Dr. Susan Mescher - June 13, 2008 - 12:30pm

Dr. Susan Mescher, Associate Dean of Strategic Planning at Columbia University, began her career at Columbia University in 1977. A 1975 graduate of Miami University in Ohio, she spent her entire career at Columbia except for a two-year excursion in North Carolina after College. While at Columbia, Dr. Mescher experienced the academic environment from many different vantage points. From 1977 to 1988, she served as a Departmental Administrator in several Science Departments, working closely with faculty and students. In 1989, she was appointed the Assistant Vice President of Financial Planning for Arts and Sciences where she worked closely with 28 academic departments, ten institutes, and five schools overseeing a $350M budget. In 1997, Dr. Mescher moved her financial career in the Arts and Sciences to a more general career joining Dean Austin Quigley as the Associate Dean of Planning and Administration. In 2007, her position broadened, playing a more strategic role in alumni relations and development, where she now holds two positions within Columbia College: Associate Dean of Strategic Planning for Columbia College and Chief Administrative Officer for Columbia College's Office of Alumni Affairs and Development.

Prof. Norma Fuentes-Mayorga - May 19, 2008 - 12:00pm

Prof. Fuentes-Mayorga is a Professor of Sociology at Fordham Univeristy. Her areas of expertise include inequalities of gender, class, race and ethnicity in education and the urban labor market. She earned her PhD at Columbia and entered the Department of Sociology and Athropology at Fordum Univeristy in January 2004. See her website for more information.
Please join us for a discusion about gender and racial inequalities in education.
RSVP before Sunday, May 18 to Heidi. Meet in the Miller Room (Havemeyer 328).

Dr. Rebecca Goldburg - March 5, 2008 - 12:30 pm

Dr. Goldburg is a Senior Scientist for Environmental Defense. She is trained as an ecologist and works on public policy issues in food production. She serves on several committees, including the USDA's National Organic Standards Board and the EPA's Pesticide Policy Dialogue Committee. Check out her website for more information.
Please RSVP to Heidi by 9:00am on Tuesday.

Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig - February 26, 2008 - 3:30 pm

Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig leads the Climate Impacts research group at NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies, working to predict the impacts of climate change and how humans must adapt, especially in regards to food production. She served as Coordinating Lead Author of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), where she coordinated the contributing scientists writing the chapter on the impacts of climate change to document the consensus view of the global scientific community, then reviewed and finalized the chapter with government delegates from around the world. For more information, see her website , or this interview with NPR.
The tea will be held in The Miller Room, 328 Havemeyer.
Please RSVP to Heidi by 9:00am on Monday.

Vice Provost Geraldine Downey - January 28, 2008 - 12:30pm

Vice Provost for Diversity Initiatives Geraldine Downey will discuss mentoring and career development. The lunch will be held in the Office for Diversity Initiatives, 305 Low Library.

Lunch with Sylvia Hewlett - Friday, April 13, 2007

Sylvia Hewlett is an author and the founder of Center for Work-Life Policy, this is a think tank located in New York City. She's written a number of articles. The next study of the center is about women in science, so after Ms. Hewlett meets with us for lunch, a couple of people from the center are coming to do 'research' on us, and find out about our experience as women scientists.

A Chat with Professor Stephanie Pfirman - Friday, March 23, 2007, 12:30pm
Miller Room, Havemeyer Hall
Lunch will be provided

Stephanie Pfirman is Alena Wels Hirschorn '58 and Martin Hirschorn Professor in Environmental and Applied Sciences Professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Science at Barnard College, which she joined in 1993. Throughout her career, Pfirman has been involved with researching the Arctic environment, undergraduate education, interdisciplinary curriculum development, environmental policy strategies and public outreach. Current interests include environmental aspects of sea ice in the Arctic, and the development of women scientists and interdisciplinary scholars. Pfirman is co-PI of the NSF-sponsored Advancing Women in the Sciences initiative of the Columbia Earth Institute.

Misti Ushio, Ph.D. and Beth Kauderer, J.D., Ph.D from the Columbia Office of Science and Technology Ventures - Januar 18, 2007
Miller Room, Havemeyer Hall
Lunch will be provided

For our next Game of Life luncheon (and the first of 2007!) we welcome Misti Ushio, Ph.D. and Beth Kauderer, J.D., Ph.D. from the Columbia Office of Science and Technology Ventures. Please come to learn about the function of Columbia's Office of Science and Technology Ventures and to talk with Misti and Beth about their professional experience.

Amy Hale, Graduate Student Career Counselor, Columbia University - February 17, 2006

What are your plans after graduation? Does the thought of looking for a job leave you anxious and confused? Columbia's Center for Career Education (CCE) holds workshops for job seekers, lists employment opportunities, offers consultations with career counselors, as well as many other events and services. During this round table discussion, Amy Hale from CCE will be present to listen to your concerns as future job-hunters as well as to to answer your questions about CCE. Please join us to discuss issues that are important to you!
http://www.cce.columbia.edu/

Claudia Dreifus, Science Writer, New York Times, Adjunct Professor School of International and Public Relations, Columbia University - March 3, 2006

"As a journalist, educator and lecturer, Claudia Dreifus is widely recognized for her abilities in interviewing scientists and communicating the complexities of their work to the public. Before coming to the "Science Times" section of The New York Times, Dreifus was known for her incisive interviews with international political figures and cultural icons. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Playboy, Ms., The Progressive, and Modern Maturity. In her book, Scientific Conversations: Interviews on Science from The New York Times, she delves into the thoughts and lives of some of the most intriguing minds in science. From Nobel laureates to virtually unknown innovators, across a multitude of scientific disciplines, she introduces and explains the personalities behind the great accomplishments. Dreifus has been a pioneering and original force in making science more accessible. She is an adjunct assistant professor at the Columbia University School of International and Public Policy. She is also a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute of the New School for Social Research.." Excerpt taken from http://www.sigmaxi.org/programs/prizes/honor.dreifus.shtml, the website for Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. Claudia Dreifus has recently been awarded an honorary membership to the society.

Miriam Rossi, Professor of Chemistry, Vassar College, March 17, 2006

Miriam Rossi has been at Vassar since 1982 after she worked as a Research Associate at The Institute for Cancer Research of The Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. She received her Ph.D. at The Johns Hopkins University. Her work is concerned with the relationship between the structure and function of molecules, mainly those having biological activity. These include natural plant products that show anti-tumor activity as well as others that are active against some of the proteins in HIV. The technique she uses is single crystal X-ray crystallography, and she is co-author of a leading text in this area. She has received grants from the National Science Foundation, the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society, and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. Besides the U.S., she has taught courses in Australia, Italy, and most recently under the auspices of the Rotary Foundation, in Chile. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry Organometallics, Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, and the Journal of Natural Products, among many others. Her teaching interests include general chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and structural chemistry, and she particularly enjoys conducting research with undergraduates.
http://chemistry.vassar.edu/rossi.html

Lester Townsend, Regional Consultant Fidelity Investments, April 5, 2006

"Building Your Financial Future"

Do you constantly think about money? Do you know what interest rate you are getting for your money in the bank? Do you have an IRA? Whether you have two hundred or two million dollars it is important to plan for your financial future. Did you know…you could be losing as much as NINE MILLION dollars by not investing in your IRA during graduate school? That few thousand dollars sitting in your checking account is devaluing in value! It is time to take charge of your finances. Learn about investing with Lester Townsend a financial consultant at Fidelity Investments.
http://www.fidelity.com

Marianne Legato, M.D., F.A.C.P. May 12, 2006

Dr. Marianne J. Legato founded and heads the Partnership for Gender-Specific Medicine at Columbia University. She is the author of numerous books, her most recent being Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget. According to her research, there are concrete differences between men and women...and they're embedded in our brains, she outlines the chemical and structural distinctions in male and female brains that influence the way men and women see and understand the world.
http://partnership.hs.columbia.edu/

Virginia Cornish, Professor of Chemistry, Columbia University, May 18, 2006

Find out what you need to do now to position yourself for a career at a research institution, how to balance family and career, and the logistics of starting and running a laboratory, as WISC talks with Professor Virginia Cornish. Virginia Cornish is an associate professor of chemistry at Columbia University. She runs a very successful research lab, with over ten graduate students and post doctoral associates. She has been a recipient of the Beckman Young Investigator Award, a National Science Foundation Career Award and many others. Professor Cornish had her first child as an untenured professor, although she was offered extra time to reach tenure, she was promoted to associate professor after five years.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/chemistry/fac-bios/cornish/group/index.html

Lori Conlan, Ph.D. Program Manager, Science Alliance, NYAS
Karin Ezbiansky Pavese, Ph.D. Program Manager, Physical Sciences Division of Science Alliance

June 9, 2006

Lori and Karin, now program managers for the New York Academy of Science, both made there way through quite different routes. They are joining us for lunch this Friday to share with us their stories; Lori chose a post doc doing research within her field, while Karin went to work in the chemical industry. Her transition to NYAS was made after a 1 year post doc on Capitol Hill where Karin assisted congressmen in drafting new legislation. Also, they will share their perspectives as program managers of a very vital resource for New York City researchers, the Science Alliance, which seeks to provide venues for presenting research, networking with other scholars, provides programs to prepare researchers to transition from post docs to tenure track positions, industry and alternative careers.
www.nyas.org

What you wanted to know about graduate school, October 20, 2006

Forth and fifth year graduate students from the physics and chemistry departments discussed what they have learned in graduate school and gave advice to those just starting the process.

Pam Lenehan, President, Ridge Hill Consulting November 13, 2006

Pam Lenehan is President of Ridge Hill Consulting, a strategy consulting firm. In her 30 year business career she has been a Managing Director in Investment Banking at Credit Suisse First Boston, officer of a public company, and CFO of a high-tech start-up. Lenehan is on the board of directors of two publicly-traded companies, Avid Technology and Spartech Corporation, a private company, Monotype Imaging, and The Center for Women & Enterprise, a non-profit whose mission is to economically empower women through entrepreneurship. She has BA and MA degrees from Brown University. Her book What You Don't Know And Your Boss Won't Tell You: Advice from Senior Female Executives on What You Need to Succeed, offers incite into the business world offered by 35 female senior executives she interviewed. She offered advice about taking charge of your career, packaging yourself for your target market, understanding it's not personal it's business, and making balancing and family look effortless.
http://www.pamelalenehan.com/

Amy Hall February 17, 2006

Join WISC for lunch with the Associate Director, Graduate Student Career Development, Amy Hall and find out what the Center for Career Education can do for you! 711 Havemeyer Hall, 1 pm. Visit the web site to view their current events.

Jean E. Howard Vice Provost for Diversity Initiatives - December 9, 2005

Very Successful! 12 Columbia graduate students attended lunch and discussion with Prof Howard, at the initiative of the office of the provost inquiring about the current status of women graduate students and their experiences and perceptions regarding the pursuit of a career as research scientist in academia. Columbia is very interested in what it can do as an institution to attract the best and brightest, and how to make the university a more comfortable home for women academics. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/04/09/jeanHoward.html