VOL. V, NO. 8   APRIL 1999

Congratulations to our Phoenix Scholars: Natsuko Enomoto and Carol Hathcote, full tuition, Myra Ring, 3/4 tuition, and Valarie Bingham, 1/2 tuition. Traditional Women’s Studies students, please note that Services for Women Students has scholarships for which you are eligible. Margarita Guerra and Carol Merrill have stressed that their office has many types of potential assistance for women students. Don’t let financial difficulty interrupt your education with so many funding sources available.

Women’s History Month had many activities in which Women’s Studies was involved. Special thanks to Linda Shoemake for diligent work in creating a successful Open House to start the month. Linda appreciated planning aid and advice from Carolyn Thompson, Kat Frith, Carol Hathcote, Carrie Wagner, Christina Babkirk, and Diane Krantz, but the bulk of the work was hers. Many thanks also to Donna Hunter from Services for Women Students who coordinated all of the activities, including the arrival and presentations by Patricia Ireland, president of NOW. Ms. Ireland made a deep and positive impression with many faculty who heard her speak on the relationship between healthy families and the protection and equity offered to women in our society . Theresa Martinez also left us with much to consider in terms of women’s issues.

If you have not yet heard the dramatic readings of the Sheldon Letters, you have two more opportunities. Meet in the Student Center (room 218) on April 7 and 14 to continue the adventures of Elizabeth Sheldon, an American woman at Oxford in the 1880's!

Women’s Realities has offered a spectacular series of talks by Weber State professors and community experts on women’s issues. If you have not taken the opportunity to attend, (YCC on alternate Wednesdays, 6-8pm), we strongly encourage you to go. Keep an eye open for announcements of upcoming topics.

Women’s Studies is currently in the process of forming two community groups. One group will include liaisons with local high schools to help inform students before they come to campus about what Women’s Studies has to offer; the other group will involve prominent members of the community who will moral and social support to the women’s issues. Carla Koons Trentelman, Diane Krantz and Gloria Wurst form the steering committee and Linda Shoemake is making the initial contacts. We are planning an informational day with high school students in May. Women’s Studies minors willing to help out are being solicited.

The executive council will hold its final meeting of the year on Friday, April 9, Room SS 115 at 1:30 pm; from 2 - 3:30 pm there will be an end-of-the-year social in the same room. Please stop in for conversation and refreshments with colleagues.

Registration for Autumn semester approaches. Please note that Women’s Studies core and cross-listed courses include the following:

WS 2050 Introduction to Women's Studies; 10:00, MWF, B. Kowalewski and T. Kuehls

WS 4050 Research Methodologies; 11:00, MW, E. Szalay

Hu 2710 (English) Perspective on Literature -Asian and Asian-American Women Writers:China, Japan, and India, 11:00, MWF, P. Kumar

Honors 4900E Gender in Science and Literature:Writing and Re-writing Text, 11:00, MWF, G. Wurst and M. Wutz

FACULTY PROFILE

This month's featured faculty member is Dr. Pam Stenberg. Although she has not taught any WS courses, she served a term as College of Science representative on the Executive Council. Unfortunately for Weber State, she is leaving her faculty position at the end of this semester after only five years. She came to our campus with a PhD in organic chemistry from Boston College and two baccalaureate degrees (in German and Chemistry) from the University of North Dakota. In addition to her formal US education, she also studied abroad in London, U.K., in Italy, and in Heidelberg, Germany.

Pam's experience teaching chemistry spans her undergraduate years, when she was a teaching assistant, research assistant and tutor, through graduate school and a temporary position as a sabbatical replacement at Simmons College in Boston prior to her position at WSU. On our campus, she has taught introductory, organic and advanced organic chemistry. Her skills with classroom and laboratory instruction have been recognized by her being chosen as Teaching Assistant of the Year in graduate school and by three nominations for Crystal Crest Master Teacher at WSU. She has been inducted into Blue Key and Mortar Board Honor Societies, as well as having been the recipient of several undergraduate scholarships. Her interest in "spreading the word" about chemistry led to her organizing a Chemistry Club speakers' program at UND and coordinating a state-wide lecture series for scientists and a city-wide mentoring program for young scientists while at WSU. Her research experience includes being selected for a summer technician's position at 3M (in St. Paul, MN) as well as her doctoral research in hydrocarbon activation and functionalization, the subject of two manuscripts currently in preparation. Her service commitments at Weber have included being a member of Faculty Senate, serving as chair of the Physical Sciences division of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, and serving as chair of the College of Science Scholarship Committee.

Pam is a person who "adore[s[ both the arts and sciences. The common link ... is the excitement ...when something is transformed." She thoroughly enjoys "taking a 'so-so' room and making it beautiful" as well as "taking students not particularly excited about chemistry and helping them to enjoy it a bit more than they were expecting." At one point in her career, she considered seriously that her path might follow the arts, but she elected to study science formally and pursue the arts in her spare time. Between undergraduate and graduate work, Pam worked as a decorating consultant for JCPenney in Grand Forks, ND, and was honored by the company twice as one of the top ten in sales. She has volunteered at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and taken advantage of courses in art, architecture and floral arranging in the Boston area.

Pam truly loves her job at WSU and the decision to return to Boston was an agonizing one. However, she is the mother of two small children and has felt the pressure of child-care concerns acutely. She was featured in a "Women in Science" article in a recent issue of WSU's alumni magazine and echoed comments often heard by working mothers that a reliable daycare facility relieves the major-tension producing aspect of their lives, especially if they are geographically removed from family members who can step in to help. Conversations with a school in Boston revealed that they provided on-campus childcare for faculty and Pam was surprised to hear her gut-level response - "Yes, I will accept this position no matter what!" (These same urgent feelings of concern about her children’s caretakers contributed to the recent departure of Dr. Sue Carol Theisen from the HPHP department.) In Pam's words, "I would never have thought five years ago that I would feel so strongly on this issue - but I think we as professionals need to acknowledge that it does indeed take a village ... and strong support is necessary if a well-balanced life is sought after."

In addition to Pam's two children, son Jude Anders and daughter Isabella, her family includes husband Jude, who works as an accountant. We wish them all well in the move and regret that our students will no longer have the opportunity to benefit from Pam's enthusiastic approach in and out of the classroom.

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Congratulations to Jay Hart, recently chosen as St. Joseph’s High School teacher of the year (again!)

1 - 3 Apr. - Undergraduate Literature Conference featuring Carlos Fuentes, David Lee, and Susan Shreeve, for more info., call 626-6251.

7 Apr. - Sheldon Letters reading, 1 pm, SSC 218.

9 Apr. - Executive Council Meeting and end-of-year social, 1:30 - 3:30 pm, SS 115.

14 Apr. - Sheldon Letters reading, 1 pm, SSC 218.