South Africa women's coach Desiree Ellis bemoans the poor finishing that saw her side knocked out of Olympic qualifying.
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Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Students spearhead group to enhance the graduate experience
What do graduate students in engineering want?
This was the question before a new advisory group launched by the MIT School of Engineering in late 2017 — the school’s first comprised entirely of graduate students. This fall the group is rolling out its inaugural initiatives: a graduate-level leadership minor or certificate and a set of recommendations intended to improve advisor-advisee relations.
GradSAGE (short for Graduate Student Advisory Group for Engineering) was established by Anantha Chandrakasan just months after he became dean of the MIT School of Engineering.
“I thought it would be great to get student engagement as we shaped new initiatives, and to learn their perspectives on important issues and challenges they face,” says Chandrakasan. “In a sense, we are listening to our customers.”
The dean already counted department heads and other school stakeholders among his advisors. But Chandrakasan, the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, felt he was missing the voice of students.
“The beauty of this group is that the students came up with a list of topics and priorities for us to focus on,” Chandrakasan says. “This was an opportunity for them to tell me what was most important, and while I wasn’t surprised by their choices, I was surprised by how passionately they felt about these areas.”
Soft skills matter
The very first gathering of GradSAGE, on Dec. 5, 2017, was like “a brainstorming-schmooze session,” recalls Parker Vascik, a fifth-year graduate student in aeronautics and astronautics (AeroAstro). “But we quickly moved toward identifying specific topics where we felt we could make significant changes in the academic culture and environment.”
One topic that immediately seized the interest of the group involved expanded opportunities to learn and practice leadership abilities.
“Grad students come to MIT hoping to have an impact on the world, and they are probably in the top 1 percent in terms of technical skills,” says Lucio Milanese, a fourth-year graduate student in nuclear science and engineering. “But there are nontechnical skills, soft skills, that are essential to communicating ideas and managing people that are just as important in solving really important problems.”
GradSAGE research suggested MIT engineering graduate students could benefit from more structured opportunities to learn and practice soft skills.
“There is an ocean of knowledge to acquire around teamwork — giving and receiving feedback, conflict resolution, growth mindset, that the basic graduate school curriculum doesn’t address,” says Dhanushkodi Mariappan, a fourth-year graduate student in mechanical engineering. After working in industry and launching his own startup before grad school, Mariappan felt strongly about what was needed.
“A formal leadership program could propel MIT graduate students in their careers, whether they are interested in taking on jobs in industry or in academia, where in some sense they will be running labs or research groups that are like little companies.”
A readymade leadership curriculum
Potential solutions to the leadership education challenge lay close at hand. Mariappan pointed the group to the Bernard M. Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program (GEL), a center focused on helping undergraduates acquire leadership skills. Mariappan made particular note of a GEL course he had taken, 6.928 (Leading Creative Teams), taught by David Niño.
“The class was eye-opening,” says Mariappan, “We were introduced to frameworks that can be applied to solve problems in an incredible range of real-world situations.” It was a course with a blueprint for the kind of curriculum GradSAGE hoped to advance, so Mariappan recruited Niño to the effort.
“To achieve something great in engineering takes a team, but engineers often don’t know how to develop a vision, recruit a talented team, facilitate group decisions, negotiate, delegate, and lead everyone in the same direction,” says Niño, who now works closely with GradSAGE. “Our courses involve practice of these leadership skills, so students can continue to evolve after graduation, and apply these over a lifetime.”
As a result of this collaboration, a new option for satisfying a doctoral minor requirement draws on GEL’s classes, including new ones offered this fall that can serve as cornerstones for the minor: 6.S978 (Negotiation and Influence Skills for Technical Leaders) and 6.S976 (Engineering Leadership in the Age of Artificial Intelligence). Students whose doctoral programs do not permit a minor can instead pursue the GEL Leadership Certificate, which will be launched in the spring of 2020. Leadership classes taken before then will be retroactively recognized and can count toward the certificate.
“We envision hundreds of graduate students pursuing some sort of leadership development experience —not just in the school of engineering but in the other MIT schools,” says Milanese. “In 10 to 15 years, we want employers to recognize a unique brand of MIT leadership and value MIT graduate students as nearly universally possessing outstanding leadership skills.”
“A very special relationship”
The second major thrust of GradSAGE focused on an aspect of graduate life universally acknowledged as critical.
“Advisor-advisee relations arose in every single GradSAGE discussion as a root issue for nearly everything graduates experience, from mental health to taking on leadership opportunities,” says Vascik. “Graduate students have a very special relationship with one person who is boss, mentor, and a little bit of family, and this person guides your destiny while you’re here.”
“Most problems between advisors and students boil down to two issues: poor advisor-advisee fit and poor communication,” according to Jessica Boles, who is starting her third year as a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science (EECS).
“Many students arrive at MIT thinking, ‘Here is a field I’d like to work in, here’s a prominent person in the field I’d like to work with,’” says Boles. “But there are lots of other things to consider: Who will directly mentor them, what’s the work environment like, what are the advisor’s expectations and policies?”
From informal surveys, Boles and her GradSAGE colleagues knew that an unclear understanding of an advisor’s standards and styles could lead to friction, disappointment, stress, lab-switching, and sometimes even departure from MIT.
Different professors have starkly different approaches to dealing with their graduate students, notes Vascik. “One might like to see students three times a week and micromanage research, while another wants to get together once per semester,” he says. “Factors such as these can dramatically shape a student’s experience in graduate school, and we believe these styles and expectations should be communicated to incoming and current students more effectively.”
Transparency and communication
Approaching the challenge like engineers, the GradSAGE students developed flow charts of specific advisor-advisee problems, interviewed faculty, reviewed literature, and derived a set of potential mitigations. They ran their proposals by the Office of Graduate Education, MIT Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart, MIT Vice Chancellor Ian Waitz, and then presented their recommendations to Chandrakasan. In a matter of months, the group had approval to pilot several initiatives.
Among these efforts: requesting advisors to post online brief statements about their philosophies and policies related to research advising (an effort now being explored within the AeroAstro and EECS departments); and centralizing and publicizing resources for graduate students who encounter difficulties with their advisors. In addition, Boles produced a video that details the kinds of questions admitted students should consider during the graduate school selection process, which she unveiled online to admitted EECS students just prior to MIT's visit weekend last spring.
“It was well-received, especially among the populations of students we really hope to reach: international students, underrepresented minorities, and students without prior graduate school experience,” she says. “So many more students sought information on the roles advisors would play in their research and career, and on the work environments in potential research labs, including expectations around publications, work hours, and group interactions.” A new, enhanced video is in the works intended for all incoming engineering graduate students.
“Our goal is to increase transparency of advising style so we can ensure better advisor-advisee fits from the beginning,” says Boles. Down the line, adds Vascik, this work could translate to reduced stress among graduate students, fewer students switching labs, and more cohesive and productive labs. “Prospective students stand to benefit the most, because with online information, and their ability to ask smart questions, they will have a good sense before they arrive of what awaits them here.”
For both the advising and leadership GradSAGE ventures, this fall marks just the start of a longer process. Growing these programs will take both time and money, which Chandrakasan seems intent to provide. “What we have done so far is expose important issues, and now it’s a matter of actually converting them into actionable items, which we must do,” he says.
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Leslie Jones speaks on ‘SNL’ departure: “I will miss holding it down”
Last week, we learned that Leslie Jones would be leaving her post on Saturday Night Live but she has stayed pretty quiet on the issue ever since.
The comedienne addressed the news in a series of tweets on Tuesday morning.
“I know you will be as excited as I am when you see some of the amazing projects and adventures that I have coming up very soon!” she posted along with the hashtag #iamnotdeadjustgraduating.
“I cannot thank NBC, the producers, writers, and amazing crew enough for making ‘SNL’ my second home these last five years,” she continued.
Leslie Jones leaving ‘Saturday Night Live’ to pursue exciting new projects
“To the incredible cast members: I will miss working, creating and laughing with you,” she added. “I will miss holding it down with Kenan (Thompson) everyday, I will miss (Cecily Strong’s) impression of me making me laugh at myself often, I will miss (Kate McKinnon’s) loving hugs and talks when I needed. And of course Colin (Jost), you porcelain-skinned Ken doll. I will miss all my cast mates!! Especially being at the table reads with them!! Everyone needs to know Leslie Jones couldn’t have done any of the things I did without these people…One last thing – to the fans – you are the BEST!! Thank you for all the love and support through my ‘SNL’ years.”
Leslie Jones lands Netflix standup special to kick off in D.C.; warns Trump not to come
1/5
Yes it’s true I am leaving Saturday Night Live. I cannot thank NBC, the producers, writers, and amazing crew enough for making SNL my second home these last five years. Lorne Michaels, you’ve changed my life in so many ways! Thank you for being my mentor and confidant and for pic.twitter.com/OjRrOx5owj— Leslie Jones 🦋 (@Lesdoggg) September 3, 2019
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#FlyingWhileBlack: Black man forced out of first class seat for a dog
An American Airlines passenger has filed a lawsuit against the company for forcing him off a flight to make way for a dog.
—Simone Biles speaks on brother’s triple homicide arrest—
Dana Holcomb says he had to find another way home after being booted off of his flight so that a dog could fly first-class with its owner. Holcomb, flanked by his fraternity brothers and attorney says he had an allergic reaction to a support dog on a flight to Austin from Las Vegas, where he celebrated his birthday.
“Dana was taken off an airplane so a dog could fly first-class cabin,” said attorney, Reginald McKamie, Sr.
Holcomb said he was wiling to switch seats but no one wanted to do so, even after a flight attendant and the pilot got involved. Employees reportedly said Holcomb got combative when he was asked to move to the back of the plane, KWTX reports.
“At that point (workers) told him you’re going to go to the rear of the plane or get off the plane,” McKamie said.
“What American Airlines is doing is discrimination. They have repeatedly humiliated African-American citizens by throwing them off the plane, leaving them with no way home, no hotel, just throwing them off the plane,” McKamie added.
The airline responded in a statement saying they do make accommodations for dogs.
“American makes every effort to accommodate all passengers, including those traveling with and seated near service or support animals,” a statement read.
“We are proud to serve customers of all backgrounds and are committed to providing a positive, safe travel experience for everyone who flies with us.
—Nate Parker apologizes for being ‘tone deaf’ about college assault scandal—
Federal regulations require American Airlines to transport service and support animals. American makes every effort to accommodate all passengers, including those traveling with and seated near service or support animals. In the case of an allergy, we work to re-seat a passenger further away from the service or support animal. If the customer is still not comfortable flying, we will re-book them on the next available flight to their destination.
If a lawsuit is filed, American will review it and respond in court when appropriate.”
“We are seeking punitive damages, contractual damages,” McKamie said.
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Debra Lee Shares How She Became a Woman of Power within the Entertainment Industry
Debra L. Lee, former chairman and CEO of BET Networks, is a trailblazer within the entertainment industry. Over the span of her three-and-a-half decades-long career, she has been able to innovate, lead, and remain a dominant force.
As people get to know her, Lee describes herself as a businesswoman, mother, daughter, and friend. “I also just think of myself as Debi who grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina, who is concerned about my community and finding ways to give back,” says Lee.
In May 2018, Lee stepped down from her role at BET after 32 years of leadership.
“I’m sketching out the next phase of my life which looks like it will be filled with board work, not-for-profit work, and overlooking the foundation I started, Leading Women Defined,” says Lee.
As a philanthropist with strong business acumen, Lee serves on the board of directors for Marriott International, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and she was recently named to AT&T’s board of directors. Lee has also served on the board for Twitter and is a past chair of the Advertising Council and a trustee emeritus at Brown University.
RELATED: What It’s Really Like For Young Black Women On Boards
Lee is a natural leader, and she says that it all started the moment that she was elected class president on the first day of sixth grade. “That forced me into a leadership role. I think that says a lot about Greensboro and the type of black community they had there, and the way they supported and pushed each other. Going to an all-black school really had an impact on me.”
Nearly 40 years ago, Lee began her career as a lawyer after graduating from Harvard Law School and worked on a communications team as a lawyer for Steptoe & Johnson, a Washington D. C. based corporate law firm, who at the time had BET as a client.
After making the decision not to continue her work as a lawyer in Washington D.C. as President Ronald Regan was set to take office, BET asked her to spearhead the legal department for the network after working closely with her for six years as a client. Lee seized the opportunity and was named vice president and general counsel.
She didn’t have a master plan but she was ready
Some would consider her experience working for the firm and transitioning to BET Networks as fate, but Lee says that it was a matter of being prepared.
“I pretty much knew I didn’t want to be a lawyer forever. But I did want to have an impact,” says Lee. With the intention to influence the way that business was done at the company and her ability to learn, Lee climbed the corporate ladder in a timely manner with innovation as one of her main priorities as she led teams and collaborated with other executives.
Lee served throughout the company in many capacities and served as the president and COO of BET Networks for nearly 10 years and made it a point to learn as she led.
“I had seen the company in action and learned a lot about the areas that I was most unfamiliar about, like advertising and programming. I knew a lot about deal-making and legal issues, but I hadn’t worked very much in programming and advertising. But by the time I became COO, I was ready to do that,” says Lee.
As a result of her leadership, Lee was named chairman and CEO of the network shortly after BET was acquired by Viacom. “That was a different kind of leadership and responsibility to be able to represent BET at the senior staff meetings for Viacom and argue for resources and budget increases to get the kind of budget I needed to produce the quality programming that I knew our audience deserved,” Lee adds.
With excellence as a standard, she made sure that she and her team learned their industry intricately so that they would stay on the cutting edge.
Together everyone achieves more
“It was clear early on that for the team to be successful, we couldn’t get to a place and be satisfied with where we were. We had to keep innovating. Technology was changing every day. We didn’t want any other company to come in and take our audience because of new technology or a new platform.”
That mindset coupled with her ambition was the formula for successful and original programming such as Being Mary Jane and the New Edition Story, business ventures such as the launch of the Centric network, acquiring the hit show The Game from the CW Network, and creating quality content that resonated with its intergenerational and international audience.
In the spirit of true leadership, Lee believes in nurturing top talent and recognizes the importance of building strong teams. “I’ve been very fortunate to have a career that I was passionate about, not only the mission of the company, but also hiring, grooming, and mentoring young African American executives.”
With power comes responsibility
And as a woman of power, she is mindful of how she uses her voice and influence.
“I had to get comfortable with the fact that I was a powerful woman. Power is not necessarily something that I thought came with the position. But once I had it, I had to decide what I wanted to do with it, what I wanted my legacy to be, what issues I wanted to change, and how I wanted to use resources to help with those issues,” says Lee.
Debra L. Lee, former Chairman & CEO of BET Networks (Image: Sharon Suh)
RELATED: BLACK ENTERPRISE’S Most Powerful Women in Business in 2017
Lee also makes room for other women at the table and has been able to build tables of her own as well as the community with Leading Women Defined, which has brought thousands of executive women together for the past 10 years including Michelle Obama and Sen. Kamala Harris.
When looking back on her career, Lee says that she wishes that she would have been more confident and found her voice earlier in her career. “I would tell my younger self, ‘Do not worry about being wrong. There’s no such thing as being wrong… Because it’s my life, my opinion, and my experiences. I [understand] that more and more every day. And that’s one of the exciting things about being on AT&T’s board and other boards that I’m on. I bring my experiences to that environment and I know I have something to add because I’ve had a lifetime of a career and experiences.”
For those who want to lead with intention, Lee offers this advice:
- Find your voice and speak up. Make it known you’re in the room. Don’t sit there quietly; speak out on issues that you care about.
- Build authentic relationships. It’s very important to have people to share concerns with and learn about the company.
- You don’t have to operate like a man in order to be a success. You do have to find your own management style and find ways to deal with issues when they arise.
Want more advice? Here are 17 career books written by black women to help you level up professionally.
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Campground worker who pulled gun on Black couple avoids jail time
The Mississippi granny with a gun who tried to scare off a Black couple from a campground while holding a gun, has been convicted of a misdemeanor.
—Nate Parker apologizes for being ‘tone deaf’ about college assault scandal—
On Tuesday, Ruby Nell Howell, 70, was found guilty in Oktibbeha County Justice Court of threatening exhibition of a weapon stemming from a May incident when she was caught on video confronting a Black couple and their dog at Kampgrounds of America.
Howell was facing up to three months in prison, but won’t do time. She only pays a paltry $250 fine and $182.50 in court fees, The Clarion-Ledger reports.
Typical.
Jessica and Franklin Richardson, the couple, almost lost their lives and luckily filmed the dangerous encounter with the racist woman and the clip soon went viral. With her gun drawn, Howell can be seen addressing the upset couple who told her multiple times she could have easily asked them to leave without whipping out her weapon.
“Today was a beautiful day so my husband, our 2-year-old dog, and myself, decided to Google a lake to visit and have a picnic,” Richardson wrote on Facebook. “Not five mins later a truck pulls up and a white lady screams at us, she then jumps out of her truck with a gun. And proceeded to point it at the three of us, simply because we didn’t make reservations.”
“This lady just pulled a gun because we out here and don’t have reservations,” Richardson says in the video earlier this year that she posted on Facebook.
—Simone Biles speaks on brother’s triple homicide arrest—
“The only thing you had to tell us was to leave, we would have left. You didn’t have to pull a gun.”
The couple even learned that they didn’t need a reservation to use the campgrounds.
The pistol-packing granny’s punishment is merely a slap on the wrist, which is surely a slap in the face to the victims.
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Prosecutors in R. Kelly case use marriage to Aaliyah to prove singer needs to remain behind bars
In a new court filing, prosecutors in the R. Kelly case are arguing that his marriage to a then 15-year-old Aaliyah is proof that the singer can’t be trusted around kids and has to continue to be contained behind bars.
—R. Kelly refuses to share jail cell: ‘I have too much going on’—
“Defendant even married a 15-year-old girl when he was 27 years old,” federal prosecutors said in newly filed court papers in the Eastern District of Illinois, The NY Daily News reports.
“The government produced in discovery to the defendant the official marriage application, marriage certificate, and annulment records for this marriage. Far from being a one-time mistake, defendant’s sexual abuse of minors was intentional and prolific,” they say.
Kelly is locked up at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Downtown Chicago, pending his trial.
The embattled singer faces 18 counts in federal indictments on various sex crimes in Chicago and Brooklyn. He faces 195 years for the Chicago case alone.
But as Kelly’s team fights for his release, the prosecution is gathering evidence to prove their case with the secret marriage Aaliyah marriage to say that Kelly needs to remain behind bars.
“The extent of defendant’s sexual abuse of minor girls is staggering,” prosecutors argue. “The indictment in this district alone alleges five minor victims, and as proffered at the detention hearing, defendant sexually abused those girls hundreds of times before they turned 18 years old.”
—Simone Biles speaks on brother’s triple homicide arrest—
Meanwhile, Kelly’s two girlfriends, Joycelyn Savage, 23, and Azriel Clary, 21, are reportedly trying to raise the funds to hire Tom Mesereau, the attorney who got Michael Jackson acquitted in his 2005 child molestation trial.
The post Prosecutors in R. Kelly case use marriage to Aaliyah to prove singer needs to remain behind bars appeared first on theGrio.
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Soccer star wants authorities and social media companies to combat racism
Inter Milan forward Romelu Lukaku called on soccer authorities to do more to combat racism after being the latest target of racial abuse that continues to blight the Italian game.
Lukaku converted Inter’s winning penalty kick against Cagliari on Sunday and then glared at home fans behind the goal as they had been directing monkey chants at the former Manchester United player, who is black.
“Many players in the last month have suffered from racial abuse.. I did yesterday to,” Lukaku wrote on Instagram on Monday.
“Football is a game to be enjoyed by everyone and we shouldn’t accept any form of discrimination that will put our game in shame. I hope the football federations all over world react strongly on all cases of discrimination!!!”
Lukaku also called on social media companies to take action.
“Social media platforms (instagram, Twitter, facebook..) need to work better as well as with football clubs because everyday you see at least a racist comment under a post of a person of colour.. we’ve been saying it for years and still no action.. Ladies and gentlemen it’s 2019 instead of going forward we’re going backwards and i think as players we need unify and make a statement on this matter to keep this game clean and enjoyable for everyone.”
Former United teammate Paul Pogba was recently targeted on Twitter with racial abuse after missing a penalty. Everton forward Moise Kean was subject to racist abuse when he played against Cagliari for Juventus last season, as was Blaise Matuidi the year before.
The Italian league did not sanction Cagliari for either incident, nor did they do so when Sulley Muntari was abused by the same team’s fans in 2017. The Pescara midfielder was so infuriated after unsuccessfully trying to get the referee to halt the game that he walked off the field and was shown a second yellow card and given a one-match ban, which was later overturned.
In response to the Lukaku chants, Serie A announced a new initiative to be launched in October whereby one player from each team will join an anti-racism team as “a testimonial that will be the bearer of the values of respect and equality.”
Cagliari vowed to do everything it can to eradicate the problem but also strongly defended its fans’ reputation.
“The Club underlines — once again — its intention to identify, isolate and ban those ignorant individuals whose shameful actions and behaviors are completely against those values that Cagliari Calcio strongly promotes in all their initiatives. Every single day,” the Sardinian club said in a statement.
“Cagliari Calcio does not want to underplay what occurred last night … but firmly rejects the outrageous charge and silly stereotypes addressed to Cagliari supporters and the Sardinian people, which are absolutely unacceptable.”
Lega Serie A, the Italian topflight’s governing body, retweeted Cagliari’s tweet linking to its statement along with the words “On and off the pitch, one message: (hashtag)NOTORACISM,” but has otherwise remained silent and has not responded to emails asking for comment.
Cagliari joined Lukaku in asking authorities to do more.
“Full solidarity to Romelu Lukeku and even stronger commitment toward annihilating one of the worst plagues that affects football and our world in general,” it added in its statement.
“However, as we are aware that technology is not enough, we believe our commitment needs a real support by the rest of the football stakeholders: starting from all the true supporters, to all the stewards in the stands, from police and security agents, passing to media and as well through Lega Serie A and FIGC. Cagliari Calcio is asking you all a solid help to win a battle that involves everyone. No one excluded.”
Cagliari could be punished on Tuesday when the league’s judge hands down sanctions following the weekend matches. The Italian soccer federation president has called for swifter retribution to similar incidents.
“What happened last night at Cagliari is serious regardless of the number of those who were guilty of these ignorant racist chants,” Gabriele Gravina told Italian national news agency Ansa.
“I don’t want to enter into what is the jurisdiction of the sporting justice system, which will proceed in autonomy in respect to the regulations … we have to make the sanctions still more forceful and more rapidly applied in order to fight this unjustifiable act.”
Inter did not release a statement of its own but also retweeted Cagliari’s tweet, adding the words “BUU (hashtag)BrothersUniversallyUnited.”
BUU, an acronym for Brothers Universally United, was the initiative Inter started in January when it was forced to play two matches behind closed doors as part of its punishment for racist chanting against Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly in a Dec. 26 league match.
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