[GWAMIT] GW@MIT Newsletter, May 18th, 2020

Mon May 18 07:28:29 EDT 2020

GWAMIT Newsletter

May 18th, 2020

Did you know? Here is some women-related news from around the world:

National Geographic has been going through their archives to tell the behind-the-scenes stories of trailblazing women. Read about Anne Morrow Lindbergh,<https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/03/she-was-a-record-breaking-aviator-but-her-husband-overshadowed-her-feats/?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email::src=ngp::cmp=editorial::add=SpecialEdition_Escape_20200409&rid=67192388F48109F9D1726384F5AEC7BA> a pilot, radio operator, environmentalist, and bestselling author here. See the full list of profiles here. <https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2020/03/these-20-women-were-trailblazing-explorers-why-did-history-forget-them-feature/>

One third of jobs held by women have been deemed “essential” - read the New York Times article<https://www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/us/coronavirus-women-essential-workers.amp.html> highlighting this source of gender disparity during the pandemic.

Join the GWAMIT Board!

We are recruiting for our Co-Chair position for the 2020-21 academic year. Prior experience with GW at MIT is not necessary to apply. If you’re interested in joining the board, please fill out the following application<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/16OZ-bQQWzNEscna2E99sAyK0OyaV0CTGUZ5Dq2Lpm40/viewform?edit_requested=true>

Apply now to join the NE GWiSE Executive Board!
When: Now through May 31st at 11:59pm
Contact: new.england.gwise at gmail.com<mailto:new.england.gwise at gmail.com>
You can find information about the positions here<https://wordpress.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8f9683091e5e6edc8c7d68e14&id=222d4f729f&e=146cb01cc1> and apply here<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfP1Url1_CZxxWK0j_rf8rhtejXwQeaah02s6Or30fcHcoZ9A/viewform?usp=sf_link>!
Womxn from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM are especially encouraged to apply.
We hope you're all staying safe and healthy. We have found that connecting with others has been a source of comfort and motivation in these trying times and feel that it's more important than ever to build community.  Universities are currently focusing on rebuilding daily routines so existing campus climate issues will likely be low priority.  Now is the time to continue focusing on diversity and inclusion efforts, especially as this crisis situation will exacerbate systemic inequities, affecting more vulnerable graduate student populations such as racial, ethnic, and gender minorities. In light of this, we feel our mission is as relevant as ever during these times and are looking for motivated graduate students to work with us.

We are currently accepting applications for our 2020-2021 NE GWiSE Executive Board! Being part of the NE GWiSE Executive Board is a great opportunity to connect with graduate womxn across New England.
The mission of NE GWiSE is to support ideas and actions to increase diverse representation of womxn in STEM departments, create fair and positive workplace environments, increase the support and mentorship womxn receive, and enact equitable university and federal policies.  Work together with us to improve the graduate experience for womxn across New England! Learn more at https://negwise.org/

If you have any questions, please reach out to us at new.england.gwise at gmail.com<mailto:new.england.gwise at gmail.com>!
[Recruiting Now!]

COVID-19 Resources

GWAMIT has compiled a list of resources we are aware of to help graduate women in our community. If you know of a resource that isn’t listed, please let us know (gwamit-exec at mit.edu<mailto:gwamit-exec at mit.edu>) so we can include it in the next newsletter to share with the community.

Expanded back-up child care policy: https://hr.mit.edu/worklife/backupchildcare

MIT Ombuds Office - ombudsoffice.mit.edu<http://ombuds.mit.edu/>

The Ombuds Office is available to offer support and assistance to the MIT community in navigating these challenges and exploring constructive options for success. We are available for phone or Zoom meetings and can also facilitate online sessions and group discussions to help teams function and support good communication skills during this challenging period.

To schedule a meeting via phone or Zoom email kalina_s at mit.edu or call 617-253-5921

Graduate student short-term emergency hardship funding: https://engage.mit.edu/submitter/form/step/1?Guid=b180ffce-c28f-41f6-908b-387637df6396

GSC DEI open letter for COVID-relief: https://mitgradstudentadvocates.weebly.com/

Stay at Home Recommendations:

Something to do…  As the season gets warmer, try your hand at gardening! Whether it’s some small plants in your apartment<https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-grow-vegetables-indoors-1403183>, container herbs on a patio<https://www.thespruce.com/before-you-make-your-first-container-garden-847850> or serious #flowergoals<https://www.thespruce.com/apartment-gardening-for-beginners-4178600>, plants can add a little joy to any space.

Something to read…

Fiction: The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize.Publishers Weekly, praised The Dutch House: "Patchett’s splendid novel is a thoughtful, compassionate exploration of obsession and forgiveness, what people acquire, keep, lose or give away, and what they leave behind.”

Non-fiction: Bossypants by Tina Fey- Tina Fey is an award-winning actress, writer, comedian and producer, best known for her work on Saturday Night Live and as the creator of the series 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. This is a collection of autobiographical essays about her life, guaranteed to make you chuckle!

Looking to borrow books without leaving the house? The Minuteman library network is doing temporary online membership which can be applied for here<https://library.minlib.net/selfreg>!

Something to watch…

The Great on Hulu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJGedvRfHYg - comedic drama of the rise of Catherine the Great, who stages a coup against her emperor husband and overthrows the antiquated political system of her time. She goes on to become the country’s longest-serving female leader, revitalizing Russia in the process

Something to listen to…

Wall Street Journal’s Secrets of Wealthy Women. The Wall Street Journal has a whole host of podcasts on dealing with mental health during the coronavirus. They’ve interviewed a whole host of female entrepreneurs on dealing with stress and anxiety. They also have podcasts on managing your finances during the crisis.

https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/secrets-of-wealthy-women

Gain some new knowledge on your lunch break

Remember Crash Course<https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse/playlists>? Take a ten-minute break today to learn something outside your main field of work. Try your hand at philosophy or Media Literacy, Literature or Film Criticism!

Women-related virtual events and opportunities

Thursday Tea Time (T³) with ICEO

Thursdays at 4:00 pm

The ICEO is pleased to provide opportunities for maintaining and strengthening the human connection through storytelling.

Scheduled Topics (click the link to register for that section):

May 21st, 4:00pm<https://www.eventbrite.com/e/thursday-tea-time-with-iceo-beauty-tickets-104313470398> – Be it skin deep, or in the eye of the beholder – share a reflection on Beauty.

May 28th, 4:00pm<https://www.eventbrite.com/e/thursday-tea-time-with-iceo-home-tickets-104313590758> – Home, in all definitions of the word.

Space is limited to 25 spots per topic so everyone can share their stories – please register using the links above. A zoom link will be provided 24 hours in advance to those who register. Contact Rachel (rornitz at mit.edu) with questions about accessibility, etc. (or tea recommendations).

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MLK Visiting Scholar Luncheon Series:

Kasso Okoudjou, PhD presenting: An introduction to time-frequency analysis with a focus on Gabor frames and open problems in the field.

- Eventbrite registration 18 May 12pm-1pm EDT, Zoom

Ben McDonald, PhD presenting: The importance of physical interfaces focusing on the use of emulsions with switchable optical properties which make them useful for chemical sensors and responsive "second skin" defenses against chemical weapons.

- Eventbrite registration 22 May 12pm-1pm EDT, Zoom
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New England Future Faculty Workshop (NE-FFW)

July 30th

The NE-FFW is focused on the academic job search. The format of the one-day workshop includes faculty-led interactive discussions and peer-to-peer interactions.  Workshop topics include:  Finding Your Institutional Fit, Perfecting Your Interview Skills, Making Your CV Stand Out, Crafting Research, Teaching and Diversity Statements, Negotiating the Job Offer, and more. To learn more about and to apply to the New England Future Faculty Workshop, go to: https://faculty.northeastern.edu/advance/faculty-recruitment/future-faculty-workshop/.

Upcoming GCWS Courses & Seminars

Black American Women: From Slavery to #MeToo

Summer 2020 Microseminar

Tuesdays, 1:00-3:00PM (Remote)

June 16-July 14, 2020

Applications due: May 31, 2020

Faculty: Dr. Linda Chavers, Harvard

More Info<https://www.gcws.mit.edu/new-events/black-american-women>

What would happen if we re-examined the history of American slavery? And by “re-examine” I mean tear it apart. What threads could we pull about gender, sex and power? This course employs Harriet Jacobs’s slave narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl as a lens through which to engage in the current discourses around sexual harassment and assault in the #MeToo movement. Both texts involve navigating spaces of subjugation and patriarchal supremacy though one voice remains steadily outside the mainstream. We will also look at the intersections of race and gender that Incidents reveals and trace how these remain intact or not through today.

Though Incidents will serve as the primary text through which to read and discuss all other topics another important text will be Danielle McGuire’s At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. Finally, the course will conclude with GaylJones’s work of fiction,Corregidora, and examine the legacies of sexual trauma. We will also perform cursory secondary readings on the current commentary on #MeToo. These primary and secondary readings are paired so as to read the contemporary with the past in real time.

Workshop for Dissertation Writers in Women’s and Gender Studies

Full year course, meets every other week

Mondays, 4:00-7:00PM

Applications due: August 17, 2020

Faculty: Dr. Karl Surkan, MIT

More Info<https://www.gcws.mit.edu/new-events/dissertationworkshop20>

This course provides support for students in multiple aspects of the dissertation process, including preparation of the dissertation proposal, conducting research, and writing. Together we will establish a writing community to share resources and strategies, create individualized writing plans, and facilitate peer review and feedback. The course will be flexible to help students at different stages of the process, which might include: identifying or refining their dissertation topics; conducting a literature review; creating a conceptual framework or research design; writing a plan for completing the proposed research and disseminating the results; forming a dissertation committee; developing an application to receive the ethics approval for human subject research; preparing for the oral defense of their proposal; developing a data collection plan; conducting, documenting, and analyzing their research; identifying their argument,; developing a theory, and articulating their findings in writing; publishing and presenting their dissertation to relevant audiences.

Participants will hone their ability to interpret and synthesize ideas by discussing fellow colleagues’ works in progress, reading and discussing assigned articles, leading discussions, and presenting guiding questions on assigned texts. The course uses a combination of instructional approaches and learning methods intended to help students complete their proposal and/or dissertation. Together we will establish a community of academic and personal support for each other as we engage in the dissertation process.

Visual Transgressions: Gendered Identities in Art and Culture

Fall 2020; Tuesdays 2:00-5:00PM

Applications due: August 17, 2020

Faculty: Dr. Gannit Ankori, Brandeis & Dr. Karl Surkan, MIT

More info<https://www.gcws.mit.edu/new-events/visual-transgressions>

In this course we will examine, analyze, contextualize, and interpret explicit and coded representations of gender, race, class, and sexual identity as manifested in art, film, exhibitions and visual culture. We will be considering issues of authorship, spectatorship (audience), and the ways in which images reflect, inscribe, amplify, deconstruct, or challenge social and political structures that pertain to gender, race, and class. We will focus on taboo-breaking modes of art-making, as they depart from traditional (binary) social and cultural conventions of representation.

We employ a variety of theoretical and methodological frameworks, ranging from iconographical analysis to feminist, queer, and postcolonial theories. Grounding our discussion in an historical overview, the course examines modern and contemporary works from diverse geographical and cultural contexts, and discusses non-European and non-U.S. forms of visual expression, focusing on the Middle East, Latin American and the African Diaspora.

Death and Feminism

Spring 2021; Wednesdays 12:00-3:00PM
Faculty: Dr. Harleen Singh, Brandeis & Jyoti Puri, Simmons

More Info<https://www.gcws.mit.edu/new-events/deathandfeminism>

Death in feminist thought and writing is both a metaphor and a means to unearthing material conditions that place gendered, sexualized and racialized bodies and non-human entities at risk. Feminists have written extensively on death, highlighting matters such as sexual and physical violence, reproductive politics, colonial and postcolonial genocides, slavery and its wakes, war, the environment, mourning, witnessing, memorializing, funeralizing and deathways, and more.

Drawing on feminist thought from academic and activist literatures, fiction, and performance, this course assembles an archive of readings on death through a geopolitical lens. It engages matters of governance, nationalisms, empire, settler colonialism, slavery, and migration across a variety of sites—Central and Southern Africa, South Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, Middle-East, and North America, while turning to feminist scholarship in Critical Race Studies, Indigenous Studies, Postcolonialism, Queer and Trans Studies, Disability Studies, Environmental Studies, among others.

Women in Science and Academia: Challenges and Policy Solutions

Spring 2021; Tuesdays, 5:00-8:00PM

Faculty: Dr. Gerhard Sonnert, Harvard & Dr. Kathrin Zippel, Northeastern

More Info<https://www.gcws.mit.edu/new-events/womeninscienceandacademia>

Using a variety of disciplinary lenses (history, psychology, policy studies, and sociology), this course explores the factors that impede women from successful participation in academia. We focus on the academic workplace and explore organizational factors that create gender inequities in academic careers as well as factors deeply rooted in culture and gender socialization. Furthermore, we discuss programs that promote the advancement of women in academia. A special focus is on science where the underrepresentation of women is most pronounced, and we examine how the situation is different and how it is similar for women in science and women in other academic fields. This seminar is of particular interest for anyone who aims to pursue an academic career and wants to learn about theories of the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) and in academic leadership positions more broadly.

"Amplify Your Technical Education to Build a Better World!”
Our Graduate Program in Engineering Leadership is offering a Graduate Certificate in Technical Leadership. A summary of the interim certificate requirements<https://gelp.mit.edu/grad-students/graduate-certificate-technical-leadership-interim-requirements> is linked and attached.
Leadership education develops skills applicable across career paths, from leading research labs to leading project teams in engineering. Enroll in one or both of our Graduate Courses for Fall 2020, which qualify towards our Certificate in Technical Leadership. This certificate is designed to provide important skills that MIT graduate students can draw from to "make a positive difference" in their chosen careers. Grounded in research but experimental and engaging in delivery, these highly valued classes will provide enduring benefits for our graduate students – and future coworkers.  *PhD candidates can also explore the option of using these class to satisfy the requirements for your doctoral minor.

GEL Grad Courses for Fall 2020 (**Open to all grad students!):
6.928J Leading Creative Teams<http://gelp.mit.edu/grad-creative-teams>
It takes a team to deliver impactful technical achievements and this class equips students with foundational skills for leading problem-solving teams and one’s own professional development.
Units: G3-0-6
M/W, 2:30-4pm
Instructor: David Nino (dnino at mit.edu<mailto:dnino at mit.edu>)
6.S978 <https://gelp.mit.edu/gel-grad-negotiation> Negotiation & Influence Skills for Technical Leaders<https://gelp.mit.edu/gel-grad-negotiation>
Expand your natural tendencies and learn experientially both the theory and practice of interpersonal negotiation, influence and overcoming difficult relationship situations.
Units: G2-0-4
T, 2-4pm
Instructors: Samuel (“Mooly”) Dinnar (sdinnar at mit.edu<mailto:sdinnar at mit.edu>)
***For more information, visit our website. <https://gelp.mit.edu/grad>

*If you are interested in earning our certificate, please email Lisa Stagnone (lstag at mit.edu<mailto:lstag at mit.edu>) and David Niño (dnino at mit.edu<mailto:dnino at mit.edu>)

WEST Q2 webinars/virtual events

5/20: How to Advocate for Yourself<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.westorg.org_2020-2D05-2D20-2Dnegotiate-2Dadvocate-2Dworkshop&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=xhRnivgwIo5hLQL69BdFbfv_P1zpuZiXdRZz1gZJm2c&m=mU-8-a2jCp4HA5TzLRpmn9xUsTCl7WHNlcsHBLbTeoI&s=qHNC4MbN1187eD_ck4BVATRtNtCLs51o_m-6o97Yd2I&e=>

6/4: Fearlessness as a Daily Practice<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.westorg.org_2020-2D06-2D04-2Dfearlessness-2Dwebinar&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=xhRnivgwIo5hLQL69BdFbfv_P1zpuZiXdRZz1gZJm2c&m=mU-8-a2jCp4HA5TzLRpmn9xUsTCl7WHNlcsHBLbTeoI&s=zTKkUK8Y5BScjA53h97CM2dF7al41_MIdDd7VnTDApM&e=>

6/17: Presentation Skills for Brainiacs<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.westorg.org_2020-2D06-2D17-2Dpresentation-2Dskills-2Dwebinar&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=xhRnivgwIo5hLQL69BdFbfv_P1zpuZiXdRZz1gZJm2c&m=mU-8-a2jCp4HA5TzLRpmn9xUsTCl7WHNlcsHBLbTeoI&s=5sbcQhzasiu8rorDP0vaMRsnqOE6myCQKAwtDupb--c&e=>

"COVID-19 Night School" by HGSU-UAW

"COVID-19 Night School", is a series of interdisciplinary Zoom talks about COVID-19 and pandemics presented by members of our union for the general public. Please find below the registration link<http://tinyurl.com/COVIDNightSchool> and information on upcoming events. There is also an open call for presenters in the series! See information below!

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Want to help? Donate to <http://www.rosiesplace.org/> Casa Myrna.

Casa Myrna is Boston’s largest provider of domestic violence awareness efforts and of shelter and supportive services to survivors.

Donation link: <https://secure2.convio.net/rsp/site/Donation2;jsessionid=00000000.app20111a?1400.donation=form1&df_id=1400&NONCE_TOKEN=CF65E0DEAA0AAA5E6ADC46CFC19E2C6A> here<https://casamyrna.org/donate/>

“We are acutely aware that social distancing and heightened stress can create very dangerous circumstances for those in abusive relationships, and we expect to see violence escalate. That is one of the many reasons we remain determined to assist survivors and the community. Together, we can provide support for families living in violence. Your donation will help uplift the most vulnerable in our community to escape abuse, maintain housing, buy food and access healthcare.”

As graduate students ourselves, the GWAMIT Executive Board is aware that students do not have large stipends, and many of us use what we have for families of our own. We want to emphasize that we support you in taking care of yourself and your immediate loved ones in this moment. Nevertheless, if you are able to use some of the funds you otherwise would have spent for restaurants, bars, shows, travel, and other leisure, consider donating to our common cause.

[“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all.” -Emily Dickinson]

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