Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Science and
North Carolina School-To-Work Office
Receive National Science Foundation Grant
The Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Science (IWITTS) has received
a $100,000 National Science Foundation grant to develop a teacher training
video on how to recruit, retain and prepare young women for science,
engineering and math (SEM) based trade and technical careers such as
electrician and electrical engineer -- through School-To-Work (STW) system
building. Intensive teacher and counselor training will be conducted in the
state of North Carolina and over 3000 math, science and technology teachers
are expected to be reached through a high impact train-the-trainer model.
The Project's name is the "Women in Science, Engineering & Math:
School-to-Work Project."
The North Carolina STW Office will serve as a collaborator on the Project and
will oversee its implementation in conjunction with the NC Department of
Public Instruction Gender Equity Coordinator. The three year Project
includes a strong evaluation component that will answer the question, "Did
this training effect female participation in career activities and ultimately
career major and career choice?" Teacher trainers will stay in touch with
each other via the internet -- the Project will have an electronic bulletin
board, technical assistance chats and a homepage.
"The emphasis will be on practical strategies for recruitment and retention
of young women in SEM education and related careers," said Donna Milgram,
Executive Director of IWITTS and Principal Investigator of the Project. "We
will also address preparing employers to successfully receive young women in
internships in male-dominated occupations." Donna Milgram testified before
Congress in 1994 about the lack of young women in US Department of Labor STW
demonstration sites. IWITTS -- a national nonprofit organization -- is
certified by the National STW Office as a technical assistance provider on
STW and gender equity.
"The strategy of the Project will be to saturate the education system with
workshops on SEM: STW and gender equity," said Loretta Martin, Director of
the NC STW Office and co-Principal Investigator. "In North Carolina IWITTS
has already conducted successful workshops on this topic over the past year,
the challenge in the coming year will be going to scale."
"We expect to recruit the leaders among the math, science and technology
teachers and counselors, they will help bring their peers on board." said Dr.
Sarah Hawes, Gender Equity Consultant for the NC Department of Public
Instruction.
IWITTS dedicates this grant to Jo Sanders of the Washington Research
Institute of Seattle, Washington. Her landmark work on gender equity and
nontraditional employment in the education and job training arenas has been a
personal inspiration to IWITTS's Executive Director Donna Milgram.
For more information on the Women And Girls In Science, Engineering And Math:
School-To-Work Project contact:
Donna Milgram, Executive Director, Institute for Women in Trades, Technology
& Science, 3010 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Suite E-10, Washington, DC 20016
* 202-686-7275 * iwitts@aol.com
Loretta Martin, Director, School-to-Work, 116 W. Jones Street, Raleigh, NC
27603 * 1-800-500-WORK * Lmartin@work.state.nc.us
Sarah Gibson Hawes, Ph.D., Equity Consultant, Department of Public
Instruction,
301 North Wilmington Street, Raleigh, NC 27601-2825
* 919-715-1649 * SHAWES@dpi.state.nc.us
Check out the STW homepage at http://www.stw.ed.gov/ The grant is the #1 hot
topic.