I was disturbed as well as saddened when I read the Herald's report about negative perceptions of the Department of Physics last week ("University Striving to Improve Academic Climate for Women," February 2). As the chair of the Department of Physics, I am writing to assure all concerned students that the department is fully committed to making the highest level of physics teaching and research available to both men and women undergraduate and graduate students.
It is often the case that an article of this type, written in the backdrop of the recent Harvard controversy, does not always portray the situation accurately or completely.
The Physics faculty takes teaching very seriously, but the Herald's article unfortunately did not reflect this positive attitude. It also did not mirror our department's commitment to encouraging women in physics. For example, we host the Women in Science and Engineering office in Barus and Holley and have strongly supported their efforts for a number of years.
But nonetheless, perception is often part of reality. If the perception among any group of our students is reflected to any degree by this article, we must carry out a serious self-examination on how this perception came about and on how it can be rectified.
We are greatly concerned about the absence of women faculty in the Department of Physics, but given our limited ability to hire new faculty, this is not an easy issue to address. Last year's death of Prof. Mildred Wigdoff removed a pioneering woman physicist from our department. We recently hired an outstanding woman physicist who serves as an excellent role model for students and are pressing for permission to bring other such superb scientists to Brown. Given the current lack of women professors, we also work to invite female scientists to speak at our colloquia and seminars and serve as mentors to our students.
I would like to clarify several misleading impressions the Herald's article generated. First of all, the situation of female students in physics at Brown has generally been improving in recent years. A quick look over the past decade indicates that the number of our female physics concentrators has been on the rise. Several recent, stellar, female undergrads have continued their studies in physics at prestigious graduate schools such as Harvard and Stanford, and many of our women students are among the best students in our research groups.
The Herald's article suggested that the Department of Physics lacks concern for our female students. Although I was unable to be at the WiSE meeting a week ago Friday, I understand that it was very productive, with many frank and useful exchanges. Constructive suggestions were made, and good things were said about physics and our faculty, which were unfortunately left unreported in the Herald's article. It is also worth pointing out that, although faculty were not explicitly invited, several of our deparment's faculty were present, another indication that our faculty do care about these issues.
A special physics faculty meeting is scheduled tentatively for next Wednesday, when David Targan, Associate Dean of the College, and Brenda Allen, Associate Provost and Director of Institutional Diversity, will discuss their concerns and ideas with us. A meeting with concerned female physics students is also being organized. One important issue we would like to concentrate on is the retention of women in physics and how the support system can be improved. To this end, we have invited the former chair of the Harvard Department of Physics, a national leader on increasing diversity in physics, to give a colloquium on "Physics and Women" this spring.
Once we have had these opportunities to learn more about the concerns of women in our department, we will develop and implement a clear plan, and shall continue to address this matter.
The Department of Physics is at the forefront of welcoming diversity, including women, to its ranks of faculty and students. These efforts have been in force for many years, and will be continued in the future. Just as we try to provide quality teaching, so will we be vigilant in assuring that there is neither official nor unofficial prejudice against women in our department.
We will continue to strive to make studying physics an exciting as well as a nurturing experience for both men and women at Brown.
There is no room for bias in the scientific enterprise, which must remain open to ideas from every member of the community. Although the continuing deficit of women in the physical sciences is a national problem, at Brown we are working to be leaders in addressing this matter.
Professor Chung-I Tan is the Chair of the Department of Physics.
