Over the past few weeks, I’ve had a chance to lead an international session on Women in STEM and Diversity (Mujeres en STEM y Diversidad) in Ecuador (Agenda – Broadening the STEM Research Participation of Women-URM-Disabilities), lead an international National Science Foundation delegation, and participate in a national conversation on career-life balance as part of the ACE and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s National Challenge for Higher Education. But perhaps one of the most special things to happen this month is the publication of our paper on “The Jessica Effect” in honor of one of my former students, the late Jessica Soto Perez. I am very pleased to announce that our paper on “The Jessica Effect” was published last week.
This journal issue on “Gender Equity and STEM” can be purchased for $10 here: AAC&U Peer Review.
The “Jessica Effect” article can be accessed here. Jessica was special, and sometimes emotions can hit you when you least expect it. So, I’m actually crying as I write this (trying to regain composure because I’m in a public place), but I’m overwhelmed with remembering Jessica’s laugh, and her smile, and her plans for the future. She is the reason why I’ve been so involved in Puerto Rico. Jessica was so excited when she found out that I was going to Puerto Rico for the first time. She wanted to go back to the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez to become an engineering professor. Jessica was in my office, talking about her plans to be a professor on the day that she died. Here she was talking to me outside of my office at UMBC, back in 2004.
Jessica was one of our first PROMISE AGEP Peer Mentors:
I miss her!
Her legacy lives on. My work in Latin America and the Caribbean was inspired by her. She continues to motivate the work of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP, the ADVANCE Hispanic Women in STEM project, and our “Women in STEM” program at LACCEI. Thank you Jessica.
The work continues, on an international level. The agenda from the 2014 “Mujeres en STEM” program in Ecuador is here:
– Dedicado a mi Mami Lucy (adoptada), en memoria de Jessica.
Categories: All, Education, Engineering, Graduate School, Inspiration, Latin America, Mentoring, Puerto Rico, Science, STEM, Technology
Renetta Garrison Tull - Living Life Online 
Gracias, hija, Renetta. Siempre mantienes viva el deseo de Jessica, por aportar un bien social, ayudando de alguna forma a los demás. Sus carcajadas no me permiten estar triste por mucho tiempo. Quiero que sepas que fue una hija, hermana, nieta, prima y amiga muy especial, desde bien niña ya era maestra y pasaba sus vacaciones dándole clases a sus vecinos y familia. Ella Está viva en el corazón de toda la familia al igual que en el tuyo. Te amo mucho, que Dios te bendiga siempre. De parte de tu mami Lucy.
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The next talk on “The Jessica Effect” will be at the ABRCMS Conference, San Antonio, TX, Friday, Nov. 14, 2014, 9:45 AM, Gonzalez Convention Center, Room 212 A/B.
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Very interesting Dr. Tull. I never knew Jessica but I saw her picture in the hallway of the TRC and was in the same department as her advisor. I felt connected with her somehow, as a female graduate student of color in the same department, but she had suffered fatal domestic violence. It was interesting to learn that this was the origin of a shift that took place in PROMISE.
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