Communications Theory and Pedagogy for Working Women in Organizational Structures.

The dissertation consists of four essays on women and communication in organizational structures. The first essay defines the need for pedagogical inquiry into the socio-political nature of language, particularly the ways in which linguistic usage both reflects and perpetuates socio-cultural sexism. Women tend to be relegated to low-status positions in institutional hierarchies. This is due to sexism in the socialization process, in familial roles, and in socio-organizational norms. Language helps to shape perceptions of women as unequal in each of these areas. Women are socialized to employ extralinguistic elements that typically differ from men's speech, and as they mature they develop a "female" idiom. Descriptive terms and forms of addresses used in relation to women tend to be demeaning, assigning status based on the form of association to men. Most occupational titles are generically male, just as the masculine pronoun is used as a generic. The classroom is the appropriate locus for analyzing linguistic sexism and testing linguistic modifications. Linguistic and rogyny is proposed as a strategy for change by circumvention of sexist usage. The second essay proposes a classroom pedagogy that deals with the communication process in terms of the need for women to be assertive in organizational settings. Assertiveness training is seen as highly effective because of its use of behavioral rehearsal and modelling to shape new communication patterns. Through its use in the classroom women can also become oriented toward developing informal communication networks similar to the "old boy" networks. The third essay describes a pilot course on professional development for secretaries which was based on the analysis of women in organizations developed in the preceding two essays. The course promoted a general underst and ing of the role of women in the labor market, as well as a more specific examination of patterns of communication and decision-making in each participant's place of work. Role playing and small group discussion were used to develop a sense of independence and responsibility. Lectures and individual assignments helped to develop specific communication skills, including interviewing and resume writing. As a result of the course, several of them obtained upgraded positions. The fourth, and last, essay consists of selected media images of the corporate ambience and the role of women in it. Commentary on the pictorial content of these media images illuminates and reviews several of the points made in the other essays concerning communication patterns and sexist biases in corporate society, looking at how these are reflected in the language of pictorial representations.Ph.D.Social psychologyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/157683/1/8017203.pd

Genomic Resolution of DLX-Orchestrated Transcriptional Circuits Driving Development of Forebrain GABAergic Neurons.

DLX transcription factors (TFs) are master regulators of the developing vertebrate brain, driving forebrain GABAergic neuronal differentiation. Ablation of Dlx1&2 alters expression of genes that are critical for forebrain GABAergic development. We integrated epigenomic and transcriptomic analyses, complemented with in situ hybridization (ISH), and in vivo and in vitro studies of regulatory element (RE) function. This revealed the DLX-organized gene regulatory network at genomic, cellular, and spatial levels in mouse embryonic basal ganglia. DLX TFs perform dual activating and repressing functions; the consequences of their binding were determined by the sequence and genomic context of target loci. Our results reveal and, in part, explain the paradox of widespread DLX binding contrasted with a limited subset of target loci that are sensitive at the epigenomic and transcriptomic level to Dlx1&2 ablation. The regulatory properties identified here for DLX TFs suggest general mechanisms by which TFs orchestrate dynamic expression programs underlying neurodevelopment

Transcriptional Network Orchestrating Regional Patterning of Cortical Progenitors

SUMMARY We uncovered a transcription factor (TF) network that regulates cortical regional patterning. Screening the expression of hundreds of TFs in the developing mouse cortex identified 38 TFs that are expressed in gradients in the ventricular zone (VZ). We tested whether their cortical expression was altered in mutant mice with known patterning defects ( Emx2, Nr2f1 and Pax6) , which enabled us to define a cortical regionalization TF network (CRTFN). To identify genomic programming underlying this network, we performed TF ChIP-seq and chromatin-looping conformation to identify enhancer-gene interactions. To map enhancers involved in regional patterning of cortical progenitors, we performed assays for epigenomic marks and DNA accessibility in VZ cells purified from wild-type and patterning mutant mice. This integrated approach has identified a CRTFN and VZ enhancers involved in cortical regional patterning

Transcriptional network orchestrating regional patterning of cortical progenitors.

We uncovered a transcription factor (TF) network that regulates cortical regional patterning in radial glial stem cells. Screening the expression of hundreds of TFs in the developing mouse cortex identified 38 TFs that are expressed in gradients in the ventricular zone (VZ). We tested whether their cortical expression was altered in mutant mice with known patterning defects (Emx2, Nr2f1, and Pax6), which enabled us to define a cortical regionalization TF network (CRTFN). To identify genomic programming underlying this network, we performed TF ChIP-seq and chromatin-looping conformation to identify enhancer-gene interactions. To map enhancers involved in regional patterning of cortical progenitors, we performed assays for epigenomic marks and DNA accessibility in VZ cells purified from wild-type and patterning mutant mice. This integrated approach has identified a CRTFN and VZ enhancers involved in cortical regional patterning in the mouse