Female authors are underrepresented as sole and first authors and as members of authorship teams in readings for undergraduate college courses, finds a new analysis from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
Emerging evidence demonstrates that female-authored publications are not well represented in course readings in some fields, resulting in a syllabi gender gap, found Jenine Harris and Amy Eyler, associate professors and authors of “Diversify the syllabi: Underrepresentation of female authors in college course readings,” published Oct. 28 in the journal PLOS ONE.
“Women are underrepresented as authors on course materials across disciplines, limiting the exposure of students to women experts,” Harris said.
“And it is completely fixable,” Eyler said. “This paper helps to increase awareness of the disparity, so instructors can intentionally create a more equitable reading list.”
Merriah Croston, a doctoral student in public health sciences at Washington University, and Ellen Hutti, a master’s of public health student and master’s research fellow at the Clark-Fox Policy Institute at Washington University, are co-authors on the paper.
From a list of courses offered in 2018-19 at Washington University, the authors selected a stratified random sample of course syllabi from four disciplines: humanities; social science; science, technology, engineering and mathematics; and other. They coded the gender of course instructors and course reading authors using the genderize application programming interface, which helped categorize authorship by gender. They then examined representation of female authors at the reading, course and discipline level using descriptive statistics and data visualization.
The final sample included 2,435 readings from 129 unique courses. The mean percentage of female authors per reading was 34.1%. Some 822 (33.8%) of the readings were female-led (meaning a female first or sole author). Female authorship varied by discipline, with the highest percentage of female-led readings in social science (40%). Female instructors assigned a higher percentage of readings with female-first authors and readings with higher percentages of females on authorship teams. The representation of female authors on syllabi was lower than representation of females as authors in the peer-reviewed literature or in the workforce.
“Adding to evidence of the syllabi gender gap, we found that female authors were underrepresented as sole and first authors and as members of authorship teams,” Harris said. “Since assigned readings promote academic scholarship and influence workforce diversity, we recommend several strategies to diversify the syllabi through increasing awareness of the gap and improving access to female-authored publications.”
To aid faculty in identifying readings by underrepresented groups more easily, the authors recommend the development of reading collections that faculty can draw from.
“These collections could ideally be housed in a central location, perhaps on discipline-specific professional association websites or discipline neutral locations like the website for The Chronicle of Higher Education,” Eyler said.
This fall marks a transition in leadership for two of our MSW concentrations—International Social & Economic Development (ISED), American Indian Alaskan Native(AIAN).
New Chair for International Social & Economic Development (ISED)
After founding the ISED concentration serving as its chair for six years, Professor Carolyn Lesorogol steps down. She leaves an incredible legacy of leadership and course development. She significantly expanded international practicum opportunities – developing field-based courses in Haiti, Costa Rica, Tanzania, Germany, Australia, and Uga, India that have provided faculty and students opportunities to learn outside the U.S.
The new ISED Concentration Chair, Assistant Professor of Practice Brad Tucker, is an international development professional passionate about advancing the type of social justice that maximizes human development of nations and communities in the Global South – especially sub-Saharan Africa. He has worked with organizations such as USAID, RTI, PACT and the Aga Khan Foundation. Before coming to the Brown School, Tucker taught at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH; served as a Foreign Service Officer in Washington, DC, Indonesia and Kenya; and directed a development program with activities in over 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
He currently teaches MSW, MSP and MPH students in the following classes: International Social Economic Development (ISED) Policy; ISED Theory; Management Leadership of Organizations; and Leading Managing Employees, Volunteers Teams. He brings in-depth knowledge of international practice & policy expertise to the ISED concentration.
New Interim Chair for American Indian Alaskan Native (AIAN) Concentration
Associate Professor David Patterson Silver Wolf served as the concentration’s inaugural chair and leader since 2014. During that time he taught two concentration courses: Leadership Development Evaluation in Indian Country and Community Development with AI and Indigenous Communities. He also supported the Social Workers Advancing Through Grounded Education (SAGE) program, working to create new practica opportunities for students within Indigenous communities. Patterson is currently on leave.
Kellie Thompson, director of the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies and member of Seneca Nation of Indians, will serve as Interim AIAN Concentration Chair. Thompson earned her BA in psychology gender studies from the University of Notre Dame. She is an MSW Buder Scholar alumna from the Brown School.
In previous positions at both the Washington University Center for Diabetes Translation and Research and the Health Communication Research Laboratory, Thompson collaborated with tribal epidemiology centers, the National Congress of American Indians, and Native faculty from across the country.
At the Buder Center – which is currently celebrating 30 years of training and service for Native Americans – Thompson is responsible for the overall management and development of activities and programs including recruitment, student support services, curriculum, partnerships and research development. Her research interests include Indigenous student development, leadership education and decolonizing social work practices.
Thompson has been actively engaged with Patterson throughout this past year in revising and strengthening the AIAN concentration. She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to this important leadership role.
Across 30 major U.S. cities, an average of 63% of public schools are located within 1,000 feet — about two city blocks — of a store selling tobacco and e-cigarette products, according to a comprehensive new study mapping tobacco retailers.
The study was conducted by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine, along with those from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina, members of the ASPiRE Center.
Key findings of the study include:
- Tobacco retailers are located near schools. In eight of the cities surveyed, at least 80% of public schools are within 1,000 feet of a tobacco retailer: Baltimore (87%), Boston (87.5%), Miami (90%), New York City (94%), Philadelphia (90%), Providence (80%), San Francisco (81.5%) and Washington, D.C. (82%).
- Tobacco retailers are concentrated in low-income areas. On average, there are nearly five times more tobacco retailers per square mile in the lowest-income neighborhoods than in the highest-income neighborhoods, as defined by data from the U.S. Census.
- Tobacco retailers are ubiquitous. Across the 30 cities, there are 31 times more tobacco retailers than McDonald’s restaurants and 16 times more than Starbucks.
- Tobacco retailers are easy to access. On average, 70% of city residents live within a half mile, or about a 10-minute walk, of a tobacco retailer.
Funded by the National Cancer Institute, the research was conducted by the Advancing Science and Practice in the Retail Environment (ASPiRE) Center, a collaborative that investigates how tobacco retailer density and innovative retail tobacco interventions impact people and communities.
The center launched in 2018 with a five-year $11.6 million grant from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health to a partnership made up of Washington University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Stanford University.
The center’s goal is to build a strong base of scientific evidence for effective retail policies to reduce tobacco use, tobacco-related disparities and the public health burden of tobacco.
Using a wide range of data from state and local governments and other sources, the researchers mapped retailers that sell cigarettes, e-cigarettes and other tobacco products in 30 large cities across the United States, providing the most comprehensive study to date showing the ubiquity of tobacco retailers and their proximity to schools.
Douglas Luke, professor at Washington University’s Brown School, and his team help to translate, communicate and disseminate evidence from the ASPiRE research projects for tobacco control practitioners. The team translated the findings from this study into user-friendly, tailored fact sheets for the 30 cities. Washington University’s Ross Brownson, the Steven H. and Susan U. Lipstein Distinguished Professor, is co-lead on the dissemination effort.
Luke, who co-leads the Tobacco Town project, is director of the Center for Public Health Systems Science. He is a leading researcher in public health policy, systems science and tobacco control. He directs work focused primarily on the evaluation, dissemination and implementation of evidence-based public health policies.
Approximately 29 million adults and 8 million children (1 in 9 U.S. residents) live in these 30 cities, from Atlanta to Washington, D.C. St. Louis wasn’t included in the study, but Kansas City was.
This study adds to previous research showing that the tobacco industry has targeted low-income and minority neighborhoods. In particular, the industry has long targeted Blacks with marketing for menthol cigarettes, with a wealth of research showing that Black communities have more tobacco retailers and tobacco marketing. Blacks die at higher rates than other groups from tobacco-related diseases such as cancer, heart disease and stroke.
According to the researchers, “Living in neighborhoods with a higher concentration of tobacco retailers makes youth more likely to start using tobacco and makes quitting more difficult. In addition, higher concentrations of tobacco retailers in disadvantaged neighborhoods contribute to health disparities.”
Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., resulting in over 480,000 deaths and $170 billion in health care expenses each year.
While the U.S. has greatly reduced cigarette smoking, youth use of e-cigarettes has skyrocketed in recent years. According to the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey, e-cigarette use among high school students nationwide more than doubled between 2017 and 2019 (from 11.7% to 27.5%), and over 5.3 million U.S. kids now use e-cigarettes. Research shows that 97% of current youth e-cigarette users tried a flavored product in the past month, and 80% of youth who had ever used tobacco started with a flavored product.
Join Brown School presenters at this year’s virtual American Public Health Association virtual annual conference. This year’s theme is “Creating the Healthiest Nation: Preventing Violence.”
The event is online, but attendees can still stay connected by attending the APHA 2020 Virtual Expo, which includes a social scavenger hunt. Brown School presenters are listed below; please note that all presentations are listed in Mountain Time (MT).
Sunday, October 25
Monday, October 26
| 9:30 – 9:45 a.m. | Xian Wang | Association of health insurance coverage and racial/ethnic disparities in diagnosis stage among children with cancer |
| 10:00 – 10:15 a.m. | Alan Beck Natalicio Serrano Dixie Duncan Amanda Gilbert Ross C. Brownson | Environmental and sociodemographic correlates of meeting physical activity guidelines in rural residents |
| 11:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. | Paola Rijos Anne Trolard | A regional public health response to gun violence: Centering community-academic partnerships |
| 2:00 – 2:15 p.m. | Sicong Sung Ozge Sensoy Bahar William Byansi Proscovia Nabunya Fred Ssewamala | Effects and cost-effectiveness evaluation of a family economic empowerment intervention to increase ARV adherence among HIV+ adolescents in Uganda |
| 2:00 – 2:15 p.m. | Akilah Collins-Anderson Katherine Irani Angela Serwin Ryan Lindsay Darrell Hudson Demi Bajela | Developing a community health worker led approach to address depression and diabetes among African American men |
Tuesday, October 27
| 9:45 – 10:00 a.m. | Tyler Frank | Health disparities and opioid addiction in patients with spinal cord injury in saint louis |
| 9:45 – 10:00 a.m. | Emily Weno Peg Allen Louise Farah Saliba Ross C. Brownson Stephanie Mazzucca Margaret Padek Sarah Moreland-Russell | Approaches for ending ineffective programs: Advice from state public health practitioners |
| 7:00 – 7:15 p.m. | Ross Brownson | Longitudinal analysis of fittastic, a clinic-based healthy lifestyle program to address child obesity |
Wednesday, October 28
| 12:00 – 1:15 p.m. | Nicole Strombom | Racial equity in all policies: Local jurisdictions making racial equity central to decisions |
| 1:45 – 2:00 p.m. | Alexis Duncan | Political ideology and sexual behaviors: Does sex partner accumulation matter? |
| 1:45 – 2:00 p.m. | Sara Malone Virginia McKay Kim Prewitt Douglas Luke | Assessing clinical sustainability: A new, user-friendly tool for evaluating real-world practices |
Sherri Stichling, payroll and accounts specialist at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, died of pancreatic cancer Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020. She was 60.
Stichling recently was recognized for 40 years of service, having started working at the university in the spring of 1980.
“Sherri will be deeply missed by our community, and we are so grateful for all of her contributions during her years of service,” said Mary McKay, the Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean of the Brown School. “Sherri was a longtime member of our community, and it is particularly difficult to process another death. The Brown School community is caring and compassionate and I am certain that even in this altered, remote way of being, we can find ways to support and comfort each other.”
The school is collecting stories and memories of Stichling. Those can be emailed to Danielle Bristow and will be passed along to the family.
Stichling is survived by her husband of 36 years, Terry Stichling; children Jacob, Derek and Natalie Stichling; grandchildren Sloan Elizabeth Stichling and Landon Lucas Stichling; brother, Glenn Duffey; sister, Linda Tucker; mother-in-law, Elizabeth “Betty” Stichling; brother-in-law, Gary Stichling; many nieces and nephews; and beloved friends.
A visitation and memorial were held Oct. 5 in St. Louis. Donations in her honor may be made to the Polycystic Kidney Foundation.
To read more about Stichling’s life, visit the family’s obituary online.