Committee on Women in Statistics

Attendees: Carolee Bush, Susan Groshen, Dan Kaspryzk, Holly Shulman, Elizabeth Margosches, Marie Argana, and Stephanie Shipp.

Dr. Tilley from the Medical University of South Carolina began the presentations by speaking on "Getting the Most out of the Joint Statistical Meetings." She gave useful hints and pointers based on her experiences. Dr. Huges-Oliver, from North Carolina State University presented a talk on "Becoming a More Active ASA Member." She described the variety of ways one can get more involved in the organization. Finally, Dr. Santos spoke on "Establishing Professional Networks." He suggested ways to establish networks for individual career enhancement.

The very successful panel discussion/reception was attended by over 60 people.

Susan Groshen has volunteered to coordinate the panel next year, along with the co-sponsoring committees.

Ideas for next year:

The data for 1996, 1997, and 1998 show that about 18 percent of participants are women. Participation by women at the 1998 meetings increased in invited paper sessions, poster sessions, and lunch roundtables. They were also more likely to be first authors. See Women’s Participation at the 1997-1999 Joint Statistical Meetings.

In order to know how this number compares to the ASA membership, Marie Argana sent the results from the Membership Directory Questionnaire. The report discusses the collection methods, response rates, and results. In 1998, 26.6% of the members were women. See ASA Membership Directory Questionnaire Report.

Stephanie will ask ASA to consider asking demographic information each year when members renew their dues or join ASA. Previously supplied information could be printed on the membership form so that members would only have to provide updates each year. This would likely provide more data than from surveys, and be easier to implement and update than conducting periodic surveys. Steve Porzio received the letter and forwarded it to Mary Fleming who oversees surveys. Mary Fleming replied on October 20 and said that ASA will do this in the near future.

ASA Fellows
Dan Kaspryzk worked with ASA to provide a count of women ASA Fellows by gender by year from 1914 to 1999. The first women honored as an ASA Fellow occurred in 1918, followed by the second in 1921, and the third in 1939. Since 1990, women account for about 25 percent of all ASA Fellows. This percent fluctuates by year from a low of 18 percent in 1997 to a high of 35 percent in 1994. Since 1990, a higher percent of women are accepted as ASA Fellows than are nominated. See ASA Fellows by Gender by Year, 1914-1999.

We agreed that COWIS should be proactive in encouraging more ASA Fellows nominations of women. The suggestions included articles in Amstat News, writing letters to chapters and sections, writing letters to newly-elected ASA women fellows.

Dan agreed to rewrite the various materials that we have collected into a letter to be sent to sections and chapters. Stephanie requested labels for committees, sections, and chapters and will work with Dan on an article for Amstat News. (We received the labels!)

ISI Committee on Women (CWS)
The ISI/CWS was set up in 1995 to increase the representation of women in ISI. They recently completed two reports: (1) "A Characterization of Statisticians by Gender in Several Countries" (2) "Women in Statistics: The Profession Speaks." Their website is http://sun.cwru.edu/isi/.

Carolee brought these reports back from the August ISI meeting in Helsinki.

2000 Invited Session
Huey Ju organized and submitted an invited panel session for the 2000 JSM in Indianapolis. The session title is "Inclusion of Women in Clinical Trials." See Proposed Invited Session for JSM 2000 for a complete description of the panel.

2001 Invited Session
A proposal for an invited session for the 2001 JSM is due July 2000. Volunteers? Ideas?

COWIS Website
Lynn Palmer agreed to update the website again this year. Stephanie will send Word-formatted documents to her. Our website is listed and linked on the ASA website (www.amstat.org).

Budget
Postage $ 75
COWIS breakfast $200
Caucus/COWIS Sunday night reception $500

1999 Gertrude Cox Scholarship Winners
Pat Wozniak, Gertrude Cox Scholarship chair, reported that forty-six women applied for the Cox scholarship. Barry Moser, Huey Ju, and Pat reviewed and scored the applications. Elizabeth Margosches reviewed and scored the top applicants. They selected two winners of a $1000 award each and two honorable mention winners (no monetary award).

Winners. Lynn Tobin entered the Ph.D. program in mathematics (with a concentration in statistics) at Arizona State University in January 1998. Michelle Hanson will be entering the Master of Public Health program in epidemiology at the University of Minnesota in the fall.

Honorable Mentions. Recipients of honorable mention awards are Stacey Evers and Buffy Hudson-Curtis. Stacey Evers entered the MS program in statistics at Brigham Young University in September 1998. Buffy Hudson-Curtis entered the Ph.D. program in statistics at North Carolina State University in August 1998.

Articles about early winners was again suggested. (An article by Julia Bienias, 1992 Cox scholarship winner, will appear in the December 1999 Amstat News.)

Caucus for Women in Statistics
Cox Scholarship Race. The Caucus for Women in Statistics once again did an outstanding job conducting the 5K race. For the fourth year in a row Teri Crosby organized the race. Hats off to her for her excellent and cheerful organization and execution. Buses left promptly at 6 AM sharp, the race started at 6:40 AM, and all runners were promptly returned by 8 AM, with plenty of time to make it to the 8:30 AM sessions. Eighty-six runners registered for the race.

Holly reported that the scholarship fund had $41,507 on June 30, 1999, up from $40,610 from the previous year.

Sessions at JSM. The Caucus sponsored an invited session on "Assistance Reproductive Technology," and two topic contributed sessions that showcased members’ work. They also sponsored a Wednesday morning breakfast roundtable (with an optional $10 breakfast). The roundtable focused on strategic planning -- what should be the Caucus priorities?

Elizabeth Scott Award and a possible new award. The Council of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) administers the Elizabeth Scott Award. It is currently awarded every other year to someone who has furthered the career of women in the field (but doesn’t necessarily have to be awarded to a woman). The Caucus subcommittee is exploring a new award to a female statistician. They didn’t want it to overlap with the purposes of the Scott award. However, it appears COPSS is reconsidering the focus of the Scott Award to be more in line with the Caucus plans for a new award. If they do support a change in the Scott award, the Caucus could still create a new award that would go to a promising female statistician in mid-career as opposed to someone who has a long list of accomplishments already under their belt.

Louise Ryan, Harvard, found a description of this award in her notes. "In recognition of Elizabeth L. Scott’s lifelong effort in the furtherance of the careers of women, this award is granted to an individual who has helped foster opportunities in statistics for women by developing programs to encourage women to seek careers in statistics; by consistently and successfully mentoring women students or new researchers; by working to identify gender-based inequities in employment; or by serving in a variety of capacities as a role model. This award, first awarded in 1992, is given every other year in even years, and consists of a plaque and a cash award."

Further discussion on the award has included notes from Joe Gastwirth, Holly Shulman, and Lynn Friedman.

From Joe Gastwirth: I believe there is a consensus on going ahead with the new award. I don’t believe we should count on COPSS changing the Scott Award to accomplish our aim. Let’s just go ahead and encourage Dianne to flush out her draft e-mail to incorporate the suggestions others have made. As we want to make the first award at next year’s ASA meeting, we should try to make sure the announcement appears by January in the Amstat News.

From Holly Shulman: I agree with Joe that there is a clear consensus regarding proceeding with the Caucus Award. What I am not as clear on is whether we have consensus to petition COPSS to modify the Scott Award. Several people made issue with Marvin Zelen’s comments that there would be difficulties finding qualified candidates under the current eligibility criteria and that "the advancement of women in statistics will take care of itself." However, the comments were in general favorable for making changes to the Scott Award.

The specific suggestions were 1) limiting it to a female, 2) basing it on general leadership/achievement rather than particularly for the advancement of women, and 3) offering it every year rather than every other year. I don’t think there were any objectives to petitioning the COPSS board to make changes 1 and 3 but I’m not sure what the consensus is regarding item 2. I am inclined to go ahead and prepare a proposal recommending all of these changes. Please let me know if you feel strongly opposed to doing so.

From Lynn Friedman: My first thoughts are that I would hope that advancing the careers of women in statistics would remain the focus of some award. Many of us still need help -- groups such as older women changing direction and younger women who need reeducation after time out for children come to mind. Moreover, conditions are not completely rosy for all young women entering the field now. If the Scott Award could be earmarked for such advancement at least every other year, and given to distinguished women statisticians in other years, that might work. And it never hurts to have awards for young or midlife women statisticians who have recently made even perhaps a single outstanding contribution. I don’t see any problem with multiple awards, especially if each addresses a different group.

COWIS/Caucus Strategic Planning
These two groups are focusing their energies on new statisticians via receptions and the Cox scholarship, and on accomplished statisticians by encouraging nomination of women ASA Fellows. Holly Shulman suggested that we propose a program for mid-career statisticians.

Some ideas were proposed: