Association for Women in Science-WV

Promoting equal opportunities in science and math for the women and girls of West Virginia

RE: Workshop leaders for EYH Conference

March 19, 2004

Dear Colleagues,

On Saturday, May 1, 2004, West Virginia University at Parkersburg will host an Expanding Your Horizons in Math and Science Conference to introduce sixth through ninth grade young women to career opportunities in math, science and technology related fields. This event is organized by the WV Chapter of the Association for Women in Science and Altrusa International, Inc. of Parkersburg. The goals of the conference are to increase the interest of young women in math and science through positive, hands-on experiences, to foster awareness of career opportunities in math and science related fields, and to provide young women with the opportunity to meet and interact with positive role models from their community who are successful in math and science related careers.

Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) conferences began nationally in 1976 and were first held in West Virginia in 1994. Last year 109 conferences were held nationwide, reaching over 30,000 young women. Nearly a dozen EYH conferences have been held throughout West Virginia. Over 1000 girls have seen the exciting careers that are open to them if they continue to pursue their math and science education. Workshops have been conducted by women scientists, mathematicians and engineers recruited from the industries, government agencies and colleges and universities of West Virginia.

Expanding Your Horizons conferences work to assure that young women get the opportunity to explore many career options and are encouraged to pursue science and math training. We are asking you to support the Expanding Your Horizons conference by volunteering your time to present a workshop and/or to help with organizing the event. We will do all that we can (arranging transportation, covering travel expenses, helping with child care, covering all expenses for supplies, etc.) to insure that you can participate. You may be wondering what exactly is involved in the conference and what your role would be as workshop leader, so please read on.

The girls will be scheduled into four workshops, each one hour long. Each workshop will be truly hands-on, with a minimal amount of "lecture". EYH2004 will be geared for 150 girls with about 10 girls per workshop. It would be a great help if the workshop leaders present their workshop at least two times. We also plan to present a program for adults, so if you have an idea for a session that would be of interest to parents and/or teachers, let us know. The girls’ schedule for the day is as follows:

9:00 – 9:30 AM	Registration	12:00 – 12:50 PM	Lunch
9:30 – 9:50 AM	Opening session	1:00 – 1:50 PM	Workshop III
10:00 – 10:50 AM	Workshop I	2:00 – 2:50 PM	Workshop IV
11:00 – 11:50 AM	Workshop II	3:00 – 3:30 PM	Closing Session

Please view the AWIS-WV web site at http://www.hsc.wvu.edu/consult/awis/eyh/index.html for more information about our past EYH Conferences.

Please, direct any e-mail correspondence about your interest to participate to eyh2004wvu@yahoo.com.

Sincerely,

Martina E. Bachlechner

President, AWIS West Virginia

Martina.Bachlechner@mail.wvu.edu