By: Arden Wynn
The STEM committee was brought to the University of Arkansas just last year. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math, which are all male dominant fields of work.
The committee’s mission is to involve the whole campus, regardless of gender, race, or age, to work together in order to achieve equality. The committee is reaching out to all majors at the university to join.
Senior Biology major, Annah Love, is the first non-engineering major to be on the STEM team. Love said, “This is really about overcoming barriers and stereotypes of women.” Love has felt stereotyped by men in the field of work she is wanting to pursue. Love said, “Male physicians or staff will automatically assume I would rather be a nurse than a surgeon.”
Statistics shown that over the past three years the number of female’s in STEM nearly doubled. This committee went from being offered only by the chemical engineering department, and is now being offered campus wide.
Founder and starter of the committee, Haley Knighten, said, “our mission is to involve everyone and to create more equality for women in STEM.”
Knighten even added, “we want to involve men in any way that we can. Once they understand a woman’s perspective, it will give them a new outlook on equality.”
The STEM Committee is open for registration, and students who are interested can go online and apply to make a difference.