Future Women Leaders in STEM Conference is Friday, April 1

JONESBORO – A conference on "Celebrating Future Women Leaders in STEM" will feature a number of Arkansas State University faculty members and a series of workshops for high school and college students on Friday, April 1.

A-State's Rural STEM Education Center, the Department of Teacher Education and Leadership, and the College of Education and Behavioral Science are hosting the conference at the Reng Student Union auditorium (GPS: 101 N. Caraway Road).  STEM refers to the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

According to Dr. Julie Grady, director of the Rural STEM Education Center, the center's mission is providing instructional support for public and private school educators through a number of formats.  The center serves schools located in Baxter, Clay, Fulton, Greene, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Lawrence, Mississippi, Randolph, Sharp and Stone counties.

Dr. Maureen Dolan, associate professor of molecular biology and research scientist at A-State, will give opening and closing remarks for the group sessions, while Dr. Anne Grippo, associate dean of the College of Sciences and Mathematics, will give the welcome address.

The workshops will be led by community professionals Tiffany Hayden, an engineer with Hytrol Conveyor Co., Inc., Whitney Pardew, a project manager with Olympus Construction, and Kristy Reed, a pharmacist and owner of Super V Drugs in Jonesboro, along with A-State graduate students Rachel Hampton, Laura Starkus and Sofija Todorovic.

The conference is made possible by a grant managed by the Arkansas STEM Coalition and funded by the Carl D. Perkins Program at the Arkansas Department of Career Education.

Additional details about the conference are available by contacting Grady at jgrady@astate.edu or (870) 680-8100.

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