Provides an overview of the changes that happen in girls' interest and performance in science throughout middle and high school. It provides recommendations for strategies to
encourage girls in the sciences. These recommendations focus on building a clearer pathway for young women to pursue science as a career.
The Research Center conducts research and shares its findings related to issues that impact women and girls.
Report Finds Mixed Progress in Women Holding Elected Office in Wisconsin
Authors: Wisconsin Women's Council and Alverno College Research Center for Women and Girls
Moving Wisconsin Forward, 2015: An Analysis of Wisconsin Women in Elected Office
Covers nearly 14,000 elected offices across Wisconsin state and local governments, including the state legislature and courts, as well as county, city, village, town, and school boards.
This report is the third in a series of benchmarking women serving in elected office across Wisconsin.
Adolescent Girls' College Aspirations: Precollege Expectations and Goal Setting of Adolescent Girls and Women
Author: Sandra E. Graham, Ph.D.
This paper looks at key issues about the aspirations for college held by adolescent girls. It raises issues about potential and perceived barriers to girls' aspirations, especially as girls
seek to enter nontraditional fields such as STEM.
Authors: Katie Krueger, B.A., Jennifer Saucerman, B.A., and Kris Vasquez, Ph.D.
The Research Center's Bullying: A Prevention Toolkit answers common questions about bullying; outlines action-oriented tips for parents, educators, and community
members; and provides resources for learning more about the topic. Our bullying prevention research has been shared with educators, community organizations, and representatives from the
business community.
College Age Women and Relational Aggression: Prevalence and Impact
Authors: Katie S. Krueger, B.A., Meghana Rao, M.A., Jeanna Salzer, B.A., and Jennifer C. Saucerman, B.A.
Relational aggression is a type of aggression in which harm is caused through damage to one's relationships or social status. The Research Center presents data from a study of college women
on their experiences and perceptions of relational aggression, including the form that aggressive behaviors take in a college sample.
Enhancing College Students' Mental Health: Contributions from the Perspective of Community Psychology
Author: Kim Skerven, MSW, Ph.D.
Enhancing College Students' Mental Health: Contributions from the Perspective of Community Psychology seeks to understand the current status of mental health in U.S. college and
university students, and to use the lens of community psychology as a way of exploring viable interventions with the potential of enhancing students' psychological well-being and, in turn,
their overall success in college.
Generational Diversity: Characteristics and Values of Millennials in the U.S. and Wisconsin
Authors: Amanda Page, B.A., and Kris Vasquez, Ph.D.
The generation known nationally as Millennials, born between 1982 and 2000, is the largest generation in American history. As with all generations, Millennials have been shaped by the events
and social forces they experienced as they came of age. They share some attitudes and values with people of different ages; they also have some distinguishing features that mark them, as a
group, as different from generations before. The purpose of this report is to look at Wisconsin data and national data about Millennials to provide insight into the general characteristics of
this generation as it begins to become politically and economically active in our society.
Psychological Barriers to STEM Participation for Women Over the Course of Development
Authors: Jennifer Saucerman, B.A., and Kris Vasquez, Ph.D.
Women continue to be underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), which has implications not only for individual women and their families but
also for the productivity of society. This literature review examines psychological factors over the course of development that contribute to the ongoing underrepresentation of women in these
fields. It discusses how parents and educators inadvertently communicate dissuading messages to girls about their relative math and science abilities and interests, how stereotypes
become internalized by both girls and boys and negatively affect performance, how beliefs about intelligence and the nature of STEM careers discourage women and girls, and how the features of
STEM careers can make it difficult for successful women to persist in the field.
Research Team: Sandra Graham, Ph.D., Chair; Megan Kemmet, B.A., Research Coordinator; Russell Brooker, Ph.D., Austin Doherty, Ph.D., Kimberly Miller, M.S., Kathleen O'Brien, Ph.D., Julia
Rice, J.D., Julie Ullman, Ph.D., and Christine Lidbury
This report provides a data-based profile of the lives of young women and girls in Wisconsin along key demographic, social, and economic dimensions. Scholarly and impartial, it is intended to
promote discussion of issues that arise from the data.
Authors: Katie Krueger, B.A., Kaela Broemer, B.A., Meghana Rao, M.A., Kate Masley, Ph.D., and Kris Vasquez, Ph.D.
This document updates the Status of Girls in Wisconsin 2007 Report. Like the 2007 report, its purpose is to consolidate data focused on Wisconsin girls, ages 10 to 19, and to
make the data accessible to a variety of individual stakeholders, agencies, groups, and institutions that have the needs and interests of Wisconsin girls in mind. It is our hope that the
findings in this update can help initiate action, collaboration, research, and programming that will ultimately improve the quality of girls' lives in the State of Wisconsin.
Our Teen Dating Violence: A Resource and Prevention Toolkit is modeled after the very successful Bullying: A Prevention Toolkit, which the Research
Center published in November 2011. Following this model, the toolkit contains sections on frequently asked questions, current research findings, action items, and resources for parents,
teachers, community members, and teens. Other topics include an examination of reporting issues related to teen dating violence, myths that may contribute to the acceptance of violence in
dating relationships, and the impact of gender and culture on teen dating violence.
Teen Dating Violence Prevention: Best Practices Documents
Authors: Kristin Payne, Ph.D., Terri Ward, B.A., Amy (Miller) Kerznar and Kris Vasquez, Ph.D. Best Practices for
Communities: Teen Dating Violence Prevention and Intervention highlights key information for the community to identify and address teen dating violence.
The Power of the Critical Thought Process: A Critical Thinking Model to Achieve Successful Outcomes in Quantitative Learning
Author: Linda Olszewski, M.B.A.
The Power of the Critical Thought Process: A Critical Thinking Model to Achieve Successful Outcomes in Quantitative Learning is a part of our Faculty Working Papers series.
Professor Linda Olszewski, M.B.A., noticed a recurring behavior of female students trying to solve a problem without having fully understood what they learned first. In response, Professor
Olszweski has created a new critical thinking model that incorporates three significant stages that will address identified needs.
Please contact the Research Center at Research.Center@alverno.edu for more information about this publication.
