Dear Mitch:

I was pleased to receive a copy of GPSA’s Resolution 10�GPSA Resolution to Support Women’s Professional Development. The issues raised by GPSA in this resolution are timely and important ones. Across the university, we are working as a community to address issues of climate for women whether in the role of student, faculty, or staff.

Dean Barbara Knuth has made professional development for graduate students a cornerstone of her administration and has charged Associate Dean Sheri Notaro with expanding programming for women. Dean Notaro has contributed to or coordinated a number of efforts with campus groups for conferences focused on female graduate students. These include the 2012 EWISE (Empowering Women in Science and Engineering) conference to be hosted again in 2014 and the Women in Physics conference to be hosted in January 2013. The GPSA’s concern that such efforts should facilitate cross-department interaction is well-taken, however, and it is for that reason that Dean Notaro is developing programs that are open to female graduate students in all disciplines. This spring, Dean Notaro’s office will host three workshops for women students: one will feature administrators working in higher education to describe various academic career paths, the second will be a dual career panel of women professors and their spouses/partners, and the third will be a discussion led by women graduate students and post docs who have recently attained an academic position offering guidance on negotiating academic careers. In addition, Dean Notaro will partner with Assistant Dean Janna Lamey this spring to offer an academics/life integration session featuring resources and strategies concerning child care, family, and long distance relationships. Additional programming in this important area will result from collaborations with CU-CIRTL, the Center for Teaching Excellence, and the Office of Faculty Development and Diversity.

Moving forward, Dean Notaro will develop a catalog of women’s groups across the campus and invite representatives from each group to a meeting with Graduate School leadership to explore how the Graduate School might be able to assist those groups in more collaborative programming. Dean Knuth has initiated an inquiry with the leadership for the President’s Council of Cornell Women (PCCW) to explore opportunities for expanding PCCW mentoring efforts with graduate student

I want to thank the GPSA for encouraging this important dialogue. I believe the efforts underway will bring greater focus to the issues raised by the GPSA in Resolution 10 and will increase the availability of programming to female graduate students.

Regards,

David J. Skorton