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MIT Names First Female President

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the whoa-oh-oh-she's-a-lady dept.

wintermute1000 writes "According to CNN, MIT has just named its first female president. Along with other recent programs' efforts to get more women involved in the MIT community, is this a step in the right direction for the historically gender-biased institution?"

6 of 540 comments (clear)

  1. Re:When will this kind of regulation go too far? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    MIT isn't promoting the fact that she is the first woman, the press is.

    http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2004/president-ann ou ncement.html

    From the announcement article it sounds like she was selected because she was best for the job overall. Not surprised at how the press it promoting it though.

  2. Dr. Hockfield's accomplishments by Guano_Jim · · Score: 5, Informative

    A list of her recent publications can be read here.

    From the page:

    The main focus of our work is to bring biochemical and molecular biological techniques to the classical anatomical analysis of mammalian CNS development.

    CNS being Central Nervous System, IIRC.

    --
    3D Printing Tips and Tricks at Zheng3.com
  3. Re:Question for women by doodlelogic · · Score: 3, Informative

    The original McElroy article (which itself has some interesting onward links) makes it clear that she does not view herself as one of these elitist women; it concludes:

    "I still squirm at the thought of how many successful women now seem to view a large percentage of decent single men. Namely, as lesser and lower."

    The Spectator may think that "females of whatever species are hot-wired to find the best possible mate" but McElroy clearly disagrees, at least if you reduce the best to a simplistic, status based analysis. It is a clever trick in the article, which makes it look as if that is what she was saying, when the journalist knows it was the opposite.

  4. Re:When will this kind of regulation go too far? by dave_mcmillen · · Score: 4, Informative

    MIT isn't promoting the fact that she is the first woman, the press is.

    Right - the article somehow makes it sound like this is a result of quota hiring, but there's nothing to suggest that.

    Further note, grandparent post, that the "other recent programs' efforts" mentioned in the article involve getting girls in high school to participate in activities (and classes) related to computer science, electrical engineering, and math. This is far from some sort of quota program, and it seems to me to be a very sensible approach: if the problem is that too many girls are either shooed away from these fields or have never thought that they were an option, then give them a chance to see what it's all about, then decide for themselves.

  5. High Praise for her work at Yale by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative
    She was Dean of the Graduate school here at Yale for years and had recently become Provost so this was a bit of a surprise here.

    From an email broadcast by Yale's president to faculty and staff about Susan Hockfield's departure and contributions:

    "Over the past six years, Susan has excelled as Dean of the Graduate School and as Provost, possessing in rare combination intelligence, integrity, pragmatism, and grace. As Dean she utterly transformed the environment in which graduate education takes place - strengthening support for teacher preparation and career services, and building a vibrant sense of community through public lectures and other events [...] In her three semesters as Provost she has moved aggressively to accelerate investment in science and medicine, and she has encouraged interdisciplinary collaboration across the humanities and the arts. She has made superb new appointments to our administrative ranks, and she has worked closely with the other officers to fashion plans for strengthening the culture and practice of management within the University."

    MIT is getting a good person IMO.

  6. Re:male/female/black/white by WillowAnneLyra · · Score: 4, Informative

    The kind of policy you are describing was declared unconstitutional about 25 years ago. Companies are NOT supposed to use any kind of quota system. They also are not allowed to use a literal point system for race. The idea of affermitive action is that all other things being equal (ie if given qualifications, people skills, etc, you'd probibly have to resort to coin tossing), you give the job to the person who is in the minority group. The is to offset the fact that often the white male would be given the job in a "they're both equally qualified".