I was exceptionally pleased when I learned from Deborah last fall that we would have an opportunity to host this even on our campus, and I want to welcome you all here. The topic is of exceptional importance to the Berkeley campus.

I want to thank the Chancellor's Coordinating Committee on the Status of Women, the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate's Committee on the Status of Women and Ethnic Minorities, and the Prytanean Honor Society for all of their work in organizing this event. You have certainly succeeded in bringing together an impressive group of speakers and participants to discuss a critical issue for UC Campuses.

Why is this meeting so important?

The data clearly shows that both for UC as a whole and for the Berkeley campus women continue to be underrepresented in general and dramatically underrepresented in certain areas of science and engineering, relative to available pools. The data also shows that at least in certain areas the problem has gotten worse since 209. The numbers are also discouraging in absolute terms, with only 23% of Berkeley campus faculty being women, a number that has been flat for 3 years after a long period of gradual increase. There's also ample evidence that we do not do enough to provide a supportive work environment for women in many cases in both the staff and faculty ranks.

This situation has to be addressed, for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the most basic is that as we address the opportunities of the 21st century, the University must take better advantage of the wide range of talent that women bring to the academy. We're missing out on that vast talent pool. I believe that increasing the number of women in all aspects of academia, and creating a more supportive work environment is one of the areas to which we must pay attention.

Like the other campuses, we are taking steps to correct this problem. For example as part of each case submitted for faculty recruitment this spring the department must do a self-assessment in which they compare themselves to their peers in terms of recruitment of women and minorities. I think you may hear later from Charles Henry about a planned climate survey. The State audit of UC faculty hiring practices will be underway soon, and we are encouraging the faculty on this campus to fully participate. We hope that will give us a better understanding of some of the sources of the problem. And, the Chancellor of this campus is meeting this coming Monday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the leadership from other academic institutions to discuss gender discrimination and ways to address it.

This conference, will be an important compliment to all these steps, and others. Your discussions will help guide us on how to better understand the problem and on how to better devise solutions.

Now let me turn to my pleasurable task of introducing our keynote speaker.

Professor Nancy Hopkins,is a true expert on the subject of gender discrimination in academia. Among other things, she will talk to you today about a very interesting and sometimes disturbing report on Women Faculty in Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that was written in 1996 by a committee she chaired.

It is a report that makes clear, as the Faculty Chair stated, "that gender discrimination in the 1990's is subtle but pervasive, and stems largely from unconscious ways of thinking that have been socialized into all of us, men and women alike." While we have made progress from the days of overt intimidation and harassment, "the consequences of these more subtle forms of discrimination are equally real and equally demoralizing."

Dr.Hopkins is currently the Amgen, Inc. Professor of molecular biology at MIT, the author of numerous scientific papers, a textbook, and has received many awards for her teaching and research, including appointment as a fellow to the National Academy of Sciences. In 1995, she was appointed Chair of the first Committee on Women Faculty in the School of Science and in 2000, she was appointed Co-Chair on the First Council on Faculty Diversity at MIT.

Nancy, I want to thank you personally for coming and sharing your experiences with us I fully expect that your wisdom will help enormously on this and the other UC campuses.

Thank you.