The wisdom behind WISE

Learning community boosts undergraduate women’s success in the sciences

A student tests the electrical conductivity of a potato as part of a Science Olympiad held Sunday, Dec. 6, in Elizabeth Waters Hall, home of the Women in Science and Engineering learning community. The program has developed an educational and social network for women with a common goal: succeeding in a fiercely competitive field where they will be a minority.

Imagine you are a first-year physical sciences major, your mind swimming with algebraic notations and atomic weights. Your calculus, chemistry and physics courses are packed with aspiring medical students all gunning for perfect GPAs. Your grueling study regime has you politely declining nights out with friends, and your neighbor’s late-night stereo jam is slowly driving you nuts.

But let’s add another stress: Let’s say you’re a woman, outnumbered in most science classrooms by about four-to-one. A sense of isolation may creep in, and for the first time you entertain the thought, “Maybe I chose the wrong path.”

This is a common scenario in American higher education, where more than half of all young women who begin pursuing a career in science or engineering change majors in the first two years. By comparison, about two in three men continue on with their first-choice majors in those fields.

At UW–Madison, a program at Elizabeth Waters Hall is countering the trend. Called Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), the program creates a social network and common academic ground for about 100 undergraduate women.

“This has been a small, low-profile program, but we’ve seen some very dramatic results,” says Caitilyn Allen, a plant pathology professor who helped create WISE five years ago. “The social and structural support is the important part.”

WISE women live together on two Liz Waters floors, and share discussion sections of core chemistry courses, which are required of virtually all science and engineering majors. The community has a range of social events that include dinners with faculty and academic games like Sunday’s “Science Olympiad.”

Allen says the simple act of bringing like-minded students together helps battle the isolation, dearth of female role models and chilly classroom climate many women encounter.

By some measures, it’s proving its value. Allen analyzed grade point averages of WISE students over three years, comparing them with the campus- wide average. WISE students in 1997-98 had an average GPA of 3.39, while UW- Madison women overall averaged 2.98 and men averaged 2.88. In Chemistry 103 and 109, students in the WISE discussion section averaged a GPA of 3.55, compared to the class average of 2.71.

Allen says an interesting social network has developed entirely on its own. Beyond the 100 students in WISE, another 200 past residents remain active in the program socially and help newer students. “This isn’t something we planned for, but WISE students are acting as ambassadors for the program,” Allen says.

WISE house fellow Monica Awe, a junior in genetics and communication arts, says the learning community’s success is almost entirely student-directed. “I think that’s the biggest plus,” she says. “When you bring similar people together, that networking is bound to happen. And it happens naturally, there’s nothing forced about it.”

In most residence halls, she says students make friends by geographic coincidence, bonding with roomies and people from the same floor. That’s also true of WISE, but the program also adds a common goal: succeeding in a fiercely competitive field where they will be a distinct minority.

“The important thing is having friends you feel comfortable being a scientist around,” adds Jessica Gross, a senior in molecular biology and past WISE resident. “We can get off on all these weird science tangents, but it seems normal to us.”

Awe says this mutual appreciation of the stakes involved in a science degree creates some empathy within the group. When they need to study on Saturday nights, they don’t end up feeling like sticks in the mud. In fact, she says, they embrace their straight-arrow reputation.

“There’s a standard joke among all the house fellows that nothing bad ever happens on our floor,” says Awe. “We’re famous for our G-rated excitement.”