Women in Science and Medicine Advisory Committee (WISMAC)
WISMAC is a UT Southwestern institutional standing committee composed of appointed representatives of the faculty, administration, fellows, and student body. The committee provides advice and initiatives on issues related to women in science and medicine, with the ultimate goal to improve UT Southwestern for everyone. We are supported by the Southwestern Medical Foundation. If you would like to make suggestions or contribute information, please contact us.
Upcoming WISMAC-Sponsored Events
Monthly: WISMAC and the Office of Faculty Diversity & Development, present this monthly lunch series featuring female faculty members as discussion leaders. The series is an opportunity for female grad students and postdocs to receive guidance and advice from scientists who are further ahead in their careers on topics such as career planning, finding a scientific niche, transitioning from postdoc to independent investigator, and issues such as balancing family and career.
The location and speaker names for the sessions are announced via email invitation to female graduate students and postdocs. Past participants include Carole Mendelson, PhD, Melanie Cobb PhD, and Beth Levine, MD. For further information, please email:
WISMAC@UTSouthwestern.edu.
February 6-8, 2012: For the 2011-2012 academic year, our Ida M. Green Distinguished Visiting Professorship Honoring Women in Science and Medicine will feature Judith Kimble, PhD. Dr. Kimble is the Henry Vilas Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Departments of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics and an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). She will give a presentation entitled, "Stem Cells and RNA Regulation: Networks and Mechanism" as the University Lecture at 4 p.m., February 8, 2012, in the Simmons Biomedical Research Building auditorium (NB2.EEF).
March 3, 2012: WISMAC will join with Science Teacher Access to Resources at UT Southwestern (STARS) for a presentation of information and workshops on careers in science and medicine. The audience will consist of junior and high school teachers along with their selected female students. Student representatives of WISMAC will take the lead roles in this event.
Recent WISMAC-Sponsored Events
October 19, 2011: WISMAC and the Office of Faculty Diversity and Development hosted a symposium on faculty promotion and tenure. While the symposium was primarily for the benefit of instructors and assistant professors, all faculty were invited. Senior faculty, including chairs, division chiefs and others, who mentor junior faculty, also benefitted.
September 20, 2011: Together with the Office for Faculty Diversity and Development, WISMAC hosted a reception for networking and to welcome new female faculty. A panel discussion addressed potential solutions for the leaky pipeline of females progressing through the academic and leadership ranks.
March 5, 2011: WISMAC joined with Science Teacher Access to Resources at UT Southwestern (STARS) for an all day Saturday presentation of information and workshops on careers in science and medicine. The audience was junior and high school teachers along with their selected female students. Student representatives of WISMAC took the lead roles in this event. [updated 3/7/2011]
February 1-3, 2011: Nancy Andrews, MD, PhD, who is Professor of Pediatrics and Dean of Duke University School of Medicine, was scheduled for the Ida M. Green Distinguished Visiting Professorship Honoring Women in Science and Medicine but unfortunately her trip was cancelled because of inclement weather. Flight cancellations were compounded by high traffic for the Super Bowl held the following Sunday in the Dallas area.
October 8, 2010: WISMAC organized and hosted a Speed Mentoring session. Modeled after the speed dating concept, this event gave postdoctoral scholars and faculty members (instructor through associate professor) at UT Southwestern the opportunity to meet and gain the perspective of multiple enthusiastic senior female faculty mentors from both basic and clinical sciences.