Class of 2019 is most diverse ever; University Times, 9/17/15

University Times; Class of 2019 is most diverse ever:

"The University welcomed 4,872 new undergraduates to the Pittsburgh campus this fall: 4,054 freshmen and 818 external transfer students.

This fall’s freshman class is not only larger than expected, it’s more diverse than ever, with the class of 2019 hailing from 44 states and 1,312 high schools, plus 17 other countries. The proportion of nonwhite freshmen — 26.2 percent — is a record for Pitt, with 1,061 minority students among the class, said Marc Harding, chief enrollment officer.

The average SAT score for freshmen held steady from last year at 1297.

Sixty-four percent of freshmen come from within Pennsylvania, while 36 percent are from out of state. Of the in-state freshmen, 13 percent are from Allegheny County; 51 percent come from elsewhere in Pennsylvania.

Most out-of-state freshmen — 83 percent — were drawn from 10 states: New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, California, Illinois, North Carolina and Connecticut."

Upcoming survey will examine diversity in Pittsburgh workforce; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/18/15

Ed Blazina, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Upcoming survey will examine diversity in Pittsburgh workforce:

"Pittsburgh Today and Vibrant Pittsburgh want to hear opinions from CEOs, supervisors and low-level employees about diversity in the local workforce and their experiences with diverse colleagues.

The two groups, part of a team of agencies and organizations working to improve workplace diversity, are conducting an on-line survey as the second step in a process to address the situation. A study by the group released earlier this year showed the Pittsburgh area’s workforce ranked the lowest among 15 comparable regions with blacks, Hispanics and Asians and others making up less than 11 percent of the workforce...

“This is really an opportunity for everyone to share their voice,” said Melanie Harrington, president and CEO of Vibrant Pittsburgh. “We want to hear from CEOs and the people who do the hiring to find out the problems they face and the diverse people in the workforce to find out what their experience has been.”...

Pittsburgh’s challenge is that because its diversity level is so low, “We have a bigger hole to dig out of,” Ms. Harrington said. And the region has an aging workforce that is expected to need another 140,000 workers in the next few years to replace those who are between 55 and 65 years old."

We’re All Artists Now; New York Times, 9/4/15

Laura M. Holson, New York Times; We’re All Artists Now:

"Choosing to be more creatively focused, though, can be disturbing at first. Ms. Cameron argues in “The Artist’s Way” that it can upend the delicate balance of relationships. “Many of us find that we have squandered our own creative energies by investing disproportionately in the lives, hopes, dreams and plans of others,” she writes. Others perceive a creative life as a quit-your-job-or-nothing proposition. They “like to think they are looking at changing their whole lives in one fell swoop,” Ms. Cameron writes, adding that, in “fantasizing about pursuing our art full time, we fail to pursue it part time — or at all.”

Indeed, many people aren’t interested in a wholesale career switch. Instead they are simply seeking a respite from a harried work and home life...

Beyond grown-up coloring books, the possibility for creative self-exploration is everywhere — especially in our phones. It is easy now to record and edit images, audio and video on our cellphones, making the commoditization of creativity even more pronounced. “We’ve become fascinated with innovation as a culture,” said Aaron Rasmussen, a founder of MasterClass, a new online education company that features writers, actors and sports figures teaching classes about the creative process. “People used to look at a movie and say, ‘I could do better than that,’ but they had no vehicle.”"

60 Real Women Front The Limited's 'New Look Of Leadership' Campaign; HuffingtonPost.com, 9/4/15

Jamie Feldman, HuffingtonPost.com; 60 Real Women Front The Limited's 'New Look Of Leadership' Campaign:

"The brand called upon 60 diverse female leaders in business, education, government, healthcare, technology and entertainment to star in its "The New Look Of Leadership" campaign.

In an effort to redefine what it means to be a leader today, Diane Ellis, chief executive officer of The Limited, said the idea sparked from conversations with clients...

Gabrielle Bernstein, a New York Times best-selling author and one of the 60 powerful women included in the spread, explained to The Huffington Post why being included was so meaningful to her. "I am deeply passionate about inspiring women to own their leadership power and rise up. I'm grateful that The Limited is bringing the empowering message of women and leadership to the forefront. Fashion and leadership go hand-in-hand when it comes to making an impact, leading with confidence and owning your power," she said."

Friends at Work? Not So Much; New York Times, 9/4/15

Adam Grant, New York Times; Friends at Work? Not So Much:

"In a study led by the social psychologist Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks, Anglo-American, Mexican and Mexican-American participants watched a four-minute video of two people working together. Shortly after, the Americans generally remembered just as much as the Mexicans and Mexican-Americans about the task, but much less about the social interaction. Anglo-Americans struggled to remember the socioemotional aspects, such as smiling, handshaking and discussions about movies and weekend plans. In other studies, Americans were less likely to notice subtleties in communication when a message was described as having been sent from a manager at a large company than when the same message was supposedly sent from a friend. There was no such discrepancy between the professional and personal among people from China or South Korea.

Why are Americans so determined to get down to business?

The economic explanation is that long-term employment has essentially vanished: Instead of spending our careers at one organization, we expect to jump ship every few years. Since we don’t plan to stick around, we don’t invest in the same way. We view co-workers as transitory ties, greeting them with arms-length civility while reserving real camaraderie for outside work...

Whether we bond at work is a personal decision, but it may involve less effort and vulnerability than we realize. Jane E. Dutton, a professor at the University of Michigan, finds that a high-quality connection doesn’t require “a deep or intimate relationship.” A single interaction marked by respect, trust and mutual engagement is enough to generate energy for both parties. However small they appear, those moments of connection can transform a transaction into a relationship."

At West Point, Annual Pillow Fight Becomes Weaponized; New York Times, 9/4/15

Dave Philipps, New York Times; At West Point, Annual Pillow Fight Becomes Weaponized:

"Upperclassmen overseeing freshmen “allowed the spirit activity to occur out of the desire to enhance the spirit of the class,” Colonel Kasker said, adding that those upperclassmen took “mitigating measures” to prevent injury, including requiring cadets to wear helmets.

But video shows that many of the cadets did not wear helmets. Cadets said that in at least a few cases helmets became weapons stuffed into pillowcases.

“West Point applauds the cadets’ desire to build esprit and regrets the injuries to our cadets,” Colonel Kasker said. “We are conducting appropriate investigations into the causes of the injuries.”

So far no cadets have been punished, and the academy has no plans to end the annual tradition. Colonel Kasker said commanders were not available for comment on Friday."

Why Is Science So Straight?; New York Times, 9/4/15

Manil Suri, New York Times; Why Is Science So Straight? :

"Underrepresentation is just one factor that reduces visibility. Unlike women and minorities, whose status is usually obvious, sexual orientation is a hidden characteristic. The fact that a sizable proportion of the L.G.B.T. STEM work force is closeted (43 percent, according to a 2015 estimate) further deepens this effect.

There is a another, more insidious factor at work. STEM culture is very problem-focused. Conversations, even over lunch, typically remain restricted to work matters (which is very different from what I’ve noticed in arts and humanities settings)...

In another interview, a chemical engineer working for a multinational oil company describes the atmosphere as “almost militaristic in terms of how they manage people” and said that they don’t even think diversity is an issue. To cope, many gays and lesbians must learn to suppress crucial aspects of their personalities and compartmentalize their lives...

Although there has been a concerted effort to make STEM fields more diverse in terms of gender and race, L.G.B.T. participation has received comparatively scant attention or resources. An exception is a recent grant by the National Science Foundation to address prejudice against sexual minorities in academic engineering departments. Grass-roots organizations like Out in STEM and the National Organization for Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals are taking the lead to provide mentoring and networking — activities that have proved indispensable in the retention of women and minorities.

An essential step is to break self-perpetuating patterns of concealment. Teachers must come out not just to colleagues, but to students — some of whom will need role models, and all of whom must get used to visible L.G.B.T. professionals to prepare for future workplace settings.

More critically, STEM culture must rein in the pressure to separate professional and personal identities. It should view its workers more holistically, welcoming their interests and differences as sources of enhanced resourcefulness."

The New Romantics in the Computer Age; New York Times, 9/4/15

David Brooks, New York Times; The New Romantics in the Computer Age:

"Empathy becomes a more important workplace skill, the ability to sense what another human being is feeling or thinking. Diabetes patients of doctors who scored high on empathy tests do better than patients with low-empathy doctors.

The ability to function in a group also becomes more important — to know how to tell stories that convey the important points, how to mix people together.

Secure workers will combine technical knowledge with social awareness — the sort of thing you get from your genes, from growing up in a certain sort of family and by widening your repertoire of emotions through reflection, literature and a capacity for intimacy...

There is the hero of serious thought. “Even early on,” Edmundson says, “as they enter the first phase of their lives as thinkers, they’ll have one of the greatest satisfactions a human being can have: They won’t lie. They’ll follow Socrates, and they’ll look out at the world, and with whatever mix of irony and sweetness and exasperation, they will describe it as it is to them. When others trim and sidestep, they will have the satisfaction of voicing honest perceptions.”"

Report on Pitt-CMU libraries delayed; University Times, 9/3/15

Marty Levine, University Times; Report on Pitt-CMU libraries delayed:

"Pitt and Carnegie Mellon still are exploring potential collaborations between their library systems, although a final report, originally due in June, has been delayed until this fall. (See University Times, Dec. 4, 2014.)

According to Dean Ronald Larsen of the School of Information Sciences, who chairs the review committee with CMU Dean of University Libraries Keith Webster, the group has been meeting through the spring and summer “to identify opportunities of mutual benefit to enhance collections and services to our students, faculty and staff.”

Larsen said in the spring Pitt and CMU librarians held an interactive idea workshop led by Sheila Corrall, an iSchool faculty member, and surveyed faculty on both campuses."

Avoid Worrying About a Future That May Never Happen; New York Times, 8/24/15

Carl Richards, New York Times; Avoid Worrying About a Future That May Never Happen:

"I know it’s clichéd to say that the best way to accomplish a major goal is one step at a time. But the adage acknowledges something vital. We can control the next step, but we can’t always control what comes after the next step. So why get worked up about what’s way out on the horizon?...

I find it fascinating how we get distracted by things that might happen, often to the point that we overlook what’s right in front of us. We do this a lot with money. We focus on big financial goals, like buying a home, paying for college, or retiring — and they seem so big we convince ourselves they’re impossible to reach. Then, because we feel overwhelmed, we stop trying to reach them.

Look, it’s important to know where we want to go and to set goals to get there, but we can’t let that big thing way off in the future intimidate us. We could lie in bed every night worrying about how we’ll get there, or we could follow my son’s approach: Keep our heads down and focus on the next step and then the step after that one."