About

History

Towson University is committed to including women scientists in all levels of academic hierarchy. The university has made significant strides in hiring new women faculty and is committed to improving retention of graduate and undergraduate students, as well as furthering academic and professional success for both students and faculty. This commitment is reflected in the investment the university made in sending two teams of faculty to Women in Science workshops.

The first Towson University team, Gail Gasparich, Paz Galupo, Lev Ryzhkov, Joan Schuetz and Luz Mangurian, attended a workshop organized by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh: Science, Gender and Community - Curriculum Reform Institute for Faculty. As a result of faculty attendance at the institute, three Towson general education courses were developed in the Science, Technology and Modern Society category. These courses are designed to introduce non-science majors to the scientific way of thinking. All three courses: Biology of Women, Women, Gender and Science, and Women, Society, and Radiation Science are scientifically based but, in addition, employ feminist pedagogy and gender equity in an interdisciplinary attempt to open up a dialogue between disciplines. Our colleagues in the Womens' Studies program have been instrumental in supporting and instructing us as we developed these courses. Furthermore, we believe that our interdisciplinary cooperation will prove beneficial to many Towson students.

The second workshop attended by Towson University faculty (Paz Galupo, Lev Ryzhkov, and Luz Mangurian) was Women in Science: an Underutilized Resource for Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology organized by Project Kaleidoscope at DePauw University. Currently, a group of faculty (including those who attended this second workshop) with the support of the Dean of the Fisher College of Science and Mathematics and the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, are creating a Women in Science Program at Towson University, the first of its kind in Maryland.

The Towson University Women in Science Program has been supported by many people throughout the years. We are grateful for the support of the original Advisory Committee (1998), many of whom have moved on to other institutions: Dr. Karen Dugger, Dr. Charlotte Exner, Dr. Margaret Faulkner, Dr. Saeed Ghahramani, Dr. Joanne Glasser, Dr. Mark Greenberg, Dr. Dan Jones, Dr. Deborah Leather, Dr. Doris Lidtke, Dr. Joyce Currie Little, Dr. M.J. McMahon, Dr. Jo-Ann Pilardi, Dr. Frances Rothstein, Dr. Martha J. Siegel, Dr. Linda Sweeting, Dr. Beth Vanfossen and Dr. Esther Wangari.