Workshops offer mentoring opportunities

By Janice E. Cuny

Women in computer science or computer engineering graduate programs often find themselves an isolated minority. Many departments have an overwhelmingly male enrollment and few, if any, female faculty members to serve as mentors or role models.

In response, the CRA Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRAW), with support from the National Science Foundation, organized a series of workshops that provide mentoring opportunities for women. The workshops bring women just starting their academic careers--either advanced graduate students or newly hired faculty--together with more established researchers. The more senior women serve as panelists, giving information and advice on many aspects of academic careers; they also serve as mentors in less formal discussions.

So far, each workshop has been scheduled immediately before a major conference. This enables informal mentoring relationships to continue through the conference. It also makes it possible for workshop participants to attend technical talks and make contacts in their own research areas.

Wide range of topics

The workshops have included panels on a range of topics important to new academics: getting a job, tenure, building a research career, funding, networking, teaching, time management and family issues. They have addressed issues on the mechanics of an academic career, such as developing a marketable curriculum vitae, preparing for an interview, putting together a good tenure dossier, advising graduate students, getting funded, being a good teacher and dealing with problem students.

In addition, the workshops have emphasized aspects of starting a research program, such as how to go beyond thesis research, journal versus conference publications, what referees look for, what to do when a paper is rejected, collaborating and promoting work. The workshops have addressed issues in balancing family and outside life with a career. Finally, while the focus had been on expectations at universities requiring a significant level of research, the last workshop included a well-received session on four-year colleges. Each panel had one to four speakers, with as many as 19 senior women participating in a single workshop.

Participants' responses

The panels included formal presentations as well as ample time for discussion and questions. In evaluations done immediately after the workshop, attendees reported that the information presented was extremely useful: It "explained away lots of myths," "it was intensely informative," and "it provided a lot of information that is hard to come by."

Several participants who have been hired into new academic positions since the first workshop responded recently to a second questionnaire. One stated, "The advice that I thought was the most important was of a very common-sense nature, somewhat obvious after the fact but not something that I would have thought of by myself....[As a result,] I think my expectations of the tenure process are very realistic compared to some of the other new faculty here."

Another said, "The workshop was very valuable; there were specific pieces of advice about getting tenure...that were very beneficial to my career."

CRAW has made transcripts of the workshops available, and a number of past attendees have reported that they continue to consult these notes: "I was in the job market the year following the workshop, and I found very many helpful hints among the notes and transcripts. I think one of the biggest lessons I learned is that an academic career requires a lot of explicit managing."

Almost everyone, attendees and panelists alike, thought the workshops had much more to offer than just information: Participants said the workshops provided young women with opportunities to interact with female role models, develop mentoring relationships and establish friendships with future colleagues.

The fact that so many women in computer science and computer engineering were brought together at one time was energizing. Many participants reported that the workshops helped them feel less isolated, and several echoed the comment that "it was great to see so many women in computer science."

One participant said, "It helped me to feel less isolated, and it was motivating and encouraging." Another stated, "The workshop was a wonderful idea, if only because of how encouraging it was to see so many women in the field who are facing the same issues." Another wrote: "Here were more established women professors than there probably are in the whole Pac-10!...Their sharing of their personal histories left me with a sense that I knew them. The diversity of experience was also important--when there is only one woman in your department, and you don't want to be like her, who do you emulate? It's great to know that there are many different paths, leading to different definitions of success."

Another participant agreed. "It was great to see all those women. I attended many conferences related to my research area as a graduate student. I never knew any women attending the conferences who were at my same level careerwise. The first woman I ever saw speak at a conference was myself. The CRA workshop was the first conference where I met women at my level. Also, the women presenters were living proof that women are successful. I see very few senior women."

A minority student said, "I've been laughed at and criticized for pursuing an advanced degree, but this workshop has motivated me to persevere."

About the workshops

Four workshops have been held, with a total attendance of about 200 junior women. The workshops were associated with the Federated Computing Research Conference (FCRC) in May 1992, the Grace Murray Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in June 1994, Supercomputing in November 1994 and the ACM Computer Science Conference in February 1995. The next workshop will be held in May 1996 in conjunction with FCRC.

The workshops have ranged in length from 90 minutes to 11/2 days. The longer ones have been the most successful, because they allow for considerably more interaction among participants. They do, however, involve a significant commitment of time and money, and CRAW continues to experiment with different formats.

CRAW does hope to eventually put together a "how to" guide for women willing to arrange mentoring events at conferences. It also is producing a combined set of workshop transcripts, which will be completed after the 1996 workshop. Transcripts from the initial workshop are available from Phillip Louis at CRA (plouis@cra.org).

For more information or to submit comments or suggestions, please contact Janice Cuny at the University of Oregon (cuny@cs.uoregon.edu).

Janice E. Cuny is an associate professor in the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Oregon.