On January 11, Dr. William Peck, Vice Chancellor and Dean for Medical Affairs attended the monthly meeting of the AWN Board of Directors. At this meeting, the Board discussed strategies for the recruitment and retention of women faculty. The Board presented Dr. Peck with a graph comparing the representation of women on the faculty at WUMS with their representation on all U.S. medical school faculties and on the faculties of Yale and John Hopkins.

The data clearly show that the representation of women at WUMS is well below average at all levels but especially at the higher ranks. Five strategies were discussed to remedy this situation. 1) The establishment of an endowed chair for a woman. 2) The establishment of career development awards for women. 3) Enhancing the likelihood of women being nominated for awards such as the Pugh Scholars program. 4) Providing greater support for the day care facility currently being established for Washington University personnel. 5) Establishing programs to promote the mentoring of all junior faculty.

Dr. Peck felt that the idea of an endowed chair was a good one but felt that the recruitment packages currently being offered to junior faculty were designed to support the development of their careers. He was dismayed to find that progress of the WUMS Daycare committee was slow (not AWN's committee however!) and that no firm financial committment had yet been made to the day care facility currently under development in collaboration with Children's Hospital. He agreed to look into this problem. On the issue of mentoring, Dr. Peck acknowledged that this was a problem that had been cited during the recent LCME accreditation site visit. He was interested in the AWN survey on this topic and asked for a copy of the final results.

The meeting was a very productive one and Dr. Peck agreed to meet regularly with the Board. The next meeting is scheduled for May and will probably include a discussion of the proposed new maternity leave policy.

It is time for the third annual AWN spring dinner at which we meet and recruit new members. While the arrangements for this meeting have not been finalized, the meeting will most likely be held in April. Sondra Schlessinger is currently working to have Harriet Woods give the after dinner speech. Harriet Woods is a former Missouri Attorney General and is currently acting as the chair for the Congressional Womens' Caucus. Flyers will be sent out announcing this event. Please bring this to the attention of potential new AWN members.

An informal meeting between first year women graduate students and women faculty took place at noon on January 25, 1993. The meeting was arranged after a graduate student asked if it were possible to meet more of the women faculty. The meeting was attended by AWN members Janet Connolly, Ellen Li, Marion Peters, Penny Shackelford and Kathy Sheehan as well as a number of postodoctoral fellows and graduate students. After introductions and a discussion of the students' dissatisfaction with some of the first year courses, one student expressed concern about the lack of representation of women on the faculty. She also noted that negative comments directed against women were being made by her classmates and by faculty. It was suggested that the best way to deal with negative comments was by performance. However, if there were specific incidents in which there was improper behavior, they should be brought to the attention of the Administration.

It was apparent from this meeting that there is a need for mentoring of the students. Besides scheduling informal mixers with students and AWN members, it may also be using to schedule individual meetings between a student and a member of the faculty. Currently, Barb Fox or Andrea Lanahan have been contacting individual AWN members (via the Directory!) when such meetings are requested. To aid them in this process, we would like to provide a list of potential mentors to the Graduate Office. If you are interested in serving as a mentor/counselor for graduate students and/or medical students, please complete the following form and return it to Ellen Li, Box 8051.

I am interested in mentoring:

____ Graduate students

(Specify program ________________)

_____Medical students

(Indicate specialty_________________)

Return to Ellen Li, Box 8051

In a recent newsletter, AWN members were sent a questionaire regarding the important issue of mentoring. Nearly half of the members (56/113) returned the questionaire, and their responses have been tabulated.

While 75% of the 56 members who responded reported that they have had mentors, these women received mentoring most often in graduate school, medical school, or in residency or post doctoral fellowship programs. Only 16 AWN members (28.6%) report that they have or have had mentors once they became faculty members. In the majority of cases, mentors have not been department chairmen or division chiefs but rather more senior faculty members in their department or other departments.

Less than half (44.6%) of our members report that a department chairman or supervisor has met with them to discuss their performance vis a vis tenure and promotion. However, there is considerable variability in contacts with the department chairmen. Some department chairmen (or division chiefs) have met regularly with faculty members to discuss their performance and then provided written documentation of these meetings. Other chairmen appear never to have met with faculty members or have met with them only when the meeting was initiated by the faculty member.

Not surprisingly, almost every member who has had a mentor(s) felt that mentoring helped further her career. Those who have not had a mentor(s) felt that the lack of mentoring may have slowed their advancement.

Sherida Tollefsen

Last modified: September 12, 2003