Welcome to NSC 844 Spring 2025!
This course is open to students of all genders. If you are interested in the course, email me directly.
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Learning outcomes: The acquired skills should enable the student to approach the professional STEM environment with a better understanding of the boundary conditions and with various resources to handle the challenges that are part of the female experience.
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Instructor: Filomena Nunes (nunes@frib.msu.edu)
Class and hour location: Fri 10:20-12:20 (FAE 102)
Office hours: Wed 10-11am (by appointment).
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Detailed description: (click for Course Schedule)
Our starting point will be to better understand the world around us. We will discuss a number of relevant research studies that reflect some of the issues that women face in STEM fields, the interplay of social identities and intersectionality. We will also perform a self-assessment so that every student has an opportunity to identify current career goals, recognize their own work preferences and reflect on their behaviors.
In the second phase of the course, we will cover a number of important strategies that have proven to be successful in improving the experiences in STEM, and consequently increasing success and retention. These include: career management, mentoring and building a personal and professional network for support, negotiation and conflict resolution skills, time management and balancing work and life, and emotional intelligence.
Finally, students will embrace their own style and design strategies that best suit them. We will spend time on how to communicate effectively, with particular emphasis on communicating science to various audiences, including the role of social media. At the end of the course, each student will have the opportunity to develop their 30s elevator speech and practice it in a “Women in STEM” event.
Course materials will be made available every week in D2L (d2l.msu.edu).
Each week you are expected to watch/read material prior to class and respond to a simple quiz question. Once you have successfully completed the quiz, you will be given access to the classwork. Please plan to dedicate at least 2 hours to pre-class work. Classes will take place in a workshop format: students will be organized in groups and each group will work through the classwork sheet.
Grading System: There will be three components: responses to quizzes (10%), class participation (10%) and final report (80%).
Textbook: Success strategies from Women in STEM, A portable mentor (2015); Peggy Pritchard and Christine Grant, Elsevier Academic Press
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Additional information and resources
1) Through the Labyrinth; Alice Eagly and Linda Carli, Harvard Business School Press (2017)
2) National Academy Report on Sexual Harassment, Climate Culture and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, National Academy Press (2018)
3) Portrait of a scientist as a young woman, Lindy Elkins-Tanton, William-Morrow (2022)
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Inclusive class behaviour: This course is based on each person’s individual experiences. I expect everyone to act with respect and kindness towards others, be open and willing to share with the group. It is expected that any personal matters discussed in class are kept confidential. This is an essential element to build trust.
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