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Join Our List!
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Take
a Look At Our Upcoming Events!
The
date has been confirmed!
Please
make plans to attend the GRITS Collaborative Kick-Off event on
Friday, September 26th!
If
you are interested in more information, please subscribe to the GRITS
mailing list to get the latest news. You may also contact us in
the GRITS office at 615.494.7763.
Tell the young women in your life that this year's
Expanding
Your Horizons Conference is on Saturday, October
25th
on
the MTSU campus. Once again, it will be open to both middle and high
school girls, but only the first 300 middle school and the first 50
high school girls to register will be able to attend! We'll send out
more reminders and details as the summer comes to a close. Also, if
you or someone you know would be interested in leading a high school
workshop, please contact Lacey at lfleming@mtsu.edu.
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Welcome
to the GRITS Collaborative Project!
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GRITS is a National Science Foundation funded project
based in the College of Basic and Applied Sciences of Middle
Tennessee State University. GRITS is delighted to be the home for the
GRITS Collaborative Project for the state of Tennessee. The GRITS (Girls
Raised In Tennessee Science) Collaborative Project collectively pulls
resources together to build a stronger community across Tennessee in
support of girls and women in science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM). The founding program, GRITS, was established
through a National Science Foundation dissemination grant supporting
research on gender in science and engineering. The GRITS
Collaborative Project wants Tennessee to be the premier state in the
nation for women with STEM degrees and STEM careers. We hope that it
will become the norm and tradition for girls and women in the south,
and especially in Tennessee, to pursue science, technology,
engineering and mathematics education and careers.
The GRITS
Collaborative Project will:
- serve
all 95 counties in Tennessee.
- bring
together programs, resources, and organizations that are
committed to supporting and encouraging more Tennessee girls to
enter the STEM education pipeline and to successfully complete
STEM degree programs.
- strengthen
and unify efforts to provide for a broader and more meaningful
impact of services across Tennessee. The diversity of
collaborative partners across Tennessee will enable us to
utilize a wealth of resources and networks that support girls
and women in STEM.
- provide
a focused effort on STEM for girls and women in Tennessee,
enhancing economic, employment, and career opportunities for
girls and women in STEM.
And now, a word of introduction
from the GRITS Collaborative Staff:
I am Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross, a professor of chemistry at Middle
Tennessee State University and director of the GRITS Collaborative
Project. Throughout my professional career, I have been
encouraging and mentoring young women in STEM. I also direct the MTSU
Expanding Your Horizons Conference and am the faculty advisor to the
MTSU WISE (Women In Science and Engineering) student organization.
I'm Lacey Fleming, the assistant director of the GRITS Collaborative
Project. Though my education was in the "soft" science of
archaeology, the skills I learned in STEM classes have had endless
applications. I hope to share the value and import of those skills
with young women across the state. In addition to my duties with the
GRITS Collaborative, I am also a research assistant in the zooarchaeology
lab at Middle Tennessee State University.
I, Cacy DeSheles, grew up in a small town in Cheatham County,
Tennessee, surrounded by farmland. There I developed a passion for
animals, and I've turned that passion into a career goal. I am
majoring in biochemistry at Middle Tennessee State University. After
graduate school I plan to attend a College of Veterinary Medicine,
then move on to practice exotic animal veterinary medicine with a
concentration on large cats. I dearly love all forms of felines,
and I share my home with three beautiful housecats. I am
currently participating in a summer internship program at the
Nashville Zoo at Grassmere. I'm also the program coordinator for
Girls Raised In Tennessee Science (GRITS), and the 2008-2009 Women In
Science and Engineering (WISE) president.
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The
GRITS Collaborative Leadership Team
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We
certainly can't do everything by ourselves, which is why we call
upon the GRITS Leadership Team for assistance. These women (and men!)
help in a variety of ways, from planning events to drumming up new
contacts who will further the goals of the Collaborative. As of July
2008, the members of the GRITS Leadership Team are:
Judith
Iriarte-Gross, Ph.D
Professor, Department of Chemistry
GRITS Director
Middle Tennessee State University
Lacey
Fleming
GRITS Assistant Director
Middle Tennessee State University
GRITS
Program Coordinator
Middle
Tennessee State University
Sylvia
Brown
Budget
Technician
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Sandra
Burke
Principal
Global Consulting Group
Tom Cheatham,
Ph.D.
Dean, College of Basic and Applied Science
Middle Tennessee State University
Megan Davis
Program Manager
Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee
Alice Ford
Math and Science Coordinator
Campbell County Schools
Letha
Granberry
AAUW/NGCP Representative
Tonya J.
Hancock
Consultant, Educational Technology
Texas Instruments Incorporated
Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia
Linda Jordan
K-12 Science Coordinator
Tennessee Dept. of Education
Mary Moore
Senior Technologist
Eastman Chemical
Sheila Moses
Academic Services Coordinator
Herff College of Engineering
University of Memphis
Jennifer Rawls
Executive Director
Tennessee Economic Council on Women
Rachel Rigsby
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry
Belmont University
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Organization
of the Month: Women in Science and Engineering (WISE)
The Women In Science and Engineering organization was developed on
the MTSU campus to encourage and help women prepare for--and become
involved with-science- and math-related careers. Their main goal is
to assure women of their importance in all scientific and technical
fields, as well as to promote equal opportunity and treatment of
women in science. WISE is open to all undergraduate and graduate
female students of MTSU who are involved in STEM fields of study.
WISE hosts annual events such as the WISE Chocolate Challenge, in
which students compete in chocolate eating contests and trivia
contests while learning about the chemistry of chocolate. Another
exciting annual event is the WISE Engineering Extravaganza, where
women engineers are invited to talk with the members of WISE and
participate in engineering-related workshops (with food and lots of
fun!). Many women involved with WISE also donate their time to
girl-serving organizations, such as the Expanding Your Horizons
Conference, held annually on the MTSU campus. At this
conference, some ladies host workshops for middle and high school
girls; others serve as team leaders, giving the girls tours around
campus. WISE also sponsors the monthly After School Girls Only
Science Club with a Murfreesboro middle school; at meetings, several
WISE members organize and do experiments with students. Additionally,
they often mentor many of these young women in their pursuit for
higher education in STEM fields.
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