The Llama Ledger - Bard College at Simon's Rock's Student Newspaper

Issue date: 3/10/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Photo courtesy Peggy Reeves Keynote Speaker Adeline Perkins addresses the audience at the 9th Annual Women's Day Conference last Saturday.

Media Credit: Photo courtesy Peggy Reeves Left to right: Moderator Jane Burke, Ann Polina, and Yvonne Spicer offer their stories in the round table discussion.

Moderator Jane Burke opened the first roundtable discussion of the 9th Annual International Women's Day Conference with the surprising statistic that 73% of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) professionals today are men.

This year's conference explored the issues and advancements of women in the sciences. The six speakers all had something to bring to the table.

Keynote speaker Adeline Perkins is the CEO of Infinity Pharmaceuticals, an innovative cancer drug development company. Perkins says that choosing a career in science is a good option because she has met people with an ability to think boundlessly and commit to doing something beyond themselves.

"In the sciences there is an opportunity for continual learning," says Perkins. Perkins did not find her calling in biotechnology until she spent ten years leading corporate and product strategy initiatives for Bain & Company and Genetics Institute. "I needed time to explore," she says.

Although women like Perkins have made great strides in the sciences, especially biological sciences, they are still vastly underrepresented in the remaining STEM fields: technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Other speakers had their own approach to encouraging female students to pursue careers in these fields.

Vice President of the National Center for Technological Literacy Yvonne Spicer has worked to develop curriculum that strengthens STEM education in Massachusetts public schools. Spicer emphasizes the need for school reform in bringing more women into the sciences.

Head of the Westover School in Middlebury, Connecticut Ann Polina commented, "I love the title of this conference because it's not just 'women in the sciences' but 'making a difference.'"

All participants agreed that the conference is not just about women's issues, but issues that women are involved in. "This is about women's achievements and challenges," said Conference Coordinator Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez as she introduced the keynote speaker.

The Annual Women's Day Conference is the only celebration of International Women's Day (IWD) in Berkshire County. "Although it is a major event in other places around the world, International Women's Day hasn't caught on as much in the U.S.," notes Browdy de Hernandez.

Nine years ago, Browdy de Hernandez was serving on the board of the local group, Berkshire Women for Women Worldwide. It was then that she organized the first of what would become an annual series of conferences to celebrate IWB in Berkshire County.

The conference has become an anticipated event on campus. The number of participants varies annually, climbing to 200 audience members last year and about 80 this year.

The conference is made possible through the collaboration of Simon's Rock students and faculty and outside organizers. "Jane Burke, partner of Larry Burke and founder of the Flying Cloud Young Women in Science program," says Browdy de Hernandez, "did a huge amount to organize and promote the Friday event, and served as moderator in the Saturday program too."

Students in Women in the Sciences (WITS) helped organize the program for middle and high school students on Friday, March 5, when faculty in the sciences led workshops and lab demos.

"Patty Dooley, Jan Rizzuti, Joy Lapseritis and Sue Mechanic-Myers did terrific labs for the younger students on Friday afternoon," says Browdy de Hernandez.

Each year, the conference theme moves to a different division in the Simon's Rock Faculty. The past two years have been on women in politics and the arts. Next year Browdy de Hernandez hopes to focus on women in literature.

For all those who missed the conference this year, excerpts from the discussion are available on a radio story broadcasted by WAMC's Midday Magazine: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1620957

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