Bock to be named winner of 2006 Violet Haas Award

Established in 1990, the award recognizes individuals, programs or departments currently at Purdue that have effectively facilitated the advancement of women in hiring, promotion, education and salary, or have generally enhanced a positive professional climate for women at the university.

A reception in Bock's honor will be held from 4-5 p.m. Friday (April 14) in Stewart Center, Room 204.

A statistics professor at Purdue since 1974, Bock was the key individual who helped develop the National Science Foundation-sponsored program Pathways to the Future Workshops. These workshops, usually held prior to the Joint Statistical Meeting, have been conducted since 1988. They give young female faculty an opportunity to come together and learn what is expected of academic researchers and ways to achieve these expectations.

"Because of Mary Ellen's dedication to establish these workshops, today there is a whole generation of young, successful women faculty who are making their presence felt in the statistical world," said Barbara S. Clark, director of the Science Diversity Office. "This generation includes the women in Purdue's statistics department, which is now made up of 33 percent women, up from 13 percent in 1997."

Bock became head of the Department of Statistics in the College in Science in 1995. She also served as director of the statistics program at the National Science Foundation from 1988-90.

The awards, sponsored by the Council on the Status of Women, are named for Haas, an electrical engineering professor from 1962 to 1986, who was instrumental in the early development of the Purdue chapter of the Society of Women Engineers. Bock will have her name added to the Violet Haas Legacy Plaque, outside Purdue Memorial Union, Room 108.

The Council on the Status of Women was formed in 1988-89 to create a voice for women at Purdue by studying existing university practices and procedures, and women's professional concerns.

The group has been active in issues related to women at Purdue, such as advocating for the development of a child-care facility and domestic partner benefits.

Writer: Christy Jones, (765) 494-1089, christyjones@purdue.edu

Source: Barbara S. Clark, director of Science Diversity Office, (765) 494-1765, barbclark@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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