Half a Century of Women Teaching at Amherst: Gender Matters

Symposium Schedule for Saturday, October 1, 2011

8:30-9:00 a.m.      Breakfast. Lobby of Converse Hall.

9:00-9:10 a.m.       Welcome and memorial minute.  Buffy Aries (Psychology) and Pat O’Hara (Chemistry).

9:10-9:15 a.m.        Brief history of the arrival of the pioneer women. Jane Taubman (Russian)

9:15-10:30 a.m.    Round table discussion: The Early Years  

            Part I: Committees, Collegiality and the Classroom
1. Committees: What was your experience in serving on college committees, in administrative tasks for your department or program? Did you feel unfairly burdened by tokenism? Did you feel your voice was heard, your ideas acknowledged or accepted?
2. Collegiality: How well supported did you feel in your teaching, research, and other aspects of faculty life, including committee work?  Did you have a mentor or mentors? To whom did you turn for advice and an understanding of the college’s many unwritten rules and customs? 
3. The Classroom: How was your teaching style received by students, still largely male? Did students bring different assumptions to their evaluation of the competence of male and female faculty?
Participants (by year of arrival): Jane Taubman (1973), Susan Lewandowski (1974), Joan Dassin (1974), Kate Hartford (1974), Rachel Kitzinger (1974),  Margie Waller (1974),  Helene Scher (1975), Deborah Gewertz (1977), Laura Wexler (1977), Ruth Stark (1979)

Moderator: Buffy Aries (1975)

10:30 – 10:45 a.m.    Break

10:45 -12:00        Round table discussion: The Early Years

Part II: Evaluation and Tenure, Work-life Balance, the 1984 Report of the Ad Hoc  Committee to Study the Conditions of Work for Faculty Women at Amherst College (Full text of the report)
1. Evaluation and Tenure: Was the absence of a separate women’s studies program perceived as a signal that scholarship on women is less valued? How did your sub-specialty and research interests fit into the existing profile of your department or program?  Were you expected to bring new methodologies or areas of study to the department, or were you largely hired to replace a departing member?

2. Work-life Balance: Were the regularly accepted practices of the college predicated on a model of the one-career family with spouse’s support? Did the college adequately recognize the demands of child-rearing as well as childbearing?

3. The 1984 Report and Its Reception
Additional participants: David Sofield (1965), Amrita Basu (1981), Stephanie Sandler (1981)
Moderator: Pat O’Hara (1983)

12:15 -1:15 p.m.    Lunch. Talk by President Biddy Martin

1:30 – 2:45 p.m.    Amherst Today: Where Are We, Where Should We Be and How Do We Get There?

            Panel:

 Women in the Curriculum, Michele Barale (1987, English and WAGS)


Women in Science and Work-life Balance, Caroline Goutte (1996, Biology)


Diversity and Inclusion at Amherst: The 2007 Report, Rhonda Cobham-Sander (1986, English and Black Studies)


Reflections of a former Dean of the Faculty, Lisa Raskin (1979, Psychology and Neuroscience)

Moderator: Pat O’Hara (1983)

2:45 – 3:00 p.m.    Closing – Paula Rauch Class of 1977, Amherst College Board of Trustees

3:00 – 4:30 p.m.    Refreshments and further reflection –Lobby of  Converse Hall.