How does one learn how to think like an economist without understanding what economists do? Using outside readings can be an effective and straightforward pedagogical tool to teach economic concepts and to expose students to the wide range of topics and methods economists use in their research. Improving students' understanding of what economists…

For 50 years, Smith College's Summer Research Fellowship (SURF) has provided undergraduate women scientists the opportunity for an immersive experience to conduct independent research under the mentorship of science faculty and staff. This article highlights summative assessment data on SURF program outcomes as well as the institutional planning…

Historically, education has often varied by curriculum, access, and stature based on location, race, gender, economic status, religion, and time period. In addition, many educational institutions and much scholarly research have been significantly impacted by private foundation support. This essay discusses the politics of knowledge as it relates…

An interdisciplinary undergraduate research program with international summer fieldwork at Mount Saint Mary's University, Los Angeles trains undergraduates in research methodologies (cancer laboratory techniques, cross-cultural survey research, and policy analysis); collects fieldwork data in global settings and the United States; and compares,…

It is widely recognized by state and national teacher accrediting agencies that there is the need for preservice teachers to have dynamic experiences in working with diverse student populations (i.e., English Language Learners, varying socioeconomic statuses, exceptionalities, different family structures) in order to appropriately address the…

Given the complex and gendered messages college women receive about their future professional and personal lives, a woman's college experiences play an important role in helping her make difficult life choices. In this article, we present a narrative analysis of the envisioned futures of students at two Catholic women's colleges in the Midwestern…

Since at least the early 1990s, Arab governments have made women's participation in higher education a priority. Across the region, young women fill the crowded lecture halls and bustling courtyards of universities. On many campuses, they outnumber men. But women's increased participation in higher education does not necessarily translate into…

In this article, the author shares her experiences and challenges in teaching university-level studio art classes for Muslim women in Kuwait. In Kuwait, popular interpretations of the "Quran" (the Koran), the Muslim holy book, prohibit the use of nude models. The author describes how she had to find alternatives to Western tried and true…

The authors describe an interdisciplinary course team-taught by an economist and a sociologist. Historically mindful of the less than amicable relationship between these disciplines, these colleagues developed a course that attempted to illuminate the different perspectives of economics and sociology in relation to selected health themes. Such a…

Opening in 1837, Wesleyan Female Seminary became by 1855 one of the small number of colleges for women in the United States. The question is to what extent Wesleyan was a true college as that word was understood at the time, along with the wider issue of what constituted a college as the concept became transformed during the nineteenth century. In…

Sociologist Mabel Agnes Elliott was elected the fourth president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems in 1956-1957 and was the first woman to hold this position. She was an anti-war activist, a feminist and a creative and diligent writer. Yet she experienced many challenges. The Federal Bureau of Investigation kept an active file on…

Stimulating the interest of students in biological sciences necessitates the use of new teaching methods and motivating approaches. The idea of the self-expression assignment (SEA) has evolved from the prevalent environment at the College for Women of Kuwait University (Safat, State of Kuwait), a newly established college where the number of…

At the turn of the century approximately a thousand white Southern women braved the consternation of friends and sometimes family, and traveled hundreds of miles to attend the best Northern women's colleges for an education unavailable to them in the South. For many, the experience was revolutionary: they developed self-confidence, independence,…

The recent announcement that Randolph-Macon Woman's College will admit male students has triggered yet another round in the continuing debate over women's colleges. At Randolph-Macon itself, the news was met with the usual mix of public displays: As students and alumnae protested with signs reading "Coed is a four-letter word," administrators and…

Asserts that a career center at a women's college is by definition a women's center and must deal with all aspects of life planning for women. Describes Wellesley's career center's model for career education and development which might be replicated in coeducational institutions, especially those with women's centers. (NB)