An interesting article was published in 2020, titled Overlapping Stigmas of Pregnancy, Motherhood, and Weight: Policy Implications for Employment and Higher Education. The article was written by Jeanine M. Skorinko, Angela C. Incollingo Rodriguez, and James K. Doyle from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. This article sheds light on the stigmas faced by pregnant women and mothers in higher education and the workplace.  

Stigmas of Pregnancy outlines existing policies and accommodations for these women, as well as highlighting the lack of policies in certain places. It provides a valuable look at how certain institutions try to mitigate this stigma. Missouri State has its own policies to help women to advance in their careers. MSU’s policy library can be found here.   

Read the full article 

This week, our featured woman in STEM is Dr. Ann D. Rost. Dr. Rost is an associate professor of psychology who works with cancer patients, helping them cope with their health conditions and improve their quality of life.

Rost became interested in ACT her last year in graduate school at the University of Kansas, when she was working with patients with cancer and chronic pain conditions. The traditional therapy at the time focused on patient behavior and changing the content of thoughts.

“There was nothing to change about their thoughts, as they were being realistic in their fears and concerns about their health conditions,” she noted. “Telling them to think differently about their situation felt like it invalidated their whole experience.”

Read the full story

We’ve discussed women’s struggles with advancement in STEM fields on this blog. Issues of inequity are by no means limited to STEM disciplines. This is why publications like Women in Higher Education are so vital.

Women in Higher Education is a publication dedicated to providing support, opportunities, and community to women educators. Their website provides resources for finding jobs in higher education. It also hosts articles written by, for, and about women in higher education. They also publish a monthly magazine with articles, profiles on successful and influential women, and news about equity in education.   

The WIHE newsletter and website host a wide variety of articles written by, for, and about women educators. The newsletter also includes a Newswatch section covering important news stories and events that affect women in academia. The articles published by WIHE are very informative and speak to the unique experiences of marginalized people in the education space. One recent article, Catalyzing Real-World Change by Lois Elfman, explores the career of educator, author and coach Dr. Vanessa Carlisle, and her work to support students with marginalized backgrounds as they find their way in academia. WIHE is a great resource for learning about and connecting with women in education. Their work is very valuable and worth checking out. 

Visit the WIHE website

This week NSF is showcasing Natalie B. Allen, MSU’s athletic dietetics instructor and dietician. She and her colleagues have developed a program that helps people with intellectual disabilities find sports they may be good at in Special Olympics.

“I think that’s one of the neatest things about it. It helps people to branch out and tells them you might be really good at bowling, swimming or basketball, why don’t you give that a try?”

Read the full story

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Still, many organizations expand the definition of STEM to include more scientific fields than just those ones. The National Science Foundation (NSF) defines the following departments at Missouri State as being STEM departments:

• Biology 
• Chemistry
• Computer Science
• Geology, Geography, and Planning
• Mathematics
• Physics, Astronomy, and Material Science
• Biomedical Sciences
• Psychology
• Economics
• History
• Political Science
• Sociology and Anthropology

Missouri State takes a lot of pride in these departments. They all have amazing faculty working within them. All these faculty, regardless of gender, deserve credit for their accomplishments in STEM. The NSF ADVANCE program at Missouri State is intended to help all of them continue to have rewarding careers in science. The ADVANCE program at MSU aims to improve hiring, retention, mentoring, communication, and work-life balance policies throughout the university. The program may be centered on STEM departments, but it will ultimately improve the university climate for everyone.

Read more about the ADVANCE program