I also had some suggestions that I wanted to share, but I am in the
middle of a big project at work. hopefully I will be able to write
later today, or tomorrow. stay tuned.
On 1/10/2017 11:59 AM, (Redacted sender insanas for DMARC) wrote:
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 <mailto:pdmaley@xxxxxxxxx>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* "dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
*To:* pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto: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.
