Sheila Tobias

Background
Sheila Tobias has made an art and a science of being an outsider to science and mathematics, where hers is a household name for the books, Overcoming Math Anxiety, They’re not Dumb, They’re Different, Breaking the Science Barrier, and Rethinking Science as a Career. She is equally well known in academic and popular circles as a feminist and for her book, Faces of Feminism: An Activist’s Reflections on the Women’s Movement.

Supported by the Ford, Rockefeller, and Sloan Foundations, her work has made her a sought-after consultant on college and university curricula, general education, post-baccalaureate alternatives, professional master’s in science and mathematics, and women’s studies. She is a popular speaker on all these topics and is available for commencement addresses as well.

Education
Educated in history and literature at Harvard/Radcliffe, she earned a master’s in history and an M.Phil at Columbia University and eight honorary doctorates, the most recent being, Michigan State University (2000) and an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from WPI in 2002.

Current Activities
Coordinator, Sloan (Foundation) Science Master’s Outreach Project (www.ScienceMasters.com)
Consultant on manpower and national utilization of science professionals
Adviser on Curricular Broadening to the University of Leiden (Netherlands), Div. Of Natural Sciences
Board of Directors, Veteran Feminists of America
Member, American Astronomical Society, Astronomy 101 Committee
Member, editorial boards: Science Technology and Society, Bulletin; Science, Education, and Technology.

Most Recent Conference/Task Force Activities
Member, Council on Competitiveness Innovation Summit 2003-04.
Speaker, National Science Foundation, Malaysia, on "Fostering Creativity in the Science Math Classroom," May 2004.
Convener Workshop on Innovation at May 2005 Triple Helix Conference, Italy, May 2005.
Co-Editor, special Issue, Industry and Higher Education (UK) in preparation.

Most Recent Published Articles by or about Sheila Tobias
"Physics for Women, the last Frontier" (with Meg Urry, Aparna Venkatesan), report on IUPAP Conference on Women in Physics in Paris, Science Vol. 296, 17 May 2002.

"Women.com: are the geeks keeping the gals away from the computer?" Review of Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing by Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher, Literary Review of Canada, May 2002.

"The Newest Master’s, Professional Studies in the Sciences and Mathematics," Change Magazine, November/December 2002.

"Women and Physics, Physics and Women: A Puzzlement," chapter in Science Literacy for the Twenty-First Century, Festschrift in honor of Leon Lederman, Sept. 2003.

Articles in Wall St. Journal (August 2004) and USA Today (July 2004) about Tobias as co-founder and spokesperson for Professional Science Master’s.

"The Prevailing Norms in Science and their Link to Women’s Participation" American Women in Science (AWIS), A Hand up (in press, 2005).

• THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM: FACULTY-MADE TESTS IN COLLEGE SCIENCE (with Jacqueline Raphael) (New York: Plenum Press, 1997)
• FACES OF FEMINISM: AN ACTIVIST’S REFLECTIONS ON THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT (Boulder, Westview Press, 1997)
• RETHINKING SCIENCE AS A CAREER: PERCEPTIONS AND REALITIES IN THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES (with Daryl Chubin and Kevin Aylesworth) (Tucson: Research Corporation, 1995)
• REVITALIZING UNDERGRADUATE SCIENCE: WHY SOME THINGS WORK AND MOST DON’T (Tucson: Research Corporation, 1992)
• BREAKING THE SCIENCE BARRIER (with Carl Tomizuka) (New York: The College Board, 1992)
• THEY’RE NOT DUMB, THEY’RE DIFFERENT: STALKING THE SECOND TIER (Tucson: Research Corporation, 1990)
• WOMEN, MILITARISM, AND WAR (with Jean B. Elshtain) (Lanham, Md.: Univ. Press of America. 1990)
• SUCCEED WITH MATH: EVERY STUDENT’S GUIDE TO CONQUERING MATH ANXIETY (New York: The College Board, 1987)
• THE PEOPLE’S GUIDE TO NATIONAL DEFENSE (New York: William Morrow, 1982)
• OVERCOMING MATH ANXIETY (New York: W. W. Norton, 1978 and 1994, revised)

Sheila Tobias

Talks & Books

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