Personnel

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AMY LEVIN
DIANA STEELE
RICHARD BLECKSMITH
DAVID HENNINGSEN
JILL SHAHVERDIAN
GRADUATE STUDENTS

AMY LEVIN, co-principal investigator, is the Director of Women’s Studies and professor of English. She was responsible for feminist theory content and research. She acted as liaison on this content to the Women’s Studies Program and Department of Mathematical Sciences, as well as supervisor to the Department of Communication intern who designed the advertisements. Levin’s additional responsibilities included day-to-day grant administration, budget management, authoring publications with Steele, and mentoring participating students. During eight years of administering women’s programs, she has gained knowledge pertaining to women in math, science, and engineering, and she has initiated a variety of projects to improve the participation of women in these fields, including another NSF grant proposal focusing on women in math, science, and engineering, a student organization, interdisciplinary curricular interventions, and speaker visits. As past chair of the university’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women and as member of the Provost’s Task Force on Multicultural Education Curriculum Transformation, Levin has worked to integrate curricular and cocurricular activities for women and underrepresented students. Levin previously taught in the secondary schools for almost ten years. For more information on Levin (including contact information), please visit: Levin's webpage
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DIANA STEELE, co-principal investigator, is an associate professor of Mathematics Education. She was responsible for mathematics content and research, informing both the Women’s Studies Program and Department of Mathematical Sciences of project progress in this area. She also served as a mentor to involved students and Jill Shahverdian. She also wrote the results of the project. Steele has eight research publications on using an inquiry approach to teach mathematics. She has another publication on how mentoring interventions with at-risk students were successful in helping these students succeed in getting college degrees. Earlier, Steele wrote her master’s thesis on gender differences in learning mathematics. She has received two Eisenhower Professional Development grants focused on helping teachers reform their mathematics instruction. Prior to teaching college, she taught elementary, middle, and high school for thirteen years.For more information on Steele (including contact information), please visit: Steele's webpage
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RICHARD BLECKSMITH, a professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, taught the intervention sections of Calculus I. In the past few years, Blecksmith had successfully made modifications in his Calculus I classes similar to some of the activities planned for the project intervention sections; he also has extensive experience in number theory and has been awarded grants for computational and computer research. Two of his grants were funded by NSF. In 2002, he was awarded one of NIU’s prestigious Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Awards. For more information on Blecksmith (including contact information), please visit: Blecksmith's webpage
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DAVID HENNINGSEN is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication with teaching and research expertise pertaining to advertising campaigns. His publications have also resulted from multiple experiences in conducting and analyzing surveys on decision-making and related topics. He was responsible for evaluating and advising on the advertising campaign. For more information on Henningsen (including contact information), please visit: Henningsen's webpage
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JILL SHAHVERDIAN, as a graduate assistant, was primarily responsible for mentoring and support for the students involved in the Calculus I intervention. She attended class sessions, assisted the students with their mathematics work, and ran the UNIV 101 orientation course/support group. She was also responsible for pre- and post-interviews and data analysis of interviews. Moreover, she provided research support for Diana Steele and made arrangements for speakers. Prior to coming to NIU, Shahverdian completed her undergraduate education at Bates College in Maine. Currently, she is an assistant professor of Mathematics at Quinnipiac University in Hamden Connecticut. For more information on Shahverdian (including contact information), please visit: Shahverdian's webpage
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ELAINE DAVIES graduated with a M.A. in Communication in May, 2003. She also have a B.A. in both Communication and History from NIU. She is currently work for NIU's Financial Aid Department as an Advisor. Her thesis examined sex differences in flirting behaviors; her research interests include interpersonal/relational communication with a focus on flirting as well as verbal aggression. Davies' contribution to this project was as Dr. Henningsen's research assistant and coder.

CHRISTINA KOPINSKI is a master's student in Communication at NIU. Kopinski studies feminist criticism, intracultural communication, and feminist film theory. Her thesis focuses on the gender roles portrayed in "Charlie's Angels." She received her BA in Journalism from Lewis University where she gained important experience with designing advertising campaigns. Her contributions to the project included designing advertisements for the advertising campaign.

APRIL L KALAL, a masters candidate in Communication, has held teaching assistantships with both the Women’s Studies Program and the Department of Communication. Her current research interests include social norms, culture, and adolescents. Her primary emphasis is qualitative research focusing on gender relationships and issues of power. For the project, Kalal created a series of newspaper advertisements.

ARLEST B HALL

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