ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 8, 1996 TAG: 9610080075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: Associated Press
UNIVERSITY FACULTY, however, remain predominantly male. "We're sort of living with what was done 20 years ago," said John Faulkner, a UVa faculty member.
Women, who comprise 53 percent of University of Virginia undergraduates, have finally caught up with - and in some cases passed - the number of men who major in math and science.
The same thing apparently is happening at Virginia Tech, with a 41 percent female populace in those courses.
The stereotype of men dominating the traditional sciences while women study liberal arts has been turned on its head over the past decade, school figures show.
``I guess it says maybe the stereotypes are wrong,'' said John Faulkner, acting chairman of UVa's math department, where almost 60 percent of undergraduate majors this fall are women.
``I can't imagine where the stereotype is coming from. It's really changing,'' said Laura Brose, a 21-year-old biology major at UVa from Defiance, Ohio.
A decade ago, 40 percent of UVa's graduates in astronomy, biology, chemistry, environmental science, math and physics were women. Last spring, the number had risen to 50 percent.
In biology, women took home 55 percent of the degrees awarded in May, up from 46 percent a decade ago. Women obtained 52 percent of the chemistry degrees, doubling the percentage from 10 years ago.
At Tech, the numbers are similar: From 1985 to 1995, women studying chemistry rose from 36 percent to 45 percent, and women in physics went from 14 percent to 20 percent, school spokesman Larry Hincker said. Biology has stayed steady at 58 percent women, and math, right about 45 percent, he said.
For Laura Lee Johnson, a 22-year-old UVa senior from Houston, math has been a lifelong interest. She hopes to get a doctorate in the subject.
``Even in elementary school I could always turn around fractions in my head,'' she said.
But educators say women still face obstacles in pursuing advanced degrees, particularly the domination of men in university faculties.
``If you look at the numbers of women faculty, the women have traditionally been nonexistent or at very low levels,'' said Catherine Didion, executive director of the National Association for Women in Science, a nonprofit educational organization.
Nationally, about 45 percent of undergraduate science degrees went to women in 1993, the latest year of analysis from the National Science Foundation.
Men far outnumber women in pursuing advanced degrees. Women earned 39 percent of the master's degrees and only 30 percent of the doctorates, according to foundation figures.
As for faculties, only 9 percent of professors in the physical sciences and 24 percent in life sciences were women in 1992, according to the foundation.
``We look at this as a critical period in terms of women in science courses,'' said Bill Noxon, a spokesman for the foundation. ``Women always do well compared to men in math and science, but somewhere along the line they change their mind about studying them.''
At the University of Virginia, women make up only 13 percent of the tenured faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences, the largest undergraduate school. In science departments, their numbers are even slimmer.
``We're sort of living with what was done 20 years ago,'' Faulkner said.
Janet Herman, an environmental sciences professor at the university for 14 years, said one problem is that tenure and promotion policies were formed when women weren't part of the equation.
``Most of the expectations developed for career advancement were really predicated on what men did 20 years ago, and they have little flexibility to allow women to devote time to their families or to work out a double career [with a spouse],'' she said.
The university's Women's Center began a mentoring program 18 months ago that pairs graduate students in math and science with undergraduates, with the idea of convincing women that a career in science is a viable option.
Sharon Davie, director of the center, said the program has been successful but needs to expand.
``I think it needs to start earlier, probably in the middle school,'' she said. ``A lot of people are starting to recognize it's a broader societal and cultural set of issues, but that intervention can be effective.''
Staff writer Allison Blake contributed to this report.
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