I wish to thank Paul Maley and Alex Vrenios for their encouragement in wanting
to increase the number of minorities in the astronomy profession, and astronomy
clubs such as PAS. At the next PAS Meeting of the Minds we will have the topic
of increasing minority membership at PAS. Until then, anyone interested in the
project should read the emails of Paul (Monday) and Alex (Sunday) and also the
references Alex provided in his email. Anyone who has knowledge of potential
speakers, please notify me or Alex and we can check them out and schedule one
at an upcoming PAS general meeting. I am not sure what background would be best
for the speaker. Just brainstorming here, but perhaps an astronomer, or an
officer from an astronomy club that has successfully integrated minorities, or
Astronomy League official, or NASA outreach person, or high school or college
astronomy teacher, or civil rights expert, or sociologist, or ??? that would
draw minorities to our meeting and potentially generate some new minority
members. Also, think of how to directly do outreach to minority students.
Perhaps have a few PAS members attend a STEM night at a predominantly minority
high school within 5 or 10 miles of PVCC so that we could distribute literature
or talk to students to get them interested in a PAS meeting or star party,
which could lead to future membership.
Take care, Sam Insana President of PAS
-----Original Message-----
From: PAUL MALEY <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: pasmembers <pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Mon, Jan 9, 2017 5:12 am
Subject: [pasmembers] Re: Minority membership-
All:
Minority membership was a topic I was going to suggest for the "Meeting of the
Minds" but had to cancel out at the last minute. Having been in IOTA for more
than 40 years we have struggled with this same concern. In that period of time
there have been no Hispanic and just one African American female members. In
fact, the astronomy clubs I have been a member of has had virtually nil to a
tiny number of minority members most of whom as I recall were temporary. As the
US population demographics continues to move in that direction I highly suggest
that the traditional Caucasian membership issue be seriously considered. This
has also included a small female demographic which should also be expanded but
the main issue is the lack of Hispanic, African American and Asian constituency.
Having also worked at NASA for 4 decades starting with Apollo, I had no idea
about the minority women participation as was depicted in "Hidden Figures".
You can see that this long term problem extends itself throughout society and
it should be addressed. Only a concerted outreach will begin to work at solving
it.
Paul
Paul D. Maley email: pdmaley@xxxxxxxxx
From: "dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, January 8, 2017 8:14 PM
Subject: [pasmembers] 2 new astronomy movies
Dear PAS members, 2 weeks ago Mike, Paul Facuna, Vera, Frank and I saw the
movie "Passengers". It was a good Sci Fi flick. I saw it again recently in 3D
and it is even better. At Camelview Harkins tonight they had the movie prop of
the suspended animation chamber used in the actual movie, in the lobby.
Vera and I just saw the movie Hidden Figures. It was excellent, showing the
early successes and failures of NASA over 50 years ago. The story of how
minority women played an important part in the trajectory and reentry computing
was incredible and something that was new to me. We are the Phoenix
Astronomical Society, and yet our minority membership is very minimal. It would
be great if we could attract more minority amateur astronomers. Any ideas are
welcome. Have fun seeing the above 2 movies if you get a chance. Sam Insana PAS
President.
