ENTIRE SURVEY, 11/23/2009
Dear MIT Graduate Student,
I am writing to ask you to complete a survey of graduate women students sponsored by the Office of the Dean for Graduate Education, the Division of Student Life, and the Graduate Student Council. The goal of this survey is to understand how well we meet the needs of women students and how we might do better.
You do not have to complete this survey in one sitting. You may re-enter the survey at any time, and your previous responses will be visible to edit and complete. This survey is completely voluntary, and you may answer as few or as many questions as you wish. All data will be treated as confidential and will be reported in summary format.
There will be an opportunity at the end of the survey to enter into a drawing for one (1) $50 TechCash card and two (2) $25 TechCash cards.
Thank you in advance for completing this survey.
Sincerely,
Blanche E. Staton
Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Education
Begin the survey>>
You will need MIT web certificates to enter the survey.
If you have any questions about this survey, please contact websurvey@mit.edu.
About You
| What year are you in your program? |
| 1st year |
| 2nd year |
| 3rd year |
| 4th year |
| 5th year or higher |
| What is your current degree program? |
| Masters (S.M., M.B.A., M.Arch., M.C.P.) |
| Masters in Engineering (M.Eng.) |
| Engineer |
| Doctorate (Ph.D., Sc.D.) |
| Does your department currently offer resources, workshops, or receptions specifically for graduate women? |
| Yes |
| No |
| Don't know |
If yes, what resources, workshops, or receptions are you aware of? Please list below.
| Do you have any children or plan to have any children while you are a graduate student at MIT? |
| Yes, I have children |
| Yes, I plan to have children while at MIT |
| Yes, I am considering having children while at MIT |
| No |
| Have not decided |
MIT Resources for Graduate Women Students
| Please rate the following institute-wide resources based on two scales: usage and quality of experience, if applicable. | Have you used this resource? | If you used the resource, please rate the quality of your experience. |
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| Aware of resource, USED IT | Aware of resource, HAVE NOT USED it | Not aware of resource | Poor | Fair | Good | Very good | Excellent | Not applicable | |||
| Graduate Women's Group (GWG) | |||||||||||
| Association of MIT Alumnae (AMITA) | |||||||||||
| Office of the Dean for Graduate Education (ODGE) | |||||||||||
| Graduate Community Fellows | |||||||||||
| Graduate Women's Reading Group (A student-run group that reads a book per month; sponsored by ODGE) |
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| Student Support Services (S^3) | |||||||||||
| Graduate Student Council (GSC) | |||||||||||
| Mediation@MIT and Resources For Easing Friction and Stress (REFS) | |||||||||||
| MIT Ombuds Office | |||||||||||
| MIT Women's Studies Program (gradfeminists@mit.edu) | |||||||||||
| MentorNet (http://www.mentornet.net/) | |||||||||||
| MIT Campus Police | |||||||||||
| Aware of resource, USED IT | Aware of resource, HAVE NOT USED it | Not aware of resource | Poor | Fair | Good | Very good | Excellent | Not applicable | |||
| MIT Medical's Gynecology | |||||||||||
| MIT Medical's Obstetrics | |||||||||||
| MIT Medical's Pediatrics | |||||||||||
| MIT Medical's Mental Health Services | |||||||||||
| MIT Medical's Center for Health Promotion and Wellness | |||||||||||
| Student Activities Office (SAO) | |||||||||||
| International Students Office (ISO) | |||||||||||
| spouses&partners@mit | |||||||||||
| Other (please specify) |
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MIT Services for Graduate Women Students
MIT offers a number of services for use by graduate women students.
| Have you participated in the following programs available to graduate women students? | Yes | No, but planning to | No, not planning to | Was not aware of this service |
| Graduate Women welcoming reception | ||||
| Cheney Room (3-310) | ||||
| Graduate Women lunches | ||||
| Graduate Mom lunches | ||||
| Path of Professorship Workshop | ||||
| Leaders in Life Workshop | ||||
| Guest speaker lunches | ||||
| Other (please specify) |
| Have you utilized the following services available to graduate women students and graduate women groups? | Yes | No, but planning to | No, not planning to | Was not aware of this service |
| Personal counseling from faculty or staff (someone to talk to if anything happens) | ||||
| Help starting departmental women group | ||||
| Help building interdepartmental connections | ||||
| Help programming workshops | ||||
| Help formulating initiatives | ||||
| Help planning events | ||||
| Other (please specify) |
MIT Events for Graduate Women Students
| Please indicate which of the following types of events most interest you. Select one topic in each column. | Most interesting | 2nd most interesting | 3rd most interesting |
| Social events with peers on-campus | |||
| Social events with peers off-campus | |||
| Round table discussions | |||
| Networking with faculty | |||
| Networking with alumni | |||
| Technical/professional conferences at MIT or elsewhere |
| MIT offers workshops on a variety of topics relevant to women students. Please indicate which of the following workshop topics most interest you. Select one topic in each column. | Most interesting | 2nd most interesting | 3rd most interesting | 4th most interesting |
| Academic development and advising relationship (as graduate student) | ||||
| Academic development and career path choices (post graduate degree) | ||||
| Academic, professional, and personal mentoring | ||||
| Balancing work, family, and life | ||||
| Health and wellness | ||||
| Communication and interpersonal skills | ||||
| Personal stories | ||||
| Self-understanding | ||||
| Resources around MIT | ||||
| Other 1 (please specify) | ||||
| Other 2 (please specify) |
| In general, how important do you think it is to have events where the participants are largely and/or entirely women? |
| Not important |
| Somewhat important |
| Very important |
| Essential |
| I don't know |
If you think it is important or essential to have graduate student events targeted directly to women, please indicate what kind of events.
Functions of Support for Graduate Women Students
| How important to you are the following functions of graduate women support at MIT? | Not important | Somewhat important | Very important | Essential | No opinion |
| Events that welcome new graduate student women | |||||
| Programs that build community amongst women at MIT | |||||
| Opportunities for MIT offices to share relevant information (e.g., conferences/ fellowships/news/tips) and to publicize resources for graduate women students | |||||
| Encouragement for women students to take on leadership roles | |||||
| Workshops on topics related to graduate women students | |||||
| Events and Programs that address feelings of isolation for graduate women | |||||
| Career planning guidance | |||||
| Opportunities to learn how to communicate more effectively with male colleagues and advisors | |||||
| Connections with alumnae (female alumni) | |||||
| Information regarding existing MIT resources for graduate women | |||||
| Personal counseling or confidential support | |||||
| Conflict resolution training | |||||
| Mental health support from a health professional |
Your Feelings About MIT Resources and Services for Graduate Women Students
| Please rate your agreement or disagreement with the following statements. | Strongly disagree | Somewhat disagree | Nether agree nor disagree | Somewhat agree | Strongly agree | Not applicable | |
| I would like to have more formal mentoring opportunities from within MIT. | |||||||
| I would like to see graduate women's events and programming organized by an institute-wide women's group. | |||||||
| I feel confident handling difficult situations in the laboratory or research group. | |||||||
| I feel a sense of community among graduate women students at MIT. | |||||||
| I feel empowered to voice my academic contributions and request professional acknowledgement (e.g., financial support, letter of recommendation, paper authorship, etc.) | |||||||
| I feel empowered to voice my personal concerns and request personal support from MIT when needed. | |||||||
| I feel that graduate women student support services are not necessary. | |||||||
| I would like to see a greater connection among graduate women at MIT across schools and departments. |
| Have you, or other MIT graduate women students you know, experienced the following situations at MIT? | Yes | No |
| Have you had difficult conversation(s) with your advisor, where the difficulty could be attributed to your being a woman? | ||
| Have you received one-on-one mentoring from a female faculty member? | ||
| Have you experienced or observed inappropriate or negatively stereotyping comments directed toward graduate women students either in the classroom or other professional settings? |
| As a graduate woman student, how supported do you feel as an individual at MIT? |
| Not at all supported |
| Minimally supported |
| Somewhat supported |
| Mostly supported |
| Completely supported |
| In general, how supportive is MIT to the needs of graduate women students? |
| Not at all supportive |
| Minimally supportive |
| Somewhat supportive |
| Mostly supportive |
| Completely supportive |
Are you willing to be contacted for focus groups or to share more about your experiences regarding graduate women support at MIT? If so, please list your name and email address.
Name
Email
Resources for Graduate Student Mothers
| Does your department have its own graduate mom group? |
| Yes |
| No |
| Don't know |
| Does your on-campus graduate residence have its own graduate mom group? |
| Yes |
| No |
| Don't know |
| Not applicable (e.g., I live off-campus) |
| Which of the following institute-wide graduate mom support resources have you used? How helpful were they? | Have you used this resource? | If applicable, how helpful was this resource? | |||||||||
| Aware of resource, USED IT | Aware of resource, HAVE NOT USED it | Not aware of resource | Very unhelpful | Somewhat unhelpful | Neither helpful or unhelpful | Somewhat helpful | Very helpful | Not applicable | |||
| MIT FamilyNet | |||||||||||
| Graduate Mom lunches | |||||||||||
| GSC Family subcommittee | |||||||||||
| The Center for Work, Family, & Personal Life | |||||||||||
| Other (please specify) |
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| Other (please specify) |
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| Other (please specify) |
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What is the one thing MIT could do to improve support for graduate moms?
Last Section: Your Comments
Please use a few words to describe the most important positive aspects of current graduate women support at MIT.
Please use a few words to describe the most important negative aspects of current graduate women support at MIT.
Other comments: