Nina Matheny Roscher The American University Washington, DC 20016
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Retraining Chemists-Is
A person returning to full-time work as a chemist a t the ~ m d a n r Drug l Administration after 16 years at home raising seven rhlldren is the typeof individual who has been aided t,) C'nrrer Fsrilitntion proiwts sponsored hy the National Science Foundatim.'l'hia individual receivrd hcr derrrt. in 1948nnd worked as a chemist for 13 years before to raise her family. NSF funded 21 of these programs in 1976-1977. Of the eleven funded in 1976, six were funded for continuation in 1978 and of the ten funded in 1977, six were funded for continuation in 1979. The programs, while designed for women, have implications for retraining scientists a t all levels. The program is focused on women who have been out of the ioh market for manv years. Howrver, their needs are similar lo any chemists who have moved irom their original iield intu iilles, markerinr. or an area of chemistry no longer of interest to the companymd who would like to change their career paths. T h e career facilitation programs ranged from intensive short courses of two weeks duration to one year retraining programs in physical science, mathematics, and engineering. In each program courses were developed especially for individuals who had not been in school recently. The most significant impact on individuals was made by the year long programs because participants in these programs were not in the work force a t the time they began the program. The retooling programs were designed to take women with a scientific background and teach them a new field. These propnms u,ere very successful in subsequent 1011plarement ns thrv were in fields with high demand. F:aamplt.i include: Tht: I'nivrmity 01 1)syton pmyram in chemical or elwtrical engineering and the ~ n i v e r s i t ~Texas o f program in computer science, including programming in several languages and systems analysis. Participants in both of these programs came from all areas of science and mathematics. The retrainina Droaram such as the one a t The American .. (!nwrdiry was an updating program ior u,unwn in chem~stry. on a review of the field, fdlowvd 1)) The apprmch u,us a fiw.~~.; updating for the jol~market or gruduatr srhool. (:hemistry rurrirulum details have heen published previously: The American University pmgram in its third phase pave 12 hr of graduate credit for the 28-wk program which met for 4 hr a day, 5 dayslwk. In the Washington Metropolitan area the largest employer is the federal government, where classification is reauired even for nart-time hourlv waee u .nositions. Graduate cre'dit facilitated classification. Fortv-nine women comoleted the three American Uuiversity programs (23 in the 1978-79 academic year). They averaged 40.5 years of age with 2.79 children, had 5.3 years of ex-
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60 I
Journal of Chemical Education
It Worthwhile?
perience and had been out of the work force for 10.7 venrs. , Tht:ir dediration is illustrated by the womm with nine children whowmmuted 120 mile each dav. tu .narticinare.'l'hirteen have or plan to return to graduate school to complete advanced degrees in chemistry, nutrition, pharmacy, biology, or chemical information science, with definite career goals in mind. For the rest, job placement started a chain reaction. The Army a t Fort Belvoir, Virginia, hired one of the women who completed the program in the summer of 1977. She had worked for two years, and then remained a t home for eleven. An illustration of her success is that with the next vacancy they called us, hired one of the individuals currently enrolled, and held the job vacant for three months until she could complete the program. The U S . Pharmacopecia has with time hired two women from the different programs with local consulting firms hiring four. Other government agencies have also had multiple placements. Final cost figures for the different Droarams are not vet available; however, preliminary estimateiwere from $300$3900. These figures include the total costs of the program as no tuition could be charged to the participants; advertising, instruction, and financial aid costs are included. Bv comnarison. fundine for graduate students in the NSF ~ -~- -pre-doctoral p r o & ~ is a; theyeve1 of $7,800 ($3,900 stipend, plus $3,900 university costs) per year. The one-year laboratory intensive program a t AU averaged $3,661 per originally enrolled participant. With the level of scientific development and publication on the exponential increase. the need for retraining nroerams in chemistry will intensify. T h e success of these programs in returning.individuals to chemistrv - sueeests that thev can he useful models for extensive continuing education programs in chemistry in the future. ~
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This material is based upon results obtained during a project supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. SPI 76-20575 A02. Any opinions, fin+gs, and conclusions ur recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the view of the National Science Foundation. Roscher, N. M.. J. Coll. Sci. Teach., VII, 220 (1978). a Roscher, N. M., Waters, P. F., Cantrell, T. S., Hansun, L. K., and Carson, F. W., J. CHEM. EDUC.,55,649 (1978). ' McElroy, S. M. K., J. CHEM. EDUC., 55,649 (1978).
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