Highlights ...

• AWIS-WV Spring Meeting on April 4th
• Southern WV Community College will host 1998 EYH Workshop
• AWIS-WV Career Enhancement Awards available for 1998
• New E-mail List for the Chapter
• Chapter Meeting held at WVU on November 8, 1997
• In Memorium
• Your Chapter Officers

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AWIS-WV Spring Meeting on April 4th

Mark your calendars now for the AWIS-WV Spring Symposium, to be held from 10 AM to 2 PM at the Waffle Hut Restaurant in Flatwoods WV on Saturday, April 4, 1998. The theme of the symposium is Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology. The morning session will feature female entrepreneurs sharing their experiences using skills in science and technology to build a business. The lunch break (free!) will provide an opportunity for informal exchanges.

The second annual AWIS-WV Poster Session will be held from 1 PM to 2 PM. Posters can cover research projects, a business plan, a new course or lab development, your EYH workshop, corporate information... whatever gets you excited about going to work every day. And we interpret "poster" pretty liberally, too--posters could be a photo collage, a video, or any other way you want to present your work. Career Enhancement Award winners from 1996 and 1997 are particularly encouraged to participate.

The guest speakers and discussions will be of general interest, so we encourage our members to bring prospective AWIS members, guests, and students. You will receive a separate meeting announcement and registration card in the next few weeks. For more information, contact Kathy Covert by email or phone at (304)293-3435 x 4442.

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Southern WV Community College will host 1998 EYH Workshop

The 1998 Expanding Your Horizons in Math and Science Conference (EYH) will take place in Williamson, WV on May 2. The venue will be the site of our very first EYH program, at Southern WV Community College. Local organizing is being handled by Dee Kapourales, and Dale Birkle, Betsy Walker and Linda Vona-Davis will be doing the program organization. We anticipate 150 8^th grade young women will be participating. The EYH workshop will be supported financially by local community groups.

The workshop committee will be contacting past workshop leaders to get commitments for May 2. If you are interested in participating or can suggest a colleague we should invite, please contact Dale (293-5798, birkle@wvu.edu), Betsy (293-2212, ewalker2@wvu.edu) or Linda (293-1280, dvona@wvu.edu).

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AWIS-WV Career Enhancement Awards available for 1998

The AWIS-WV Chapter will be offering Career Enhancement Awards (CEA) again this year. Dr. Susan DeMesquita, Principal Investigator for the project, has assembled the 1998 CEA Advisory Committee, and with the help of Dr. Dale Birkle, obtained $41,000 of funding for this year's project from the WV EPSCoR program of the National Science Foundation, Marshall University, and West Virginia University.

Applications will be sent to all past applicants and the presidents of all universities and colleges in the State. Members of the AWIS-WV Chapter are receiving an application in this newsletter. Applications and further information can be obtained from Dr. DeMesquita (address below).

This year's CEA Advisory Committee includes Drs. Kathy Carroll, Professor of Physiology at Ohio Valley College in Parkersburg; Judith Westerik, Chair of Biochemistry, WVSOM, Lewisburg; Lisa Ferrara, Associate Professor of Biology, WVIT, Montgomery; Beth Adams, USDA Forest Service, Parsons; Jeanne Sullivan, Associate Professor of Biology, WV Wesleyan College, Buckhannon; Kathy Fletcher, Computer Science, WVU; and Susan DeMesquita, Professor of Physiology, MUSOM.

The Awards will have a minimum request of $500 to a maximum of $2,500, with travel requests limited to $1,000. The deadline for submission of applications is March 23, 1998. Awards are expected to be distributed in late April.

There were 82 applications for the 1997 CEA project. A total of 22 grants were awarded in July 1997 with an average amount of $1,700. The 1997 award winners are invited to present their activities at the upcoming AWIS-WV Spring Meeting in Flatwoods on April 4, 1998.

For more information contact Dr. Susan DeMesquita, Dept Physiology, School of Medicine, Marshall University, 1542 Spring Valley Drive, Huntington, WV 25704-9388, (304) 696-7365, demesqui@marshall.edu

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New E-mail List for the Chapter

Thanks to the efforts of Kathy Fletcher (kfletche@wvu.edu), AWIS member and computer consultant in Academic Computing at WVU, the chapter now has set up an electronic mailing list, also known as a "listserve". Quite a few people have been added to the list, but the easiest way for this to happen is for YOU to subscribe.

To subscribe to the list:

1. Create an e-mail to listserv@listserv.wvu.edu
2. Leave the subject line blank
3. In the message area type SUBSCRIBE AWIS-WV yourfirstname yourlastname
4. Send the e-mail
5. You will receive a confirmation from the list server that will contain more information about using the list.

To send a message to the list, send it to AWIS-WV@listserv.wvu.edu. This message will go out to all current subscribers.

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Chapter Meeting held at WVU on November 8, 1997

A general meeting of the AWIS-WV Chapter was held on Saturday, November 8th at West Virginia University in Morgantown. New business included a discussion of the use of the information superhighway to facilitate chapter activities and communications, improvements in the administration of the Career Enhancement Award program (applications are included in this mailing) and a discussion about our upcoming spring meeting.

The meeting concluded with a slide presentation by Betsy Walker describing her eight- month sabbatical in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Betsy's experiences and impressions were both entertaining and enlightening.

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In Memorium

The AWIS-WV Chapter was saddened to hear of the death on December 14th of one of our founding members, Dr. Thomasina Atwater Redd. Dr. Redd was the chair of Natural Sciences at Alderson-Broaddus College in Phillipi, WV. Dr. Redd received a BS degree in biology from WVU in 1963, a Master's degree in 1969 and a Ph.D. in microbiology from WVU in 1986. She was twice voted Woman of the Year at Alderson-Broaddus College and was named West Virginia Faculty Merit Foundation Professor of the Year. Among her many other awards, Dr. Redd won the Celebrate Women Award in Science in 1994.

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YOUR CHAPTER OFFICERS

President: Dale Birkle
Dept Pharmacology & Toxicology, WVU
PO Box 9223
Morgantown, WV 26506-9223
293-5798 (vox) 293-6854 (fax)
birkle@wvu.edu

President-Elect: Linda Vona-Davis
Department of Surgery, WVU
PO Box 9238
Morgantown, WV 26506-9238
293-1280 (vox)
dvona@wvu.edu

Secretary: Joyce McCune-Gentry
Washington Works, B150
PO Box 1217
Parkersburg, WV 26102
863-4739 (vox) 863-2583 (fax)

Treasurer: Jeanne Sullivan
Dept Zoology
WV Wesleyan College
59 College Ave
Buckhannon, WV 26201
473-8125 (vox)
sullivan@wvwc.edu