Tag: hiring

Whitman Gives Insights on Cabinet Choices

  • Christie Todd Whitman, who was appointed to head the EPA under George W. Bush, says just because you're leading the EPA, that doesn't mean you get to choose who staffs it. (Photo courtesy of the EPA)

The big environmental agencies of
the government will soon have new leadership.
Rebecca Williams reports those agency leaders
might not have as much control as you’d think:

Transcript

The big environmental agencies of
the government will soon have new leadership.
Rebecca Williams reports those agency leaders
might not have as much control as you’d think:

President-elect Barack Obama is putting together his Cabinet and appointing
agency leaders.

One former Cabinet-level official says it’s great working with the President,
but you don’t always have as much power as you’d like.

Christine Todd Whitman was appointed by George W. Bush to run the
Environmental Protection Agency.

She says just because you’re leading the EPA, that doesn’t mean you get to
choose who staffs it.

“You have recommendation ability. Obviously the Administration always
has those must-hires. People they want to put in, people they feel they owe
positions to, people they think have good backgrounds.”

She says when she was in charge there was tension between the EPA and the
White House.

Critics of the Bush White House say political appointees have interfered
with scientific findings. They’re hoping that changes with the Obama
Administration.

For The Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams.

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Women Scientists Still Facing Career Barriers

A new report concludes women scientists at universities still face career barriers that most men don’t. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach has the story:

Transcript

A new report concludes women scientists at universities still face career barriers that most men don’t. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach has the story.


A program developed by the National Science Foundation looks at efforts to advance women in scientific careers. Leaders of the program have just published a paper in Science Magazine that concludes women scientists are making some gains on campus, especially in the biological sciences.


University of Wisconsin – Madison professor Jo Handelsman co-authored the report. She says at some universities thogh, many women still face hostile climates, lack of training opportunities, and unconscious bias. Handelsman says both men and women may hold the same biases.


“So a lot of people have assumed that if there’s a woman on the search committee or a woman making decisions, then there isn’t going to be a prejudice against women, and that simply isn’t true.”


Handelsman says one goal is to make academic hiring and tenure committees aware of the issue, so they can ask themselves if they’re holding all candidates to the same standard.


For the GLRC, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.

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Making the Environmental Field More Diverse

Later this month, a group of students and professors
in the Great Lakes region are holding a national conference aimed at creating more diversity in the environmental field. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:

Transcript

Later this month, a group of students and professors in the Great Lakes region are holding a national conference aimed at creating more diversity in the environmental field. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:


The Minority Environmental Leadership Initiative at the University of Michigan is holding the conference. It’s for students, leaders of environmental non-profit groups and government agencies, and environmental faculty at universities.


Professor Dorceta Taylor says the conference will look at why the level of minority hiring in the environmental field is still so low, and what can be done about it.


“The environment affects everyone, and it could be a far more effective movement if it involved a larger cross section of the population.”


Taylor says many environmental organizations say they’d like to hire more minority graduates, but don’t know how to find or recruit them. Organizers say they hope the conference will connect employers with minority students looking for jobs.


For the GLRC, I’m Erin Toner.

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