Workshop presented by Dr. Erin Cech, Department of Sociology, Rice University on April 24, 2015 2:30-3:30 PM in Smith Hall 356
Can the culture of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professions help to reproduce inequality? Professional cultures, which give each STEM discipline its particular “feel” and unite discipline members under the same taken-for-granted system of meanings and values, are not benign. Drawing from my own and others’ social science research, I discuss the myths and realities of diversity in STEM and explain how biases against women, LGBT individuals, and under-represented minorities can get built into the professional cultures of STEM and can work to reproduce inequality therein. The presentation will end with a discussion of how these cultural processes of inequality might begin to be addressed.
Please contact Dr. Gail Gasparich at ggasparich@towson.edu if you have any questions.
