FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     
Jan. 25, 2010

Contact:
Anika Mitchell Perkins, aperkins@pa.muw.edu
662/242-3689

Lisa Goodnight, goodnightl@aauw.org
202/785-7738

AAUW awards CAP Grant to MUW

Mississippi University for Women has been awarded a 2009–10 Campus Action Project (CAP) grant from AAUW for STEM Intervention, which will break through the barriers to entering and staying in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields faced by women and girls.

Select fifth grade classrooms in the Starkville Public School District will have three visits by working scientists and mathematicians, teaching a lesson out of the Mississippi science curriculum and answering questions about working in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematical career field. Career aspirations of those students will be checked before and after the visits by the scientists, and the students will be followed to see if this intervention had any effect on their course selections in middle school and high school. Classrooms collaborating with the grant process will receive materials for their classrooms, in addition to the lessons. 

The research group receiving this grant was very pleased to receive funding for the program which provides more opportunities to convince Starkville children to enter a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics career field. Research team members include Bonnie Oppenheimer from Mississippi University for Women, and Mark Goodman, Jim Codling, and Seungho Cho from Mississippi State University, as well as several graduate and undergraduate students at MSU. 

Each year, AAUW selects a project topic based on our mission statement. The 2009–10 CAP teams will focus on the issues raised by AAUW's upcoming 2010 research report, which will highlight key findings from recent research on women and girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in three areas: middle and high school, college and university and the workplace.

AAUW picked just 12 teams from around the country to implement projects. The selected projects focus on mentoring and on exposing some of the barriers that girls experience in mathematics and science, as well as on networking and professional development to retain college women in mathematics, science, engineering, and technology fields. Projects also aim to raise awareness about women in these fields through initiatives such as documentary filmmaking and a poster contest.

“AAUW is breaking through educational barriers so that all women and girls have a fair chance, and that is exactly what the CAP teams selected this year are doing in their communities,” said Kate C. Farrar, director of AAUW’s leadership programs. “Our teams are increasing the number of young women in these critical fields by addressing the barriers women face in school, college and the workplace.”

One member from each CAP team will present the project at the June 3–5, AAUW / NASPA National Conference for College Women Student Leaders at the University of Maryland, College Park. The conference helps young women connect with other students and successful women while honing their leadership skills for their work on campus and in their communities.

For more information on Campus Action Projects, visit http://www.aauw.org/education/cap/breakingbarriersSTEM.cfm.

For more information about the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders, visit
www.nccwsl.org.

AAUW advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. Since 1881, AAUW has been one of the nation's leading voices promoting education and equity for women and girls. AAUW has a nationwide network of nearly 100,000 members, 1,000 branches, and 500 college/university institutional partners. Since AAUW's founding more than 128 years ago, members have examined and taken positions on the fundamental issues of the day — educational, social, economic, and political. AAUW's commitment to educational equity is reflected in its public policy advocacy, community programs, leadership development, conventions and conferences, national partnerships, and international connections.

Visit the AAUW website at www.aauw.org