Diversity Update

September, 2009

EDITORIAL FEATURES/SPECIAL SECTIONS

• Black MBA Magazine – Fall issue features Building Connections, Education,
Networking, NBMBAA Conference Coverage and Places to Experience in New
Orleans
• Diversity Careers – October/November issue features People with Disabilities,
Financial IT, Transportation Technology, Entertainment & Communications and
Energy & Utilities
• DiversityInc – November/December issue features Lessons Learned from the
Top 50
• Diversity Journal – November/December issue features Demonstrating Bottom-
Line Effectiveness, National American Indian Heritage Month and What Makes
Your Company Great
• Equality Magazine – Fall issue features Veterans Enterprise, State of Veteran
Healthcare, Corporate Partnerships with Veterans Organizations, Supplier
Diversity Programs and New Education Programs for Transitioning Veterans
• Hispanic Business – November issue features The Hispanic Automotive Market,
Gift Guide and Tech Edge
• Hispanic Network Magazine – Fall issue features Diversity Initiatives, Careers in
Technology and Automotive
• Minority Nurse – Fall issue features Culturally Competent Cancer Care,
Retaining Minority Nursing Students in Community Colleges and The
Department of Veterans Affairs Nursing Academy
• Professional Women’s Magazine – Fall issue features Government Contracts,
Women in the Armed Forces, Single Parents, Health & Fitness, Aerospace,
Defense & Technology, College & Professional Recruitment and Disabled Women

JOB FAIRS
City Career Fairs
Diversity
September 1 Denver, CO
September 8 Milwaukie, WI
September 15 Minneapolis, MN
September 22 Phoenix, AZ
September 29 San Diego, CA

October 13 Chicago, IL
October 27 Phoenix, AZ

Diversity Career Group
Sales, Retail, and Management

September 22 San Francisco, CA
September 23 Sacramento, CA
September 24 East Bay Area, CA

October 20 Orange County, CA

October 21 Los Angeles, CA
October 22 Seattle, WA
October 28 San Diego, CA
Diversity Job Fairs
Professional
September 1 Atlanta, GA
September 16 Denver, CO
September 16 Schaumburg, IL
September 17 Southfield, MI
September 17 Chicago, IL
September 24 New York, NY
September 24 Adelphi, MD
September 24 Boston, MA

October 1 Charlotte, NC
October 22 Tampa, FL
October 22 Philadelphia, PA

National Society for Hispanic Professionals

September 24 Washington DC
October 22 Dallas, TX

Shomex Diversity Career Fairs

Next Career Fair is November 5-7 in Atlanta, GA

Women for Hire

October 13 Dallas, TX
October 15 Chicago, IL
October 21 Atlanta, GA
October 29 Washington, DC

CONFERENCES & SEMINARS

SEPTEMBER
23rd Annual Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference
September 16
Chicago, IL

31st Annual National Black MBA Association Conference & Exibition

September 22-26
New Orleans, LA

OCTOBER
87th Annual FWI Annual Conference
October 3-5
Newport Beach, California

Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference Annual Conference

October 9-12
Houston, TX

SACNAS National Conference

October 15-18
Dallas, TX
National Minority Supplier Council Conference
October 25-28
New Orleans, LA

Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities Annual Conference

October 31 – November 2
Orlando, FL

TRENDS
In Science and Technology, Efforts to Lure Women Back
Sue Shellenbarger
sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com

It will come as no surprise that many career re-entry programs, designed to help at-
home mothers return to the work force, are disappearing, victims of hard times
among the Wall Street firms and banks that led the so-called on-ramping trend.

But a new bright spot is emerging. Small, innovative return-to-work programs are
springing up in other sectors -- specifically in science, engineering and technology.
Prospects for long-term job growth in these fields are relatively good, and many
employers expect a talent shortage, partly because of high quit rates among
experienced women.

Honeywell, General Electric, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and even the
British government have all launched programs to provide women scientists,
engineers and technicians the tools they need to jump-start stalled careers. Some of
the new programs provide only training, coaching, networking and referrals, while
others offer actual jobs with lower return-to-work barriers through special training or
mentoring.

"Even in this troubled labor market, their prospects are good," says Carol Fishman
Cohen, a career re-entry consultant, of women in these fields. Government
contractors, engineering-related businesses and other employers that stand to
benefit from the government's economic-stimulus plan, in particular, are faring
relatively well, adds Ms. Cohen, co-founder of iRelaunch.com, a Web site for
professionals, employers and universities.

Rachelle Berk, Northborough, Mass., a nuclear engineer and a student in a "Career

Reengineering" retraining program offered by MIT, is among those who stand to
gain. The MIT program, now in its third year, is instilling the confidence she needs to
return to work after four years at home with her children, now 3 and 6, says Ms.
Berk, who hopes to find work developing sustainable-energy sources. "It was exactly
what I needed," she says of the MIT program. Dawna Levenson, director of the 10-
month program, sees enrollment expanding to 24 as early as next fall, up from 10
currently.

The new efforts aim to counteract a "brain drain" caused by the exodus of large
numbers of women from these fields in the prime of their careers. While 41% of
highly qualified scientists, engineers and technicians in lower-tier jobs are female,
more than half eventually quit midcareer, based on research by the Center for Work-
Life Policy's Sylvia Hewlett and others, published last year in the Harvard Business
Review. Women in these fields face isolation, extreme job pressures and long hours;
they often become most discouraged about 10 years into their careers -- just as
family pressures also tend to intensify.
Returning to Work

Still, after years at home, many women scientists and engineers yearn to return to
research and development. Last November, Honeywell launched a hiring program
with an extensive training and mentoring component for engineers who have been
out of the work force, in partnership with the Society of Women Engineers. The
company has received hundreds of resumes and plans to begin hiring soon, says Lee
Woodward, a vice president. Among the applicants: Karen English, an Alpharetta,
Ga., product-development scientist. After six years at home with her daughter, now
12, Ms. English is excited about her prospects; "everything looks possible," she says.

BBN Technologies, a 700-employee research concern in Cambridge, Mass., is

stepping up recruiting efforts to lure at-home professionals back to work, with plans
to start holding luncheons for ex-employees this year, says Susan Wuellner, vice
president, human resources. The networking seems to be working: Barbara MacKay,
an engineer who rejoined BBN in 2007 after five years at home, now is recruiting
another at-home mom to the company, Ms. MacKay says.

On a larger scale, IBM offers an extended-leave program that enabled Tami

Garneau, a software product manager in Research Triangle Park, N.C., to return to
work there amid the economic gloom of last October, after an extended leave with
her two children.

Despite the sagging economy, "IBM was fully receptive," allowing her to work from
home, she says. "That transition back in was great."

Internationally, General Electric has launched a program called Restart in its

Bangalore, India, research center, offering flexible work and other incentives to lure
female technologists back to work after having children, a spokesman says. And the
British government is funding a 12-week on-ramping program in Bradford, England,
and recently began handing out re-training grants, says Annette Williams, director.