Metz speaks out on television program

HOBOKEN, N.J. — In the past 20 years, Stevens Institute of Technology has emerged as an educational leader for women in engineering. According to Susan Staffin Metz, executive director of Stevens’ Lore-El Center for Women in Engineering and Science, more women today are beginning to consider careers in engineering, thanks to efforts such as those of the Lore-El Center.

But she says much depends on women’s willingness to look beyond stereotypes.

Metz discussed Stevens’ role in raising awareness among women about engineering careers recently on the Washington D.C.-based program White House Chronicle. Besides her role at Stevens, Metz is president of WEPAN — Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network, a non-profit educational organization founded in 1990 (see www.wepan.org).

Of the engineers in the workforce today, only about 10 percent are women, Metz says. She says women are finding exciting career opportunities in engineering, computer science and technology, but getting women interested in studying engineering is the key.

"Women are still new to engineering when you look at the work place as a whole," she says on the White House Chronicle program. "And it’s not about a difference in skills. There is not a difference between women doing math and men doing math. Women are well-prepared to study engineering. It’s really a matter of a lack of information about the field and encouragement towards engineering."

The Lore-El Center for Women in Engineering and Science at Stevens offers expanded career awareness and retention programs for pre-college, undergraduate and graduate students. Since its beginning in 1978, more than 18,000 students, grades 7-12, as well as parents and educators have participated in pre-college programs. Today, Stevens’ 23 percent female student body is above the national average. Its 2001 class retained an unprecedented 97 percent of its female constituency.

White House Chronicle is a weekly national television program produced in collaboration with Howard University Television, White House Weekly, and Stevens Institute of Technology. The program airs in Washington, D.C., Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 4:30 p.m. on Howard University Television’s Channel 32 and DC Cable 17. It reaches 500,000 viewers in the greater Washington area.

The program also is made available each weekend via satellite to more than 360 PBS television stations in the United States. Additionally, the GoodLife TV Network transmits White House Chronicle to its 1,450 cable systems, comprising nine million subscribers in all 50 states. The program also may be viewed online at www.kingpublishing.com.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870 and celebrating 140 Years of Innovation, Stevens Institute of Technology, The Innovation University TM , lives at the intersection of industry, academics and research.  The University's students, faculty and partners leverage their collective real-world experience and culture of innovation, research and entrepreneurship to confront global challenges in engineering, science, systems and technology management.

Based in Hoboken, N.J. and with a location in Washington, D.C., Stevens offers baccalaureate, master’s, certificates and doctoral degrees in engineering, the sciences and management, in addition to baccalaureate degrees in business and liberal arts.  Stevens has been recognized by both the US Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security as a National Center of Excellence in the areas of systems engineering and port security research. The University has a total enrollment of more than 2,200 undergraduate and 3,700 graduate students with almost 450 faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America as well as strategic partnerships with industry leaders, governments and other universities around the world.  Additional information may be obtained at www.stevens.edu and www.stevens.edu/press.