Sidebar: Smith College Tries a Tough Sell

sidebar: Smith College tries a tough sell

Smith College is making a serious effort to pitch engineering to women. It's a tough sell, but worth it, the college says.

A team representing Smith visited the Bronx High School of Science in New York City in February to drum up interest in engineering among sophomore and junior girls.

The women's college offers a degree in engineering science through the Picker Program in Engineering and Technology, which the trustees greenlighted in February 1999.

Smith's recruiting party to the Bronx included one of those trustees, Gloria Steinem, who is also a graduate of the college.

Smith places engineering as a study among the liberal arts, so students will be required to take courses from the broader curriculum, including the study of a foreign language, to earn the degree.

Steinem told the high school students that the study of engineering, as in the traditional liberal arts, can provide a richer insight into the world. She said that some students might take engineering as a path to an occupation, and others to develop a deeper understanding of things, "for a fuller life."

The chair of Smith's engineering program, Domenico Grasso, a civil and environmental engineer, said that the country needs to actively recruit more women to join the ranks of engineers.

As he expressed it to the Bronx Science students, "We design for all of society. How can we do that if we're all male?"

According to Grasso, who is also the Rosemary Bradford Hewlett Professor at Smith, there aren't enough engineers to fill the jobs in the United States, and the H1-B visa program is draining the technological brain trust from countries that desperately need engineers.

Bronx Science has about 2,700 students. The principal, William Stark, estimates that almost half—46 percent—of his students are female. About a dozen young women showed up to hear Steinem and Grasso speak in the library.

The Picker Program, named for a Smith alumna, last fall enrolled its first class, 20 students. The school had spots for 25.

—The Editors