COACh is an organization of individuals concerned about the slow progress that is being made in reaching gender equity in academia in the chemical sciences (http://coach.uoregon.edu/). COACh was formed in 1998 with seed funding from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.
Since 2000 its efforts have been jointly funded by grants from NSF, NIH and the Department of Energy. COACh activities and programs are developed by an Advisory Board consisting of senior women chemists and chemical engineers, mainly in academia . This group, which represents a cross-section of institutions and ethnic backgrounds, has been meeting for the past six years in its capacity as the governing body of the organization, planning and implementing the programs described herein.
COACh has an open membership to individuals that have a committed interest in supporting and promoting the careers of women in the chemical sciences. Membership is free and open to both men and women and can be obtained through our on-site website registration. We currently have over 300 members.
The chair of COACh is Prof. Geraldine Richmond at the University of Oregon. If you are interested in more information, contact Dr. Richmond at coach@uoregon.edu.
The programs of COACh are designed to increase the number of women chemists entering academic chemistry departments, succeeding up the ranks and achieving leadership roles. Both women chemists themselves and departments and research centers are targeted with these programs. Whereas these activities are initially being designed for women chemists, our broader goal is to have our successful ventures adopted by other sciences, minority groups and academic administrations. The programs build on the strong track record that COACh has established in the chemistry and scientific community since its founding in 1998. The goals of the future activities of COACh are to:
- develop and implement professional skills workshops that will empower women scientists to achieve their full career potential at the undergraduate, graduate and faculty levels.
- expand the outreach and impact to more minority women in the chemical sciences by offering these workshops at professional meetings with high minority attendance.
- work to effect change in institutions, centers and organizations to provide an inclusive and supportive department for underrepresented groups.
- evaluate the short and long term impact of these programs through formative and summative assessment and disseminate the results to the scientific community.
- connect women through networking and mentoring activities.
- identify through research the factors that are slowing the careers of women in the sciences in academia disseminate results to the community.
- partner with other organizations concerned with gender equity issues in the sciences.
