AAUW and NMNWSE hold joint conference in Silver City over weekend

Photos and article by Mary Alice Murphy

Opening with a reception, the American Association of University Women and the New Mexico Network for Women in Science and Engineering held a joint conference in Silver City housed in the Murray Hotel. The kick-off reception took place Friday evening, Oct. 20, 2017, in the hotel ballroom.

Meetings and workshops were set to take place all day Saturday, Oct. 21, and until noon on Sunday, Oct. 22, in meeting rooms at the hotel.

About 30 women were expected to attend, according to one of the organizers, Kelduyn Garland of AAUW. "Our focus is to work with girls to let them know there are more options for them. Periodically, we get together."

Mikki Jemin, another Silver City woman, who is a member of both organizations, helped organize the conference. She also organizes each year's Expanding Your Horizons locally for girls from fifth through eighth grades. She said, last year, she attended the combined meeting in Albuquerque and she invited them to Silver City for this year's meeting. "Kids don't get the chance to spend quality time with women of this caliber. That's our goal for the weekend."

The third organizer for the conference was Silver City resident, Adrienne Dare, a retired Western New Mexico University professor and AAUW member.

Catherine Greenspan said it was also the quarterly leadership meeting for the AAUW. Carol Ann Council said the conference is basically "our state board meeting."

Jeannie Banks said it is also the Network's annual meeting. "We are going to cover the business we've done over the past year and talk about our fundraisers."

She said the Expanding Your Horizons program, which is hosted annually in Silver City, as well as another in Albuquerque, one each in Las Cruces and Carlsbad and two in Santa Fe, is important to both groups.

"We will talk about future plans for EYH," Banks said. "And we will talk about what else we need to do. Our focus is STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in the Network, which was founded in 1978. We want to develop women in science and engineering. To qualify for membership, a woman has to be in science and engineering, not of science and engineering. We are encouraging women to go into STEM careers. We did programs before it was called STEM. We encourage young girls and women to take math and science." She said the website for more information is www.nmnwse.org."

Judy Prono of Los Alamos said this is only the second time the two groups have combined their annual meetings. "We have a fair amount of overlap. The focus of AAUW is also STEM education and showing girls the career opportunities in the best-paying jobs. Our state organization runs a STEM camp for seventh- and eighth-grade girls. Last year and next, the classes and workshops took and will take place in Socorro. The girls have to be nominated to attend by a math or science teacher. Each one is interviewed and they have to write an essay. It's a one-week camp. The students stay on the New Mexico Tech campus. It costs each girl only $50. AAUW fundraises for the camp, which costs about $1,000 per girl. Last year, we had 60 girls from 52 school districts."

In addition to promoting science, AAUW also supports Title 9 and the rights to equal education and sports for boys and girls. "We are trying, too, to close the pay gap."

Mary Jane Giesler said AAUW also offers scholarships to undergraduate women.

Female students in STEM fields also have the opportunity to attend the Women Collegiate Student Leaders conference at the University of Maryland. "It is to empower women. It gives them tips on interviews and resumes, as well as advice from women who have succeeded."

Another program is Smart Start, a program to give women the confidence to ask for that they really deserve in the way of salary. It is for women in college for when they graduate. In addition, Work Smart is a program geared to the workplace. It has the same idea to promote learning of negotiation skills.

Cassie Marrs was introduced as a young woman, who, through the Smart Start program, learned how to ask and get the salary she deserved.

"I knew about AAUW from my aunt," Marrs said. "I knew from her to ask for more. I joined AAUW. I've been working at Sandia National Laboratory for three years."

Marilyn Doolen said: "We like to think we're advisory for someone like Cassie. If we can do it, you can do it, too. Now Cassie is showing us it works."

"When I was in high school," Marrs said, "I was honored by the AAUW. This year, I'm the president of the Carlsbad branch."

Women scientists and engineers and their families helped out the Silver City economy during this weekend of meetings. Friday evening, following the reception, most had made reservations for dinner at downtown restaurants. Those from out-of-town stayed at the Murray Hotel.