Thursday September 27, 2001

Less than 20 percent of UA engineering faculty, students are women, officials say

The number of female students and faculty in the UA Engineering College is alarmingly low, said Jan Monk, executive director of the Southwest Institute for Research on Women.

She said although the demand for engineers is increasing, the number of women in the field is decreasing.

Of the nearly 145 faculty members in the engineering college, less than 15 are women, and the student enrollment is not much higher.

"We're looking at numbers of less than 20 percent for undergraduates and less than 10 percent in faculty," said Meredith Aronson, an adjunct professor in material science and engineering. "We're seeing less than representative numbers."

Aronson said she was surprised when she discovered only 14 people were invited to a luncheon for women faculty in engineering.

"I commend the college for trying to bring the women more closely together," Aronson said. "But I continue to be rather appalled by the small number of us."

Monk said recruiting efforts for engineers need to be improved.

"It is critical that we recruit people from all genders and backgrounds because we don't have anyone to waste," Monk said. "(Female participation) is lower now than it was 10 years ago, but the need for people in that area has been increasing a great deal."

One administrator said, however, that the number of women applying to be faculty members is low.

"We try to recruit as best we can," said Vern Johnson, associate dean of the engineering college. "But there are just very few women. To be (on the) faculty, you have to have gotten your Ph.D some years ago, and back then there weren't that many in the program. Many young women were advised out of it. Not anymore, fortunately."

Aronson explained even though the college does recruit women, there are many reasons why they are not attracted to the faculty positions.

"There are questions of being a woman in a male dominated society," she said. "You get tenure around the time you're having kids. I have a one-and-a-half year old. That's why I'm an adjunct.

"And also, there is high competition for women in technical positions elsewhere. (The UA) doesn't have the competitive salaries to keep them in a small setting," she said.

To help the female students, Johnson explained that the college developed the Virtual Development Center, which works with seven other schools to help women work on projects created for and by other female students, faculty and professional engineers.

"As far as students go," Monk said, "I think we have to be sensitive and respond to the diversity of girls. Not all women are the same.

"And it's not like girls are computer-phobic or anything like that. They just don't like the stuff that's on there now, in games or programs. We have to find out what they like in these fields and see if we can focus on that."

Monk said that the age-old question of "Why aren't there more women in science and engineering?" prompted the Southwestern Institute for Research on Women to establish Women in Science and Engineering, a program to mentor and support female students.

For 25 years, WISE has pushed students to see that success in science and engineering fields is possible, even though such fields are not traditionally synonymous with female accomplishments, Monk added.

"We work with students and teachers from kindergarten through graduate school," Monk said. "We teach people to change their style of dealing with girls in the sciences. We don't just try to change the girls, we try to change the situations."

But some students said they feel they do not need the extra help.

"I don't feel threatened or anything," said Sally Benson, an engineering freshman. "There's a lot of guys, sure, but I don't feel like I need any extra support because there are."

Sharon Hill, a software engineer at Raytheon Missile Systems, stated in an e-mail that she struggled as a woman in the field, but that the struggles were worth it since she enjoyed the work.

"I like the rigor of the engineering process," she stated. "I like seeing a project develop from concept to product within a relatively short period of time. There is nothing more exciting than to see your product successfully work in a flight test."

But with such excitement comes hardship.

"It is more difficult to achieve the same level of recognition and attention as a female member of a predominantly male team, compared to a predominantly female team," she said.

She added some advice to students.

"Hang in there. Be persistent. Repeat your ideas if you feel that you weren't heard the first time. Retain your confidence," she said.

This issue is not just unique to the University of Arizona, and Aronson said she hopes UA will not be shy in eradicating the problems.

"The university has the opportunity to be a top leader should we choose to be," she said. "There's a lot of work ahead of us, though, because I don't think we're leading now."