Girls Collaborative Project Kicks Off at UMaine Oct. 10
Contact: Sharon Barker, 581-1508
ORONO — A statewide conference to kick off Maine-based activities, part of a new national initiative to improve girls’ performance and participation in science, technology, engineering and math, is planned Oct. 10 at Wells Conference Center at the University of Maine.
The Maine Girls Collaborative Project is part of the newly created, three-year National Girls Collaborative Project. The day-long Oct. 10 conference at UMaine is designed to attract teachers, business and government leaders, representatives from community organizations, and anyone with an interest in helping to improve girls’ performance and interest in targeted STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math.
Sharon Barker, director of the Women’s Resource Center at UMaine, says the conference will draw participants from Maine and elsewhere to learn more about the STEM initiatives, meet collaboration partners, and to find out how they can access money to support girls’ opportunities in math and science.
The Maine Girls Collaborative Project will support a statewide network of organizations that encourages girls’ and young women’s participation in STEM courses and programs.
Although collaborations are being introduced throughout the country, national organizers have been impressed with Maine’s ability to attract influential advisors and financial resources for the project, according to Barker. Maine has $35,000 to distribute over the three years of the project, more than twice what any other region in the country has to distribute.
By identifying and coordinating programs that support those goals and provide resource materials and funding for collaboration, organizers hope to bring accurate, up-to-date information, based on current research, to Maine teachers about the challenges and opportunities for women in the STEM fields. The process will increase opportunities for girls in Maine and also connect Maine’s STEM initiatives for girls with programs throughout the country.
The project is funded largely by the National Science Foundation, and grants will be available to encourage collaboration among Maine programs to help achieve the project mission.
Keynote speaker for the UMaine conference, Amy Arnett, a scientist at Unity College, was recently named as a Fulbright Scholar. Other speakers include: Lyn Mikel Brown, author, activist and professor of education and human development at Colby College; Karen Horton, associate professor of mechanical engineering at UMaine and coordinator of the university’s Computer Assisted Design (CAD) Camp; Mary Madden, associate research professor of education at UMaine; and Tricia Bernhardt, a teacher in Bangor.
More information about the Maine Girls Collaborative Project can be found on the Puget Sound Center Website (www.pugetsoundcenter.org/ngcp/maine/index.htm), or by calling the UMaine Women’s Resource Center at (207) 581-1508.
The Women’s Resource Center at the University of Maine provides leadership to the University of Maine and the state of Maine in issues that have an impact on the lives of women and girls, and their equitable participation in society. A program in the Division of Lifelong Learning at UMaine, the center provides advocacy, resources, programming and networking opportunities in a supportive place that helps women and girls realize their full personal and professional potential.