SWE - Spring 2008 - (Page 12) FOURTH IN A SERIES The Society of Women Engineers National Survey about Engineering Making Our Mark: Ensuring the Retention Study Results Reach the Right Audience BY ANNE M. PERUSEK, SWE DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL AND PUBLICATIONS T his article will depart somewhat from the previous three in this series, authored by Lisa Frehill, Ph.D., executive director of the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology. All three articles analyzed specifics of the SWE Retention Study, ranging from the construct of the survey to answering such questions as, “Is the engineering workplace ‘warming’ for women,” and “Why do women leave the engineering work force?” Shifting focus, this installment examines how and where the study results have been disseminated. Making sure these important results are available and accessible to the right audience is equally important as asking precise questions and utilizing correct methods when conducting the research. Having addressed the latter points in previous articles, let’s look at the attention the survey has received as of this writing. Tied to Public Policy Initiatives The survey both reinforces and confirms the Society’s public policy efforts. Quite naturally, then, the survey results were formally released at a SWE-led congressional briefing held in mid-October in conjunction with the House Diversity and Innovation Caucus. The purpose of the briefing was to look at the progress that had been made over the past year since the release of the National Academies report, “Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering” (National Academies Press, 2006). Releasing the survey results in this setting provided an industry context and offered a contrast and comparison to the situation facing women in academia. [See SWE Magazine Winter 2008, “The Leaky Science and Engineering Pipeline: How Can We Retain More Women in Academia and Industry?” pgs. 20-22.] It also introduced those attending the briefing to SWE and the retention study and marked the beginning of a “media tour” — a method of clearly and concisely getting one’s message out to targeted publications. That day of the briefing and the next — Oct. 18 and 19, 2007 — Vickie Elmer of The Washington Post ran stories about the survey in her column, “Working.” The Oct. 18 article briefly addressed the difference between The study legitimizes and gives credence to individual experiences, and by doing so, also points the way to solutions. where men and women go when they leave engineering jobs, and why they leave. Her second column reiterated survey findings — that women leave at twice the rate as men — and quoted SWE President Michelle Tortolani, who also offered career advice that young engineers should “find a mentor.” Additional Media Attention Sometimes coverage occurs indirectly, meaning that SWE may not be mentioned but an aspect of the survey or of our public policy efforts is. One example of this occurred on Oct. 19, when The Washington Times ran a story, “Reyes seeks ways to get minorities in science.” This article stated that U.S. Rep. Sylvestre Reyes, D-Texas, a champion of diversity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, “discussed retaining women in engineering fields at a House Diversity and Innovation Caucus.” Around the same time, the online arm of Control Design magazine, ControlDesign.com, posted “Women Leave Engineering More Than Men,” which provided a thorough overview of the retention survey and discussed the efforts of the House Diversity and Innovation Caucus (www.controldesign.com/ industrynews/2007/042.html). In December, the National Journal’s Technology Daily, an online publication that is sent to policymakers and others on Capitol Hill, ran a story, “Science: Closing the Gender Gap in Engineering and Science.” The writer, Aliya Sternstein, interviewed both Tortolani and Dr. Frehill. The National Journal also publishes the Congressional Quarterly. While there has been an ongoing series in SWE Magazine that discusses the survey, articles are also in progress for discipline-specific venues. The survey data can be analyzed in ways that address particular disciplines or fields. This provides valuable insights to those disciplines, but is of less interest to those outside and consequently would not appear in broader-interest publications. Collecting Dust versus Making a Difference Over the course of a single year, an untold number of studies are undertaken and subsequently published. What keeps one study from collecting dust on a book- 12 SWE SPRING 2008 http://www.controldesign.com/industrynews/2007/042.html http://www.controldesign.com/industrynews/2007/042.html
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