Diversity in Science

PATSY EVANS (PATSY@AAA.MHS.COMPUSERVE.COM)
Mon, 8 Apr 1996 15:31:21 EDT

The March 29th issue of Science, the magazine of the AAAS, has several
interesting and currently germane articles in a feature issue on
diversity in science. There are profiles of four leaders in science:
"Advice from the Top" -- one of whom is AAA's president, Yolanda Moses.
An article analyzing the backlash against affirmative action discusses
the precipitous drop in black and Hispanic applicants to some science
programs at Berkeley this year as a profoundly chilling effect of the UC
governing board's decision to end affirmative action within 2 years.
There's an interesting assertion about the feminization of certain social
sciences fields (anthropology, psychology, and sociology) because of
males diverting to "more profitable or cutting-edge [!] fields" -- and
so forth. It also lists a web site
<http://sci.aaas.org/nextwave/public.html> for an on-line forum on
diversity in science. There are reviews of three 1995 books about gender
and science: Margaret Rossiter's Women Scientists in America, and the
Project Access Study's (Gerhard Sonnert) Gender Differences in Science
Careers and Who Succeeds in Science? Finally,

To quote Anita Cohen-Williams: TTL - Try the Library. Head to your
library for some useful reading.

Patsy Evans
Director, Minority Affairs
American Anthropological Association
703/528-1902, ext. 3024; FAX 703/528-3546
e-mail: patsy@AAA.MHS.compuserve.com