August 12, 1998
Contacts: James Cooper, (804) 924-0860
	    jmc2n@virginia.edu
	    Gillian Ray, AAUW, (202) 785-7723
                media@mail.aauw.org

		
U.VA. PROFESSOR NAMED TO NATIONAL GROUP SEEKING WAYS
TO ENCOURAGE GIRLS TO USE COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES

	A University of Virginia education professor has been named to a
new national commission addressing a growing concern that girls are
being left behind in the rapidly expanding world of technology and
computer science.
	James M. Cooper, Commonwealth Professor in U.Va.'s Curry School
of Education, is one of 13 people named to an American Association of
University Women (AAUW) commission to examine the interconnections
between gender, technology and teacher education.  The group will
examine differences in the ways girls and boys accept and use
computer-based technologies and address what strategies teachers can
employ in classrooms to encourage girls.
	The commission, composed of people on the cutting edge of
technology, will spend 18 months analyzing trends and reviewing research
in order to make policy recommendations in 1999.
	"America is transforming into an information-based economy where
more and more 21st century jobs will require technological expertise,"
said Janice Weinman, AAUW executive director.  "A competitive nation
cannot allow girls to write off technology as an exclusively male
domain.
	"We expect the commission will open doors to new thinking about
how girls and boys relate to technology and science ... and how teachers
can use this information to ensure a more inclusive technological future
for all students," Weinman said.
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