Boahemaa Adu-Oppong received a university-wide service award from the Gephardt Institute!
Anyone who follows the awards given by just about any scientific society will notice the lack of women. I could start listing awards given seldom to women from all our various societies. But instead, I ask something simple. Pledge to nominate a deserving woman or under represented minority for something every year. Just one, though of course more are great. It could be anything, from NSF’s Waterman to a local university prize, to something from a society you belong to. Just get in the habit of doing it every year. I am still basking in the glory of seeing Boahemaa Adu-Oppong get a much deserved service prize for mentoring, for tutoring, and for directing the Wash U program of grad student tutoring and teaching, YSP. It was easy for me to nominate her and to get co-nominators.
One more thing. Ask someone else to nominate someone deserving for a specific award. Help them get this done if necessary. This will increase the nominating pool. Also encourage people to self-nominate where that is a possiblity.
This is not the only problem and this will not solve the whole problem, but it is a step. So take the pledge. Nominate one deserving person every year for something. Get someone else to do the same.
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