WISEST Facilitator Wins Award

Congratulations to Professor Mary Ashley on being selected as a recipient of the third annual Graduate Mentoring Award! The Graduate College received a strong pool of candidates. From among this distinguished group, a committee of faculty and former students selected Dr. Mary Ashley as a recipient based on her outstanding commitment to and development of graduate student mentoring.

Prof. Ashley has been very active with WISEST in addition to being a Facilitator she is the vice-chair of the Post-doc subcommittee and is an acting team member for postdocs: Lauren Pintor, Helena Puche and Yaniria Sanchez de Leon. She has discussed with postdocs finding a suitable niche, positioning oneself in the faculty job market based on one’s strengths and previous experience. In the first post doc Session Prof. Ashley participated in a panel discussion of balancing personal and professional life: time management skills, setting priorities, learning to say no, family and partner considerations during the job search/tenure process. Also, Prof. Ashley served as member of a mock search committee: reviewed application packages of participants and provided suggestions on substantive content changes or improved packaging.

Mary Ashley’s research program involves using the genetic (DNA) variation found in nature to study ecological and evolutionary processes. The principle underlying her research is that genetic variation found in natural populations provides information for studying ecological, evolutionary, and behavioral processes that are difficult or impossible to observe using more traditional approaches. She is the PI of NSF IGERT doctoral training grant at UIC called LEAP (Landscape, Ecological and Anthropogenic Processes)

Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs

Congratulations to Mo-Yin S. Tam for her appointment in the Provost’s Office: as Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs.

Mo-Yin Tam is a Professor of Economics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and has served as Interim Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs for the last year. Prior to becoming Interim Vice Provost, she served as Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs beginning in 2000, and in this capacity was a member of the steering team that prepared UIC for its 2007 North Central Association (NCA) reaccreditation. As PI of Women in Science and Engineering System Transformation (WISEST), Dr. Tam leads a $3.3 million NSF ADVANCE IT grant project to increase recruitment and retention of women in the STEM disciplines.

Dr. Tam’s long history of service to UIC has included appointments as a faculty fellow of the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Interim Head of the Department of Information and Decision Sciences in the College of Business Administration, and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Business Administration. As Associate Dean, Dr. Tam led the College in gaining AACSB reaccreditation in 1997. She also helped to found the UIC Asian MBA programs, which now have more than 1,000 graduates holding leadership positions in government, business and finance both in the U.S. and China. Dr. Tam’s research interests include econometric studies of the impact of diversity on student achievement, underrepresentation of women in the sciences, and the gender salary gap. She has published numerous research articles and reports in top journals and has presented her research extensively in the U.S., Europe and China.

Dr. Tam succeeds former Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Mrinalini (Meena) Rao, who left the position to become Vice President for Academic Affairs for the University of Illinois system last July.

Woman of the Year

Professor Emerita Cynthia Jameson is named the Chancellor's Commission on Women - Woman of the Year!

This award is given out annually and is sponsored by the Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Women at UIC. Established in 1992, this annual award honors a UIC woman who has consistently worked on women's issues beyond the call of duty and who is an exemplary role model. Winners are honored with a reception officiated by the Chancellor and a cash award of $1,000. (For more information click here)

Professor Jameson's significant achievements in the service of women at UIC include her involvement in WISE/WISEST and in the community; her commitment is outstanding and evident to all who have worked with Professor Jameson here at UIC and in the public arena. Professor Jameson has been and continues to be an inspiration to students, colleagues and women she has guided and mentored in her time at UIC. Professor Jameson continues to serve our university as an Emerita Professor of Chemistry and the department of Chemical Engineering. Professor Jameson has been extremely active in the founding and development of WISEST, is an Interim Co-PI for WISEST, and the Coordinator of the new WISEST Post Doctoral Institute for Academic Diversity. The Chancellor and CCSW committee will honor Professor Jameson at an award luncheon on campus in the future. This event will be announced to the campus.

See Also

Archive of past STEM womden faculty news