Summing up:
The Effect and the Future of AWM

Chuu-Lian Terng (AWM president 1995-97) on left and Linda P. Rothschild (1997 Emmy Noether Lecturer and AWM president 1983-85) at the Noether Lecture, San Diego, January 1997.

In its twenty-seven years of existence, AWM has helped, encouraged, and inspired many female mathematicians in the early years of their careers. AWM has poured an enormous amount of energy and resources into programs improving the representation and climate for women in mathematics. As past-president Terng said recently, “[As a result of AWM] about half of the undergraduate degrees in math are now women, and there are many more strong young women researchers. Many departments are more conscious about the need for putting more effort into nurturing their women students.” The AWM Sonya Kovalevsky Days, the publications, and all the efforts by AWM to make women more visible in mathematics have been effective.

There are still many ways that the situation for women in mathematics could be improved through further efforts by AWM. The current and future plans for AWM are in three areas: (i) infrastructure and funding, (ii) outreach projects, and (iii) networking.

In order to achieve results for women in mathematics and even to continue past successes, the infrastructure of AWM must be maintained and improved. AWM must have a well-functioning office, with its finances in good order, and operate with a good governance structure. AWM must also continue to pursue funding for its current high-quality programs.

In the area of outreach, AWM hopes to expand its high school programs, such as the Sonya Kovalevsky Days and the Careers that Count booklet, and to extend its efforts to the elementary grades. AWM hopes to cooperate more with other organizations to increase the participation of women in mathematics and science. At the undergraduate level, AWM hopes to help persuade more women undergraduates to study mathematics, to expose them to more women in mathematics, and to aid them in the process of learning mathematics so that they can succeed at a wide variety of graduate programs. At the graduate level, AWM will continue to encourage and assist with the formation of Noetherian Ring chapters (support groups for women graduate students). AWM hopes to offer better mentoring of more recent Ph.D.'s and advanced graduate students, and, in particular, to set up more mentoring pairs at the annual meetings. Such a mentoring program might also involve mid-career women.

As for networking, AWM intends to expand its efforts to connect women in mathematics at all stages, from K-12 students on up. It hopes to strengthen communication between the AWM office and the mathematical community, between women in industry and labs and women in academia, and between AWM volunteers and people from around the world. Furthermore, AWM intends to continue to enlist the aid of other organizations to monitor and speak out about inequities for women and underrepresented minorities and to work to reduce them.

Finally, here are some ways that people can assist AWM and the status of women in mathematics:

Support and mentor women—junior faculty, undergraduates and graduate students.
Offer rigorous undergraduate programs and encourage women to take them.
Encourage undergraduate women to apply for Research Experience for Undergraduates programs.
Form support groups for women graduate students (e.g., a “Noetherian Ring”).
Join and help AWM, contribute articles to the Newsletter, and encourage others, especially young women, to join AWM.

Senior mathematicians may not realize the marvelous effect an encouraging comment can have on the ego of a young woman (or man) versus the negative effect of a tepid or disparaging comment. Our whole profession benefits from helping beginning and mid-career mathematicians attain their potential. AWM, or any organization that assists in developing future mathematical talent using the experience and expertise of established mathematicians, makes an outstanding contribution to our profession.

As Cora Sadosky observed, “Our Association really makes an impact on the situation of women in mathematics. And it is a great privilege to work for something that matters.…Many gains have been made in the twenty-two years of existence of AWM. Still, women continue to face formidable problems in their development as mathematicians—from elementary school to graduate school to the National Academy and beyond. To successfully confront these problems, we need the ideas and the work, the enthusiasm and the commitment of all—students and teachers and researchers and industrial mathematicians—of every woman and every man, who stands for women's right to mathematics” [MA93].

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Summing up: The Effect and the Future of AWM

Summing up:
The Effect and the Future of AWM