College of Agriculture & Natural Resources

STEM has practically become a household word. You can’t pick up a newspaper or listen to the news on any given day without hearing about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education. It’s that important.

What’s even more important is recruiting, supporting and retaining women in STEM fields.

That’s why more than 100 women attended the third annual Making a STATEment: MSU Women in STEM Conference, held Oct. 9-10, 2014, at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center.

The conference provides an opportunity for alumnae who work in STEM professions to come back to campus, connect and engage with other MSU alumnae (and current students), expand their professional networks, and acquire tools and knowledge that can help them further their career objectives.

Jacqueline Schmidt (microbiology ’83), a first-time attendee who lives and works in the metro Detroit area, said she heard about the conference through the MSU LENS  (Lifelong Enrichment for Spartans) course brochure. She works in commercial interiors markets for Invista, a synthetic fibers business previously owned by DuPont.

“I made a commitment to myself to work on professional development, to take time out for that. I thought this conference would be a good networking opportunity,” said Schmidt, who spent 20 years working for DuPont. “I’m proud to be a Spartan, and glad to be back on campus.”

Stacie Longwell Hill (biochemistry ’92), program manager for the Michigan Health Council in Okemos, Mich., is on the board of directors for the College of Natural Science Alumni Association and serves on the committee that organizes the Women in STEM conference.

“I think it’s really important to pull women together to talk about things like gender bias in the workplace, and professional appearance; because so often, with a mixed crowd, you can’t always hit on deeper issues that really impact women in their careers, particularly in the sciences—a male-dominated world,” Hill said.

Thursday evening’s keynote address, “Resilience: How to Power Forward During Challenging Times,” was delivered by Jennifer Hunter, assistant professor in the Department of Family Sciences at the University of Kentucky.

Mary Jane Mapes, president and founder of The Aligned Leader Institute, presented the Friday afternoon session at the conference—“You Can Teach a P.I.G. to Sing: Maximize Your Influence, Your Relationships and Your Life.”

“A conference like this gives women a leg up,” Mapes said. “If I had known back then what I know today . . . I think of the different choices I might have made in my life.”

Other sessions covered how to present a professional image, understanding communication styles, and identifying personal money habits and attitudes.

The conference continues to draw current MSU students and recent graduates.

Sarah MacLachlan, a zoology junior, and Cassie Benjamin, a neuroscience junior, were first-time attendees. Both are MSU Beckman Scholars and Dean’s Research Scholars.

Hannah Burke (zoology ’13) also attended the conference for the first time. She currently lives in Okemos, Mich., and works as a biological science technician for the USDA. She particularly enjoyed the networking.

“I sit in a lab a lot; I haven’t been out in the world,” she said.

Some participants who attended last year said they returned this year because the conference provides an “extra value” and “great life skills.”

Anna Munie (animal science ’02), an environmental project manager at Consumers Energy in Jackson, Mich., attended the conference last year and returned this year.

“In 2013, I had proposed attending the MSU Women in STEM conference in my training budget; my manager was extremely supportive, so I attended last year for the first time,” Munie said. “This conference is centered around leadership and the overall skills needed to succeed, versus the specific technical skills that I got from studying, from taking courses, or through training at my own company. This conference provides an extra value by teaching well-rounded skills to a very specific group of workers in the industry.”

Kristin Bonham (agriculture and natural resources communication ’96), regional business director at Monsanto in St. Louis, Mo., also returned for a second year.

“It’s a great opportunity to see people I met last year. It’s also an opportunity for some of the young students to meet with folks in the industry,” Bonham said. “All the sessions offer great life skills, no matter what role you’re in—fisheries and wildlife, sales, marketing.”

Melanie Cooper, the Lappan-Phillips Professor of Science Education at MSU and a professor in the Department of Chemistry, confirmed the value of a conference such as this one.

“I’m successful now,” Cooper said. “I have an endowed chair and I feel empowered to do things. But it wasn’t always like that. Back when I came through the system, I was one of two women in my classes, and there were no women professors or graduate advisors. It didn’t dawn on me for quite a long time that there was something wrong with this; it seemed normal at the time.

“In my first position, I was the lowest-paid person in my department,” Cooper continued. “I didn’t realize what the rules were because I wasn’t part of the culture. It was at a workshop like this where it was brought it to my attention. I didn’t understand, for example, that men asked for raises! Women tend to ask for things for other people—space, support for students—but not for themselves.

“No doubt, things have changed. In my classes today, the number of women and men are equal—particularly in chemistry. And MSU is in the top three for number of women Ph.D. chemists in the nation,” Cooper said.

Yet, there are currently only three female faculty members in MSU’s chemistry department, she pointed out.

“While the biases are certainly nowhere near as overt as they were back then, there are still impediments to our success,” Cooper added. “We need to understand what the culture is, how to navigate through it and how to change it.”

The conference was sponsored by the MSU Alumni Association and hosted by MSU’s Colleges of Natural Science, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Education and Social Science.