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Contacts: Diane Greenberg, (631) 344-2347 or Mona S. Rowe, (631) 344-5056

Talks on Family-Friendly Policies and Diversity in the Workplace to be Held at Brookhaven Lab, Oct. 30 and Nov. 14

October 8, 2007

UPTON, NY - Talks on family-friendly policies and diversity in the workplace will be held at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory on Tuesday, October 30, at 4 p.m., in the Hamilton Seminar Room, Building 555, and Wednesday, November 14, at noon, in Berkner Hall.

Mary Ann Mason

Mary Ann Mason, Professor of Social Welfare and Law at the University of California, Berkeley, will give the October lecture, "Do Babies Matter? The Effect of Family Formation on Men and Women in Science." Donna Nelson, Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oklahoma, will give the November talk, titled "Diversity in Science and Engineering Faculty at Research Universities: Are we Preparing for the Great Crew Change?" The free talks are open to the public. Visitors to the Laboratory age 16 and over must bring a photo ID.

Mary Ann Mason's research on the impact of family on the careers of academic and professional women and men has garnered national attention. Her data-driven advocacy has fostered major new family-friendly initiatives for faculty and graduate students in the ten-campus University of California system, as recognized in 2006 by an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation achievement award. In her talk, she will discuss the difficulties of women who have a career in science or in other male-dominated professions.

Mason received a B.A. from Vassar College, a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Rochester, and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco. She taught American history and practiced law for several years before joining the faculty at Berkeley in 1989. She was the Dean of the Graduate Division at Berkeley from 2000 until earlier this year. Mason is the author or coauthor of five books on family, and women's and children's issues, including Do Babies Matter? and the recently published Mothers on the Fast Track: How the New Generation Can Balance Career and Family, coauthored with Eve Mason Ekman. As a national expert on child custody issues and family law and policy, Mason frequently addresses these issues at conferences and in the media.

From 2001 to 2004, Donna Nelson surveyed the race, ethnicity, gender, and rank of the faculty of the top 50 departments in 14 science and engineering disciplines. Comparing her data on faculty to the attainment of B.S. and Ph.D. degrees revealed that women and minorities are much less represented on faculties than in degree attainment. Based on complete populations rather than samples, her data accurately depict the absence or under-representation of certain groups across disciplines. She will discuss her findings in her talk.

Donna Nelson (click image to download hi-res version)

Donna Nelson earned a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Oklahoma and a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Texas, did postdoctoral work at Purdue University, and joined the faculty of the University of Oklahoma in 1983. She was a faculty fellow at the university's Provost's Office from 1989-1990, a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2003, and she has been assistant to the American Chemical Society President since 2005.

Nelson's research focuses on the global challenges of energy, environment and scientific workforce development. A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Nelson has won numerous awards, including a National Science Foundation/ADVANCE Leadership Award in 2006, a National Organization for Women "Woman of Courage" Award in 2004, and a Guggenheim Award in 2003. In the last four years, she has spoken at over 100 national professional organizations, U.S. Congress Capitol Hill briefings, universities, and radio and TV programs. She is the author of over 90 publications.

Both talks are sponsored by Brookhaven Women in Science, a not-for-profit organization that promotes the advancement of women in science and related fields. Additional support for Mary Ann Mason's talk comes from Brookhaven Science Associates, the company that manages Brookhaven National Laboratory. Laboratory management recently established a committee, composed of diverse Brookhaven Lab employees, to review the Lab's family-friendly policies and suggest improvements.

Number: 07-103  |  BNL Media & Communications Office

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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