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Event addresses lack of women, minorities in STEM
By Justin Wier
YOUNGSTOWN
Sylvia Imler, associate vice president for multicultural affairs at Youngstown State University, recounted a time she was in a restaurant with her husband several years ago. Imler is black, and her husband is white.
She said the waitress seemed to struggle while serving the couple, and when they were leaving, an elderly man blocked the doorway. When she passed him, he spat at her.
“I had to take the high road,” Imler said. “But it was hard.”
Imler was the keynote speaker at an event Tuesday titled “Pursuing an Inclusive Environment in STEM” at YSU. Organized by the YSU Chapter of the Association of Women in Mathematics, the event drew attention to the lack of women and minorities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors.
In a student body that is more than 50 percent female, only 30 percent of STEM majors at YSU are women. The percentage of minority students in STEM and YSU as a whole are roughly equivalent, but lag behind the racial composition of the Youngstown area as a whole.
Imler’s speech and a panel discussion that followed suggested this is, in part, because as minorities in the department, women can feel alienated by their male peers.
Imler’s talk focused on less overt aggressions than the one she experienced at the restaurant. Frequent questions like “Where are you from?” and comments such as “You’re different than other black people,” can tax women and minorities and make them feel isolated, she said.
Also, Imler said professors implicit biases may lead them to recommend a woman or person of color drop a class when they would direct a white or male student to seek tutoring.
“We need to avoid the soft bigotry of low expectations,” she said.
Students and professors later shared their own experiences as women or minorities in STEM fields.
Libby Urig, an engineering student, said STEM has made great strides, and most of her peers and classmates are welcoming, but that’s not always the case with staff and faculty. “It’s almost more people in positions of power, professors and others, who hold on to those old-school beliefs,” she said.
Snjezana Balaz, a professor in the department of physics and astronomy, said when she was doing her postdoctoral studies, she was the only woman, and the men would often have crude conversations about woman.
“What helps me is I’m very outspoken,” Balaz said. “When I see something, I say something. ... But it takes energy, and it is time consuming.”
Monica Busser, a math student at YSU, said sometimes professors will ignore or dismiss her suggestions only to accept the exact same suggestion when it’s repeated by a male student.
“Am I speaking a different language?” Busser asked.
Julie Seitz, director of dual enrollment and support services in the math department, said diversity is especially important in STEM.
“When you add diversity to any field you add different perspectives,” she said. “And when you add different perspectives, you discover new things.”