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Cover Story: Women, Unlimited

Other examples include the program Developing from Within: More men should step up to call out bias and better understand
Exploring and Enhancing Choices for Mid-Career Women where representation falls short, given that they’re the ones
Faculty; a series for junior women faculty titled Strategic Career who dominate positions of power, advises John P. Cullen, PhD,
Advancement: Conversations with a Former Chair; Women’s director of Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Rochester’s
Wednesday Workshops, led by graduates of Drexel’s ELAM Clinical and Translational Science Institute and assistant director
program; half-day career development seminars; and networking of the University of Rochester’s Susan B. Anthony Center.
events.
According to research on unconscious bias, male applicants are
In addition, affiliations with national organizations such as the rated as more competent, hireable, and deserving, than females
American Council on Education’s Women’s Network, which with identical experience.
advances and supports women in higher-education careers, offer
faculty and staff opportunities for growth. “In my opinion, it shouldn’t always be up to the group that is
oppressed or marginalized to take on the fight by themselves,”

Profiles in Perseverance — Women Leaders Share

Ania Majewska heard a familiar refrain when she in the visual cortex, found that her family gave her
announced she was going into neuroscience. perspective on her work.

It’s going to be so hard. You’ll be working constantly. “I used to take every small problem or failure at work
You won’t have time for a family. to heart, but I no longer have the time or energy to
do that,” she explains, adding that the issues tend to
“There was definitely a scare factor to it, and I had to resolve themselves even when she doesn’t stress as
think very seriously about my choices going forward,” much about them.
she says. “There just wasn’t a clear alternative for
what else I would do, because I just love my job. It does Moreover, she has taken multi-tasking to a level
require dedication, but not nearly as many sacrifices as she never thought possible. For instance, during a
people say it does.” 15-minute lull she is equally liable to be working on a
grant or planning an on-the-go menu for a son who has
One of the main reasons Majewska followed her celiac disease and a slew of after-school activities.
passion is because, unlike many places around the
country at which she interviewed, the University “Being able to manage everything—most days—has
of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry had given me more confidence in my abilities,” Majewska
several senior-level females with families. says. “The need for that sort of efficiency has also
made me much less tolerant of wasting my time. I know
Ania Majewska, PhD That doesn’t mean everyone understood where she to focus on the things I think are really important, both
was coming from. at home and at work.”
Professor in the Center for Visual
Science and the Department of When Majewska first started her lab, she received
Neuroscience the same advice from three different senior male Majewska’s research with post-doctoral associate
University of Rochester School of scientists—to hold off on hiring anyone for the first Marie-Ève Tremblay, PhD, led to a landmark paper
Medicine and Dentistry in 2010—a detailed look at how brain cells interact
year and work 24/7 to set up the lab herself. with each other and react to their environment swiftly,

“I thought this was very interesting, given that they reaching out constantly to form new links or abolish
knew I had a 6-week-old infant at home,” she says. connections. That relationship was one of the highlights
of her career.
Over time, Majewska, whose specific interests lie
in understanding how visual activity shapes the “I have three kids, she has three kids,” Majewska says,
structure and function of connections between neurons “and I love the idea that we can be at the forefront of
cutting-edge science and still have lives.”

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