:30PM (reception to follow)
Location: 32-155

Description: Debora Spar spent most of her life avoiding feminism. Raised after the tumult of the '60s, she presumed that the gender war was over; she swore to young women that yes, they could have it all. “We thought we could glide into the new era with babies, board seats, and husbands in tow,” she writes. “We were wrong.”
Spar should know. One of the first women professors at Harvard Business School, she went on to have four children and became the chair of her department. Now she's the president of Barnard College, arguably the most important all-women school in the country, an institution firmly committed to feminism.
Wonder Women is Spar's story and the culture's. Armed with reams of new research, she examines how women's lives have -- and have not -- changed over the past forty years. The challenges confronting women are more complex than ever. They stem from breast pumps and Manolo pumps; from men whose eyes linger on a woman's rear and men who rush that same rear out the door. They're problems that come inherently and inevitably from being female. Yet they're falling on generations of women who grew up believing that none of these things are supposed to matter now.
Wonder Women gives us an important voice in an increasingly heated debate. In this wise, often funny, always human, and smartly conceived book, Spar asks: How far have women really come? And what will it take to get true equality for good?


How to find great mentors and become one yourself: A discussion

Speakers: Eve Marder, Professor of Biology, Brandeis University. Kay Tye, Assistant Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT

Time: Monday April 14, 5PM (reception to follow)
Location: Stata, 4th floor R&D Common

Description: A discussion on mentoring with Professors Eve Marder and Kay Tye.
Eve Marder is a professor of Biology at Brandeis and a member of the US National Academy of Sciences.  Her work characterizes fundamental aspects of neural circuits, most recently the extent to which similar circuit outputs can be generated by multiple mechanisms.  She has written about life as a scientist, including about how senior scientists should pass on lessons from the history of their field to younger colleagues.
Kay Tye is an assistant professor in the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. Her work seeks to uncover the neuroscience behind social behavior, anxiety, and emotion. She is passionate about mentorship as part of her lab philosophy.



Becoming a storyteller of your best self: Imperatives for a successful transition from academia to your professional career

Speaker: Judy Shen-Filerman, CEO Dreambridge Partners, LLC<http://www.dreambridgepartners.com/>

Time: Tuesday April 15 12PM (lunch served at 11:40)
Location: W20-202 (Student Center - La Sala de Puerto Rico)

Description: As an accomplished graduate student at one of the most prestigious science and technology universities in the world, making a transition to your career, especially if it is outside of academia, can be challenging. The skills you’ve honed these many years, in technical knowledge, analysis and research will be assets to your career. But new skills must be developed to ensure a strong career trajectory. Interpersonal skills, including presenting, persuading and leading will be critical. Self-promotion skills such as storytelling and asking for high visibility projects are necessary but can challenging to master in the workplace. As you work in professions where women are likely to be in the minority, how do you stay true to your best and natural self while incorporating necessary skills and approaches for career advancement and satisfaction? In her talk, Judy will blend data from existing research, examples from her executive coaching clients as well as her first-hand experience as a Harvard Business School graduate “corporate fast tracker” who turned full-time mother turned social entrepreneur.


Closing keynote - Playing the game or hacking the system: A talk and discussion on subverting systems of power

Speaker: Ruha Benjamin, Assistant Professor of Sociology and African American Studies, Boston University. Author of “People’s Science: Bodies and rights on the stem cell frontier”<http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=20585>

Time: Thursday April 17 5:30PM (reception to follow)
Location: 32-155

Description: In this talk, I explore how gaming and hacking can serve as competing metaphors for engaging life more broadly. I suggest that while “playing the game” may benefit us as individuals in the short term, “hacking the system” is a long-term strategy for collective wellbeing. Drawing upon the metaphor of hacking, I encourage conference participants to use their positions working in systems of power to write new codes for collective well-being and program alternative futures characterized by greater equity and justice.
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