Background: Dr. Cynthia Bauerle is the dean of the College of Science and Mathematics and a professor of Biology at James Madison University. She earned her B.A. in Biology from the University of Virginia and her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Molecular Biology. She then became a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oregon, focusing on Molecular Biology. Dr. Bauerle began her career in academia at Hamline University as a professor of Biology and Women’s Studies. After 12 years at Hamline University, she moved on to Spelman College where she was a professor and the department chair of Biology. Dr. Bauerle then became the senior program officer and later assistant director at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute where her work focused on undergraduate science education programs. Finally, she arrived at JMU in 2016 to lead the university’s science and mathematics faculty and students.
The interview can be listened to here.
Analysis: Dr. Bauerle has had generally positive experiences throughout her career in biology. Despite her satisfaction with her position and path to becoming a dean, she has faced numerous events of covert and overt marginalization, through direct comments, attitudes, and physical body language of peers. She described having to work twice as hard as men, always having to be perfectly prepared and ready to defend her ideas. Having worked both in industry and academia, Dr. Bauerle’s experiences in industry were noticeably worse; she worked in a hierarchical, male dominated department and being a part of the science education program, was viewed as less intelligent as scientists focused solely on research. In academia, men often need to have the last word and tend to interrupt their women peers, inserting their dominance and devaluing women’s inputs. Dr. Bauerle’s had a positive outlook when it came to personal-work life balance. Mentors who provided examples of having families and being able to effectively maintain their careers allowed her to believe the same situation was achievable for herself. The importance of mentorship as a young adult working towards her PhD was vital to her career satisfaction. Without supportive mentors her job satisfaction would not have been possible. Learning environments, peer relations, and family characteristics during the period of young adulthood can turn into obstacles to women’s success in STEM, and Dr. Bauerle’s mentors insured this did not happen (Dasgupta, 2014). An interesting note, since Dr. Bauerle is gay and was out her entire career, she never faced the assumption she would leave her career to marry and start a family since at the time this was essentially impossible.
References: Dasgupta, N., & Stout, J. G. (2014). Girls and Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
The Consequences of Language 