A Future of Failure? The Flow of Technology Talent into Government and Civil Society

This report is an evaluation of the technology talent landscape shows a severe paucity of individuals with technical skills in computer science, data science, and the Internet or other information technology expertise in civil society and government. It investigates broadly the health of the talent pipeline that connects individuals studying or working in information technology-related disciplines to careers in public sector and civil society institutions. Barriers to recruitment and retention of individuals with the requisite skills include compensation, a perceived inability to pursue groundbreaking work, and cultural aversion to innovation

Why librarianship? : a survey of students' reasons for choosing librarianship

This dissertation looks at the trends and characteristics of students embarking upon a career in the library and information profession. It also considers the impression and the ethos generated by the way Career Information and Course Handbooks present library and information services. In particular, it profiles the LUT DILS student intakes for the Academic Year 91/92. Students' previous job experience and their chosen careers were analysed against their given reasons to embark upon a library and information course so as to establish whether a library and information profession is their first or their second choice of career. It was found that the intakes are predominantly female and they are inclined to specialise in humanities and social science subjects. They are likely to be individuals who are inquisitive, investigative, like attending to details and have good interpersonal skills not in organising and administering people but in understanding and helping people. He or she is also likely to be an independent worker who values the aesthetic qualities of the work and the workplace. They are not likely to be outwardly competitive. Most of them do not care for monetary gain and they seemingly lack leadership qualities. Most of them consider the role of work important and they are keen to identify their implicit need for personal growth with their job. The results suggest that the library and information profession embarked upon was treated by some as a second choice of career. The main first chosen careers are in the literary proper, social work and in teaching. Course reference handbooks for different educational establishments could not agree in their main entry headings for library and information work and they tend to have different philosophical outlooks for the library and information profession. Such different approaches created a confused image for the library and information profession. The tertiary career guidance was found to represent information services more realistically by its occupational nature and. not by the employment sectors as in the Career Library Classification Index( CLCI) used by secondary careers guidance

The Experiences of Panamanian Afro-Caribbean Women in STEM: Voices to Inform Work with Black Females in STEM Education.

THE EXPERIENCES OF PANAMANIAN AFRO-CARIBBEAN WOMEN IN STEM: VOICES TO INFORM WORK WITH BLACK FEMALES IN STEM EDUCATION By BEVERLY A KING MILLER B.A., Psychology, Nyack College, NY, 1985 M.A., Teaching, National-Louis University, IL, 1992 Ph.D., Multicultural Teacher and Childhood Education, University of New Mexico, 2013 ABSTRACT This grounded theory case study examines the experiences of Panamanian Afro-Caribbean women and their membership in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) training and careers. The shortage of Science and Math teachers in 48 of 50 States heightens the need for those trained in STEM. Females of African phenotype have persistently been underrepresented in STEM. However, this trend does not appear to have held for Panamanian Afro-Caribbean women. The current study explores issues related to STEM participation for these women by addressing the overarching question: What key factors from the lived experiences of Panamanian Afro-Caribbean women in STEM careers can be used to inform work with females of African phenotype in their pursuit of STEM education and STEM careers? Five women were identified for inclusion in the studys purposive sample. The study draws upon assertions and implications about the relevance of self-identity and collective-identity for membership in STEM. Data for the study was gathered through qualitative interviews, surveys, and observations. The grounded theory approach was used to analyze emergent themes related to participants\u27 responses to the research questions. Two models, the STEM Attainment Model (SAM) and the Ecological Model of Self-Confidence and Bi-Directional Effect, are proposed from evaluation of the identified information. Socio-cultural values and learned strategies were determined to influence self-confidence which is identified as important for persistence in STEM training and careers for females of African phenotype. Evidence supports that the influences of parents, country of origin, neighborhood communities, schools and teachers are factors for persistence. Through the voices of these women, recommendations are offered to the gatekeepers of STEM academic pathways and ultimately STEM careers.\u2

Engineering - young people want to be informed

Young people in developed nations recognise the contribution that science and technology make to society and acknowledge their importance now and in the future, yet few view their study as leading to interesting careers. Some countries are taking action to raise interest in science, technologies, engineering and mathematics and increase the number of students studying these subjects. One of the barriers to young people pursuing engineering is their limited or distorted perception of it - they associate it only with building and fixing things. Young people rarely encounter engineers, unlike other professionals, engineering has little or no advocacy in the media and there are few opportunities to experience engineering. Many of the pupils surveyed at the start of Engineering the Future, a three year EPSRC-funded project, wrote “don’t know what engineering is” and/or “would like more information”. This paper reports on work with researchers, policy makers and practitioners in Scotland to develop a sustainable model of activities and interactions that develops pupils’ understanding of the nature of engineering, embeds experiences of engineering within the school classroom and curriculum and promotes engineering as a career. After learning about engineering through the activities the pupils’ perceptions had improved. Almost all considered it important that young people know about engineering, because it is an essential part of everyday life and, in the words of one pupil - “If we know more about it, our minds wouldn’t stay closed to it. We would maybe take it up.

Inequality at Work: Socio-Demographic Disparities in the Careers of Library and Information Science Graduates

In this dissertation, I analyze the career experiences of library and information science (LIS) alumni who graduated from one of five LIS programs in North Carolina between 1964 and 2007. The long-term career experiences of LIS graduates are largely unknown, which is due, in part, to the lack of a systematic tracking system for these alumni. Using a sociological approach, I examine racial and gender disparities in work duties performed by managers, indicators of job quality, and risk of involuntary job loss. In the first chapter, I provide a brief demographic overview of the LIS workforce and economic trends impacting its workers. In the second chapter, I find that using student loans to fund one’s LIS graduate degree is associated with lower salaries and less job security (but none of the other five measures of job quality) and discuss what this might mean for professions that require advanced degrees yet offer relatively low salaries. In the third chapter, I find that non-white managers have lower odds of performing 6 of the 11 job functions measured and that the set of job functions performed by male and female managers is similar with the exception of human resources, which women have 38% lower odds of performing. In light of these results, I discuss the possibility that job functions may be a mechanism that produces racial disparities in upward job mobility. In the fourth chapter, I find that involuntary job loss is a rare event in the LIS field (8.7%) and is associated with lower job quality. This relationship is conditioned by both race and gender and the implications for meeting diversity goals are discussed. In the final chapter, I summarize and discuss the main findings, implications for academic literature and the LIS field, and suggest some directions for future research.Doctor of Philosoph

Views, goals, expectations, and experiences of family and work among women and men in science: a longitudinal perspective

2021 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.In the United States women are underrepresented in many science fields, particularly in leadership positions. It has been theorized that work-family interface issues, including those related to having a spouse and children, are a critical challenge for women in science. Having a spouse and children, however, is not an experience unique to women in science, therefore theoretically at least, work-family interface issues are issues for men in science as well. Research on the work-family interface has primarily focused on women so it is less clear how men in science deal with work-family interface. Other limitations of the research on work-family interface are that it has been mostly cross-sectional and mostly focused on the undergraduate or the professional stages, with less information being available about the graduate and early post-doctoral years. This study examined female and male scientists' views, goals, expectations, and experiences of work, marriage and parenthood at two points in their educational and work trajectory, the first being the graduate-program stage, and the next being a few years later. Interviews with 8 scientists (4 women, 4 men) who were in a committed heterosexual relationship at time 1, and married by time 2 were conducted. In addition to the interviews, the participants completed a questionnaire about their educational, career and family background. The time 1 findings in terms of work, marriage and parenting were consistent with those of previous studies. Female scientists expressed gratitude to their partner, while male scientists appeared to expect the support they received from their partner. Female scientists planned to make, and made accommodations for their partner's careers. Male scientists did not, and treated their careers as a priority. Female scientists viewed raising their children as their responsibility. Male scientists discussed investing in their careers as the means to fulfill their responsibility toward their children. The male scientists described family time mostly as a reprieve from work, not as another kind of work. By time 2, a polarizing shift in work, marriage, and parenting priorities and behavior was observed among both female and male scientists. For female scientists the shift coincided with the transition to being a mother. Female scientists talked about their science career as secondary to their partner's career. They also took on the majority or all childcare tasks. In contrast, male scientists had increased investment in their own career. Limitations of this study include that participants self-selected in the study and also that only one person from the couple was interviewed. The strengths include that this study focused on one field, that it was longitudinal, and that it included female and male scientists. This study's findings, together with those of related studies, suggest that two of the reasons that women are underrepresented in science leadership is that they are socialized to, and therefore often make career sacrifices to accommodate their family—including, in heterosexual couples, giving priority to their male partners' employment and taking responsibility for most if not all childcare. By contrast, men are socialized to, and therefore often invest in paid work as a way to fulfill both work and family responsibilities--which for male scientists in heterosexual couples often means having a career minimally or completely not encumbered by family responsibilities

The study of the impact of work observation course on increasing the efficiency of training in Applied Science Center of Farsan

This experimental research was conducted in survey method which aimed to investigate the effect of work seeing course on increasing the efficiency of training in Farsan Applied Science Center. The research sample consists of 285 new admitted students at Applied Science Center of Farsan in 2012. Given that this project was implemented for the first time, all new students were selected as statistical population and required information was collected through the researcher-made questionnaire. Finally, the obtained data were analyzed through statistical methods. The results of this study confirmed that the mean impact of work observation course on familiarity with careers was related to the field of study, students' familiarity with actual environment of work and implementing process of work, students' familiarity with activities leading to the production or providing service, students' familiarity with desired career position, promotion of students' motivation to work in job related area and familiarity of students with competences needed to obtain desired job, but the mean of work observation course's impact on students' familiarity with subjects and issues of career and students' familiarity with the benefits and privileges of career and evolution creation is not higher than average

The study of the impact of work observation course on increasing the efficiency of training in Applied Science Center of Farsan

This experimental research was conducted in survey method which aimed to investigate the effect of work seeing course on increasing the efficiency of training in Farsan Applied Science Center. The research sample consists of 285 new admitted students at Applied Science Center of Farsan in 2012. Given that this project was implemented for the first time, all new students were selected as statistical population and required information was collected through the researcher-made questionnaire. Finally, the obtained data were analyzed through statistical methods. The results of this study confirmed that the mean impact of work observation course on familiarity with careers was related to the field of study, students' familiarity with actual environment of work and implementing process of work, students' familiarity with activities leading to the production or providing service, students' familiarity with desired career position, promotion of students' motivation to work in job related area and familiarity of students with competences needed to obtain desired job, but the mean of work observation course's impact on students' familiarity with subjects and issues of career and students' familiarity with the benefits and privileges of career and evolution creation is not higher than average

Interview with Kathryn Peek

An oral history interview with Kathryn Elaine Hickman Peek about her career as a biomedical administrator and educator at many institutions in the Texas Medical Center. Kathryn Elaine Peek, Ph.D. completed her bachelor’s degree in English and embarked on a first career as a public school teacher. She obtained master’s degrees in biology and behavioral sciences at the University of Houston and UH Clear Lake during two stays in the Houston area. She entered the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at what is now the McGovern Medical School at the age of 39. She graduated with a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences at the age of 44 and embarked on a career that took her from laboratory studies of brain and spinal cord ischemia to the pursuit of information about the biological differences between men and women. Along the way, she mentored many young people pursuing healthcare and science careers and supported numerous women seeking career advancement in STEM professions. Her career was sometimes at the mercies of institutional politics. She retired from the University of Houston in 2013, but as she continues to work as a consultant in the Texas Medical Center, she can look back on raising awareness of women’s health issues as well as boosting the presence of women in leadership positions in the Texas Medical Center