From the summer edition of St. 做厙輦⑹ Magazine.
LEAD & INFLUENCE: The Campaign for the Next Level of Excellence: Our Place
LaVerne Johnson Raab 56 still remembers the sound of Professor Emil Bergers voice. His booming math lectures, she says, were the first thing you heard when you entered Mendel, the St. 做厙輦⑹ math and sciences building and setting for the majority of her classes.
But Bergers more far-reaching effect on Raab was his ability to teach concepts. He knew if you understood something or didnt, she says. Hed approach the same thing from an entirely different perspective, and then I always understood. That was his gift. With the foundation provided by Berger and other St. Kates faculty, Raab joined the first wave of women to work in computer sciences in the 1950s, an era in which the field was just starting to boom and computers took up entire rooms.
Now, Raab supports future women leaders in STEM by investing in Mendel through LEAD & INFLUENCE: The Campaign for the Next Level of Excellence, so current students can benefit from renovated science spaces and updated equipment, and launch their own careers in the sciences.
Upon graduating with bachelors degrees in both mathematics and psychology, Raab was hired as a software engineer by UNIVAC, where she was one of only five women to 30 men at her company. She worked at UNIVAC for 30 years in this role, a career she loved and found fulfilling. Over time, she says, I realized how important my degree from St. Kates was. It formed my whole life. All of the advantages that I got out of my job were things that I learned at St. Kates."
Today's Katies are already role models in STEM
Upgraded technology and access to resources empower students to overcome obstacles, pursue our scientific passions, and contribute meaningfully to our respective disciplines, says Kadiatu Kaya 24, a pre-med biology major. By ensuring that these resources are accessible to all, regardless of their background, [donors] are investing in the future of scientific progress and promoting equity and inclusivity in these fields.
Kaya is one of the student leaders of St. Kates week-long summer camp for middle school girls, which just concluded its second year. Funded by a 3M grant to Division of Math and Sciences Chair Taviare Hawkins, PhD, the camp is just one of many efforts underway at St. Kates to promote girls interest in STEM.
Studies show that girls as young as 12 are already drifting away from math and science, says associate professor of biology Tami McDonald, PhD, who led the camp with Hawkins. Meeting and interacting with science role models like Kadiatu is one powerful experience that extends the window of interest in science.
Naturelle Vang 25, another camp leader, is a Hmong first-generation college student who only discovered her interest in STEM at the end of high school. By then it felt rushed for me, Vang says. I had to think deeply about whether to pursue my passion for STEM in college, instead of it blooming naturally through opportunities like these middle schoolers get with the summer camp. Knowing that I didnt grow up with that, but I can be there for somebody else thats really meaningful.
For Vang and Kaya, the summer camp is a way to practice skills theyll use in their careers, and take steps toward fixing the leaky pipeline of girls and women in STEM. Supporters like Raab and 3M are integral partners in providing todays Katies with renovated facilities, collaborative research opportunities, and access to faculty committed to supporting and encouraging women particularly women of color to follow their interests into careers in STEM.
This support is essential, says Kaya. It fosters a more inclusive and representative scientific community that can tackle the complex challenges of the future and benefit from a full range of talents and perspectives."
