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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 20, 1998)
Frontiers Monday • April! on<- 1 Women find their way to top jobs Number of women in administrative positions at A&M climbing higher By Jill Reed Science writer At Texas A&M most adminis trative and senior research posi tions are still filled by men, al though women have attended the University as undergraduates over 35 years, and more than half of the new freshman classes are women. Dr. Sallie Sheppard, associate provost for undergraduate pro grams and academic services, said female representation at A&M has changed a lot since she entered the university in 1963 as one of the first woman under graduates. “A&M has made some real ef forts to get more women in volved,” Sheppard said. “More could be done, but I see a healthy trend of opportunities opening for women.” In 1977, she was one of the first two women awarded tenure in the department of computer sci ence in the College of Engineering, and by 1987, she became the first woman associate provost at A&M. When Sheppard accepted the job as Associate Provost for Un dergraduate Programs and Acade mic Services in 1987, there was only one female department head. Now there are three female as sistant provosts, several female de partment heads and one of the eleven college deans is a woman. “When I got here, there was just a handful of women, but the last two freshman classes have been more than half women,” Sheppard said. “It is still predom inantly men at the graduate lev el, but it is growing.” Women at A&M are climbing to senior levels, but progress is being made in small steps rather than “As an institution, we are trying to remove glass ceilings for women, and although they are getting higher, they are still there.” Sallie Sheppard Associate provost leaps and bounds. “As an institution, we are trying to remove glass ceilings for women, and although they are getting higher, they are still there,’’Sheppard said. The numbers of senior-rank ing females may imply gender discrimination, but the delay may be because of a lag in the opening of senior administrative positions compared to the rate at which female enrollment at A&M is growing. Sue Geller, professor of math ematics and veterinary anatomy and public health, said, “As more women reach senior ranks, there is a greater pool available to fill opening positions.” “Most decisions now are made by white males,” Geller said. “It is not intentional exclusion of women; we are just not there yet.” Now Sheppard, as well as Dr. William Perry, the dean of faculty, are leaving administrative posi tions, leaving a few more openings for the next qualified applicants. Dr. Martha Scott, an associate professor in the oceanography de partment, said, “There are now more women in faculty positions, administrative positions, graduate school and medical school than in the past.” “The trend is an encouraging one, but there is room for im provement,” she said. Scott, who has been at A&M for over 25 years, said, “The best change in a long time has been the creation and growth of the Women’s Faculty Network.” Sherry Yennello, recently awarded tenure in the College of Science, has served as president of the Women’s Faculty Network for the past three years. “The Network has done a lot to help women meet other women, get professional development and have a support network because a lot of information flows through informal channels,” Yennello said. “Professional development, mentoring and networking are im- Astronauts to bq experiments inspj portant to anyone’s career,” Yen nello said, “and since men have in formal connections more readily, the Women’s Faculty Network al lows information to flow to women, where they might never have access to these things.” “We must somehow counter balance self-similar selection,” Yennello said. “We all tend to iden tify with people like ourselves and unconsciously pick them.” Susan Golden, professor of bi ology and a member of the Women’s Faculty Network, appre ciates the Network’s emphasis on mentoring. “In my department, existing faculty helps all new faculty get started, both women and men,” Golden said. “All people in gradu ate school or faculty positions need advice, and at A&M there is a new emphasis on giving people the right starts.” “The representation of women has the momentum it needs to grow, and it is taking care of itself,” Golden said. “I am more concerned with representation of ethnic minori ties than women because we need more role models for Hispanic and African-American students,” Golden said, “and that is an area that is not growing.” “It is important to encourage and highlight the successes of women and ethnic minorities so the students can.see role models in people like themselves,” Shep pard said. SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) — Astronauts aboard space shut tle Columbia removed the fetuses of nine pregnant mice Sunday so they can be examined to deter mine how the nervous system de velops in space. The experiment, one of 26 being performed on the two-week Neuro lab mission, should help scientists learn whether gravity is required for normal brain development. The answer is critical in deter mining whether animals and hu mans could be born in space, enabling space colonies to be established. “These experiments are going to answer very basic and very impor tant questions that are particularly rele vant not only to hu mans but to animal health here on Earth as well as in space,’’ NASA scientist Louis Ostrach said. “The value of these exper iments is consider able.” Before the dissec tions, crew members injected the pregnant mice with cell mark ers to label the brain cells in their em- biyos. This allows! t rack the development^ tion of the cells andc results with data mice that developedo The mice then anesthetic and crew, working in a sealed i hamlu'r, removedtf I hssectionsareproaj well,” payload specials czyk said duringthepro Hanging in agefr | days old, the fetuses# served whole in t, throughout the miss: expected to be bon I ollowing the :] the adult mien with an anestl dose. — Six other mice also we:;! 'ft with cell will be dissected -—^ later in the It witli a number | dents. It was thes dissections p the floating . since Columb off Friday ontl al Aeronautics- Administratior ^—: in-depth neure search mission: TWUA judges select! best tap water in Text Italian architect wins prestigious prize LOS ANGELES (AP) — Italian architect Renzo Piano, whose abil ity to meld art, architecture and engineering has been compared to that of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, won this year’s Pritzker Architecture Prize. The prestigious award, which in cludes a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion, honors a living architect whose work demonstrates a combination of talent, vision and commitment. Announced Sunday by the Hyatt Foundation, it will be presented June 17 at a White House ceremony. Piano, 60, possesses “intellectu al curiosity and problem-solving techniques as broad and far-rang ing as those earlier masters of his native land,” the prize jury said. “While his work embraces the most current technology of the era, his roots are clearly in the classic Ital ian philosophy and tradition.” Piano of Genoa, Italy, first achieved international fame with the completion of the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris in 1978. When it opened, it was ridiculed and criticized for its whimsical, factorylike appearance with green, blue, white and red pipes running up and down the facades; today, it’s the nation’s most popu lar museum. He went on to create a diverse array of structures that include the Beyeler Foundation Museum in Basel, Switzerland; the Cy Twombly Gallery at the Menil Col lection museum in Houston and the Kansai Air Terminal in Osaka Bay, Japan. His current projects include the renovation and expansion of parts of Harvard University and the Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church in Foggia, Italy. Besides museums and art complexes, Piano has also designed homes, shopping cen ters, bridges and cars. Piano said he achieves his works by forcing himself to try things that never have been done. “Ifyou intend to use a material, a construction technique, or an ar chitectural element in an unusual way, there is always a time when you hear yourself saying, Tt can’t be done,’ simply because no one has ever tried before,” Piano has said. “But if you have actually tried, then you can keep going — and so you gain a degree of inde pendence in design that you would not have otherwise.” The Pritzker prize was estab lished by the Hyatt Foundation in 1979. Piano is the second Italian to receive the award. The late Aldo Rossi was selected in 1990. HOUSTON (AP) — While thou sands of Texans endure tap-water torment with H2O that packs a chlorine wallop or resembles eau de swamp, Longview residents can guzzle their municipal water with a smile. For the second time in five years, Longview’s Lake Cherokee water has taken top honors in the Texas Water Utility Association’s best-tasting water contest. Last year’s winner was Cherokee’s sister plant, which processes water from the Sabine River. Cherokee ’98, with no nose to speak of and only the slightest hint of sweetness, came within a drop of reaching the tap water ideal of no taste or odor at all, judges said. “It was,” said Linda White, an Abilene water lab technician who was among the taste testers, “a very pleasant water.” Those responsiblefoi ors, the men and woi process 26 million gallon ing Cherokee purificad:: each day, responded shucks nonchalance toil- found celebrity. “Well, it feels great,’ML utility plant manager Milt®,,,, “Normally, we’re theM®.u mous people in thewtlilBL when things go wrong shoot to the top.” K The water was one the: reason Detroit-basedStroB Co. built a brewery in Longi Stroll’s spokesperson Lace “We test our waterdaii said, “and we are very The local water is keyt of Stroh’s prize-winningli beer, she said. 1*3.95 m pager airtime ‘Free Activation ‘Accessories ‘Calling Cards Aerial phones sold here 764-5900 Forthcoming Title... JAPANS HIDDEN FACE A Call for Radical Change in Japanese Society & Commerce By Toshihtko Abo Former Trade Director, Casio Computer Ltd May 1998 $27.50 Hardback 371 pp. ISBN: 1-891696-05-X A Japanese businessman critiques his country, calling for freedom and democracy - not feudalism & submissiveness. AT YOUR BOOKSTORE or write: Trans-Atlantic Pub., 311 Bainbridge, Phila PA 19147 www.transatlanticpub.com MSC Barber Shop Serving All Aggies! Cuts and Styles All Corp Cuts $7. Regular cuts start at !j 846-0629 Open: Mon. - Fri. 8-5 Located in the basement of the Memorial Student Center Tiffany Inbody, Editor in Chief News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in the Division of Student Publications, a unit of the Department of Journalism. News offices are in 013 Reed McDonald Building. Newsroom phone: 845-3313; Fax: 845-2647; E-mail: batt@unix.tamu.edu; Website; http://battalion.tamu.edu Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply spon sorship or endorsement by The Battalion. For campus, local, and national display advertising, call 845-2696. For classi fied advertising, call 845-0569. Advertising offices are in 015 Reed McDonald, and office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Fax: 845-2678. Subscriptions: A part of the Student Services Fee entitles each Texas A&M student to pick up a single copy of The Battalion. Mail subscripbons are $60 per school year, $30 for the fall or spring semester and $17.50 for the summer. To charge by Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express, call 845-2611. The Battalion (ISSN #1055-4726) is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall spring semesters and Monday through Thursday during the summer session (except University holidays and exam periods) at Texas A&M University. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77840. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Battalion, 015 Reed McDonald Building, Texas A&M University, College Station,TX 77843-1111. Here for the^ i summer? ( CPSC 689-100') APPLIED NETWORKS AND DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING Get smart about the fundamentals of computer networking! 689 Offered 1st Summer Session (5-1/2 week course) to all graduate students There are NO prerequisites except graduate student standing and proficiency in C! As an enhanced version of CPSC 463 - Networks and Distributed Processing, CPSC 689 covers networking fundamentals including network design and protocol analysis in the context of computer communications. Focus is on applying principles of layered architectures to analyzing real networks. Instructor: Dr. Udo Pooch Time/Days: M-F 2:00-3:35 Book: Computer Networks, 3rd Edition, by Tanenbaum Room: 131 HRBB C CPSC 689-200') OBJECT ORIENTED PROGRAMMING AND APPLICATIONS 689 Offered 2nd Summer Session (5-1/2 week course) If you are a graduate student proficient in C, you can register! As an enhanced version of the 489 with the same course title, this CPSC 689 course covers a survey of the principles of object-oriented languages and systems, and their relationship to abstract data types and other paradigms.You will experience applications to scientific and engineering problems using C++, visual programming tools and an internet application overview. 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