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This is a conversion of a presentation given at the Negotiating the Ideal Faculty Position Workshop given on October 14-16, 2007. This presentation was originally created and presented by Gilda Barabino, The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at GaTech and Emory.

Sister

As defined in the African-American community:

  • Black women’s relationships with each other shaped by shared experiences and beliefs and mutual support

“the double bind: the price of being a minority woman in science” aaas report no. 76-r-3, 1976

“Minority women represent a disturbingly small part of the total scientific manpower pool, but are a significant component whose needs seem not to have been addressed by existing programs for minorities or women. They have traditionally been excluded because of biases related to both their race or ethnicity and gender, constituting a double bind. Programs for minorities and women have generally been assumed to include minority women, but in fact minority women fall in the cracks between the two. The programs developed for minorities in science have mostly been dominated by male scientists. Similarly, the women’s science organizations are overwhelmingly white, and the minority science organizations, overwhelmingly male.”

What’s race got to do with it?

Everything!

or at least a very disproportionate amount

Black women in the academy

History

  • 1861 Civil War begins - little formal education prior
  • 1873 Bennett College for women established
  • 1881 Spelman College for women established
  • 1896 Plessy vs Ferguson - separate but equal legalized
  • 1920’s First black women earn doctorates (none in S +E)
  • 1954 Brown vs Board of Education - separate but equal ruled unconstitutional
  • 1960’s First doctorates in S+E

-1970’s

  • Represent 2.1% of full time tenured and tenure-track faculty (1990’s data)
  • Concentrated in humanities, arts and social work professions at the lowest ranks and less prestigious schools
  • Experience extraordinary time demands linked to small numbers

Engineering faculty (i)

Engineering faculty (ii)

Engineering faculty (iii)

Black women in the academy

  • Experience the academy differently from black men, majority men and majority women
  • Are least likely to have professional mentors
  • Are least likely to be included in collaborative efforts
  • Are least likely to be tenured and promoted
  • Are least likely to be at the rank of Full Professor
  • Are most likely to carry the heaviest service burdens
  • Shared Experiences:
    • Double bind, gender and race
    • Double consciousness, academic and ethnic communities
    • Multiple marginality
    • Unaccommodating culture, stereotypes, racialized sexism
    • Increased barriers to professional socialization and advancement
    • Hypervisibility/invisibility/superisolation
    • Community responsibility
    • Spirit of survival

My experience in the academy

  • 1978, BS Chemistry, Xavier University of LA
  • 1981, first African American admitted to ChE graduate program at Rice
  • 1986, PhD Chemical Eng, Rice University
  • 1989, first African American female ChE faculty member at Northeastern
  • 2007, first African American female BME faculty member at GaTech

Musings on my experience

Strategies for success:

  • Self-definition, self-valuation, self-efficacy, self-reliance, self-empowerment, selflessness
  • Shared responsibility and leadership to promote accountability
  • Community building (mentoring, networking)

“The focus on building community necessarily challenges a culture of domination that privileges individual well-being over collective effort.”

--bell hooks

Sisters helping sisters negotiate the academy

  • Breaking silence - open dialogue
  • Establishing support systems - mentoring and networking, sharing resources
  • Creating a culture of inclusion
  • Promoting true sisterhood across racial, ethnic, class, disciplinary and other lines

“As women, we have been taught either to ignore our differences or to view them as causes for separation and suspicion rather than as forces for change.”

--Audre Lorde

  • “She who learns must also teach”
    • --African Proverb
  • “Lifting as we climb”
    • --Motto of The National Association of Colored Women

Sister

As it should be defined by the academic community:

  • women’s relationships with each other shaped by shared experiences and beliefs and mutual support regardless of race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, ableness or culture

Thank you, sisters!

Compiled and Presented By:

Gilda Barabino

The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at GaTech and Emory

Links to additional presentations from the Negotiating the Ideal Faculty Position Seminar: An African-American Physicist - Nearly 30 years of experiences, strategies, and personal accounts ; How to Choose and Keep a Mentor

Questions & Answers

how does Neisseria cause meningitis
Nyibol Reply
what is microbiologist
Muhammad Reply
what is errata
Muhammad
is the branch of biology that deals with the study of microorganisms.
Ntefuni Reply
What is microbiology
Mercy Reply
studies of microbes
Louisiaste
when we takee the specimen which lumbar,spin,
Ziyad Reply
How bacteria create energy to survive?
Muhamad Reply
Bacteria doesn't produce energy they are dependent upon their substrate in case of lack of nutrients they are able to make spores which helps them to sustain in harsh environments
_Adnan
But not all bacteria make spores, l mean Eukaryotic cells have Mitochondria which acts as powerhouse for them, since bacteria don't have it, what is the substitution for it?
Muhamad
they make spores
Louisiaste
what is sporadic nd endemic, epidemic
Aminu Reply
the significance of food webs for disease transmission
Abreham
food webs brings about an infection as an individual depends on number of diseased foods or carriers dully.
Mark
explain assimilatory nitrate reduction
Esinniobiwa Reply
Assimilatory nitrate reduction is a process that occurs in some microorganisms, such as bacteria and archaea, in which nitrate (NO3-) is reduced to nitrite (NO2-), and then further reduced to ammonia (NH3).
Elkana
This process is called assimilatory nitrate reduction because the nitrogen that is produced is incorporated in the cells of microorganisms where it can be used in the synthesis of amino acids and other nitrogen products
Elkana
Examples of thermophilic organisms
Shu Reply
Give Examples of thermophilic organisms
Shu
advantages of normal Flora to the host
Micheal Reply
Prevent foreign microbes to the host
Abubakar
they provide healthier benefits to their hosts
ayesha
They are friends to host only when Host immune system is strong and become enemies when the host immune system is weakened . very bad relationship!
Mark
what is cell
faisal Reply
cell is the smallest unit of life
Fauziya
cell is the smallest unit of life
Akanni
ok
Innocent
cell is the structural and functional unit of life
Hasan
is the fundamental units of Life
Musa
what are emergency diseases
Micheal Reply
There are nothing like emergency disease but there are some common medical emergency which can occur simultaneously like Bleeding,heart attack,Breathing difficulties,severe pain heart stock.Hope you will get my point .Have a nice day ❣️
_Adnan
define infection ,prevention and control
Innocent
I think infection prevention and control is the avoidance of all things we do that gives out break of infections and promotion of health practices that promote life
Lubega
Heyy Lubega hussein where are u from?
_Adnan
en français
Adama
which site have a normal flora
ESTHER Reply
Many sites of the body have it Skin Nasal cavity Oral cavity Gastro intestinal tract
Safaa
skin
Asiina
skin,Oral,Nasal,GIt
Sadik
How can Commensal can Bacteria change into pathogen?
Sadik
How can Commensal Bacteria change into pathogen?
Sadik
all
Tesfaye
by fussion
Asiina
what are the advantages of normal Flora to the host
Micheal
what are the ways of control and prevention of nosocomial infection in the hospital
Micheal
what is inflammation
Shelly Reply
part of a tissue or an organ being wounded or bruised.
Wilfred
what term is used to name and classify microorganisms?
Micheal Reply
Binomial nomenclature
adeolu
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Source:  OpenStax, 2007 nsf advance workshop: negotiating the ideal faculty position. OpenStax CNX. Feb 01, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10637/1.1
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