THE GRAPEVINE. Volume 63 Issue 10 Livermore-Pleasanton-Dublin Branch June, July, August 2016

Transcription

1 THE GRAPEVINE Volume 63 Issue 10 Livermore-Pleasanton-Dublin Branch June, July, August 2016 Inside this issue: June meeting 1 Board Meetings 1 YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED You are invited to attend the LPD Branch AAUW Installation Brunch at the home of Wendy Ping. The brunch will take place at 10:30 AM, Saturday, June 4th with the installation ceremony to follow. Wendy lives at 5038 Monaco in Pleasanton. Breakfast casseroles and drinks will be provided. Attendees are asked to bring a brunch-appropriate dish to share. Some suggestions might be: lox and bagels, scones or muffins, fruit or something else you have had at a brunch and loved. Las Positas College Tribute to Excellence Award If you are able to join us, please RSVP to Sally Stock I sincerely hope you will be able to help us thank our out-going board and warmly welcome the incoming new board. I will see you there. Sally Officers/Directors 2 President s Message 2 Membership Corner 3 Orenstein Talk 3 Named Grant Honorees 3 Interest Groups 4 Cocktails & Conversa. 4 Interest Groups cont. 5 Mahjong? 5 Movie Mavens 5 Tribute to Excellence 6 Non Event Fund Raiser 6 Coffee AND 6 Congrats Mary Ann! 7 Tech Trek 8 AAUW in Your Will? 8 Coming Events 9 New Members 9 Old Board/New board Meeting Saturday, June 9:30 am Wendy Ping s Normal, new Board Meeting Wednesday, June 1 Chris

2 PAGE 2 AAUW LPD Elected Board of Directors PRESIDENT Chris Alesso president@aauw-lpd.org Membership Marilyn Duman membership@aauw-lpd.org PROGRAM CHAIR Ginny Reineking program@aauw-lpd.org FINANCE OFFICER Harriet Lawrie finance@aauw-lpd.org DIRECTORS Sandy Hansen info@aauw-lpd.org Wendy Ping secretary@aauw-lpd.org Jackie Shurtleff aauwfunds@aauw-lpd.org Roz Wright advocacy@aauw-lpd.org Hi, PRESIDENTS MESSAGE Chris Alesso Here it is almost June already and nearly the end of the year. I would like to thank all of the members who helped to make this a terrific year. Special thanks to Pat Sholl and Ginny Reineking for an excellent program every month; to Marilyn Duman for the Directory and being a wonderful Membership chair; to Roz Wright for facilitating our oral history project and for her work on Title IX; to Sandy Hansen for bringing us into the new century not only with our great website but also Facebook and Twitter; to Barbara Hempill, for her outstanding job in publicizing our events; to Carol Guarnaccia for putting together our beautiful newsletter every month; to Harriet Lawrie for keeping our books in order; to Jackie Shurtleff for chairing our Funds efforts; to Sally Stock for providing refreshments and badges at all of our events; to Wendy Ping and the TechTrek committee for their continuing good work, and to Carolyn Kotch and the Scholarship committee for another fine year. I hope that you can all be with us for the Installation Brunch at Wendy Ping s home on June 4 th. Our Tribute to Excellence awardee will be there. Her name is Fatima Elgarguri and she is an excellent choice. This year the Board has voted to award her $250 in addition to the plaque which we have always given. Elva Cooper will be there to make the presentation. (more about her later in this newsletter) Finally, we are already working on ideas for programs next year. If you know someone who would be a good speaker or have an idea for a function please share it with Gwen Locke at the brunch or with one of the branch officers. We also have members who are looking to start new groups for canasta and for mahjong so if you are interested, we ll have a sign up sheet at the brunch. Have a wonderful summer and I ll see you in September. Chris TOURING GROUP: TOURING GROUP: Visit the new San Francisco MOMA on Wed. June 15. Meet at East Dublin BART at 10:15 AM. We'll have lunch at the museum and leave around 3 PM. Timed entry ADVANCE PURCHASE tickets ($22) are necessary. Questions? Details? Contact Sandy Hansen, 925/

3 PAGE 3 MEMBERSHIP CORNER Marilyn Duman (membership@aauw-lpd.org) Thank you to those who have renewed your memberships! I look forward to the rest of you renewing by the June 15th deadline By now you should have received a renewal brochure in the mail as well as an ed invoice from AAUW. If you would like to renew online please use the personalized link contained in that . It will take you directly to a form with your specific renewal information. Membership renewal as well as donations to the AAUW Fund (including Tech Trek) can be made online using a credit card. If you would like to make a non-deductible donation to our branch to cover mailing costs and/or to our general fund, please send checks to the PO Box. All information can be found on the renewal brochure which is also posted on our branch website. If you need a new from AAUW with the personalized link, let me know and I will generate another invoice. Please join me in welcoming three new members. Arlene Addison recently moved to Pleasanton from San Ramon and is a dual member. Arlene worked in the areas of speech writing, public relations, advertising and, most recently, taught high school English in San Ramon. Arlene's interests include politics, literature and the arts Ann Solomon lives in Livermore. She is a retired teacher and currently works as a tutor. Her interests include reading, walking, grandkids, and travel. Anita Massey lives in Livermore I look forward to seeing many of you at our installation potluck brunch on June 4th at Wendy Ping's home. Look for details elsewhere in this newsletter. Marilyn Towne Center Books, AAUW & Lynnewood UMC invites parents and teens to hear Peggy Orenstein Girls & Sex, Navigating the Complicated New Landscape 7:00 PM Tuesday, May Lynnewood United Methodist Church 4444 Black Ave., Pleasanton Parking: church parking lot, to the west and behind the church (pedestrian gates are there), across the street, and curbside parking on Black Avenue. The Livermore Pleasanton Dublin Branch of AAUW takes great pride to announce our 2016 Named Grant Honorees: Dorothy Bishop Gloria Green Sally Stock

4 PAGE 4 INTEREST GROUPS DUPLICATE BRIDGE Group Co-Chairs: Nancy Rensink Fern Corley, dupbridge@aauw-lpd.org The Duplicate Bridge Group meets on the last Tuesday of the month at 7 PM. Call either of the chairs if you are interested in joining the group DATE Tuesday, June 7 pm Marti Silva Tuesday, July 7 pm Vicki-Dawn Rader Tuesday, August 7 pm Harriet Lawrie MONDAY NIGHT BRIDGE Group Chair: Marti Silva monbridge@aauw-lpd.org The Monday Night Bridge Group usually meets the 2nd & 4th Mondays at 7 PM. Monday, June 7 pm Vicki-Dawn Rader Monday, June 7 pm Marti Silva Monday, July 7 pm Sally Stock Monday, July 7 pm Carol Guarnaccia Monday, August 7 pm Carol Kinnard Monday, August 7 pm Ginny Reineking AUTHOR: AUTHOR: HOSTESS: T.B.A. AUTHOR: HOSTESS: T.B.A. AUTHOR: MORNING BOOKS Group Chair: Sally Stock HOSTESS: T.B.A. AFTERNOON BOOKS Group Chair: Mary Ann Karlsen pmbooks1@aauw-lpd.org Monday, June 1 pm Map Makers Wife Robert Whittaker Monday, July 1 pm The Creature of Jekyll Island G. Edward Griffin Monday, August 1 pm Elton Musk: Tesla,SpaceX and The Quest for Fantastic Future. Ashlee Vance ambooks@aauw-lpd.org Thursday, June 9:30 am Empty Mansions Bill Dedman Sally Stock Thursday, July 28, T.B.A. No August Meeting COCKTAILS & CONVERSATIONS We meet for conversation, visiting, good food, general camaraderie and some brainstorming on the first Tuesday of each month at 828 Main. WHEN: Tuesday, June 7, July 5, August 2 6 pm. 828 Main Street, Pleasanton, 6 pm

5 PAGE 5 INTEREST GROUPS (Cont.) WHEN: DINING AROUND GROUP CHAIR : Vicki-Dawn Rader diningaround@aauw-lpd.org. Handles Gastro Pub 855 Main St., Pleasanton Thursday, June 23, 6 PM HOSTESS: Barbara Hempill RSVP: to Barbara by June 21 WHEN: WHEN: EVENING BOOKS Group Chair: Connie Squires pmbooks2@aauw-lpd.org Wednesday, June 8, 7:30 pm Connie Squires The Rosie Project AUTHOR: Graeme Simsion Wednesday, July 13, 7:30 PM Patty Rabada AUTHOR: Ivan Doig Last Bus to Wisdom Wednesday, August 10, 7:30 PM Bev Howell The Quartet AUTHOR: Joseph J. Ellis July 28, hostess needed August 25, Mercedes Daggett Anyone for mahjong? Contact JoAnn Houk if you are interested. DATE MONEY TALKS Group Chair:: New Chair Needed We study how money affects our lives, in many ways, not just with the stock market. SOLO: GROUP FOR SINGLES Group Chair:Sandie Brown Money Talks will not be meeting this summer. solodining@aauw-lpd.org Friday, June 6 PM Pacific Catch (across from Whole Foods in Dublin) Friday, July 6 pm Railway Café, Livermore Friday, August 6 pm Peasant and the Pear 267 Hartz, Danville. MOVIE MAVENS Group Chair: Sandy Hansen info@aauw-lpd.org Since no one responded to the request in the May Grapevine to be included on a group-only list, it is assumed that the branch is no longer interested in the Movie Mavens group, so it is suspended. Should anyone wish to see this group become active, please contact Sandy Hansen, info@aauwlpd.org

6 PAGE 6 COLLEGE /UNIVERSITY RELATIONS Elva Cooper LAS POSITAS COLLEGE TRIBUTE TO EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNER 2016 FATIMA ELGARGURI Our Tribute to Excellence award winner this year is Fatima Elgarguri. She is a Muslim American, who in spite of her cultural differences, and the problems that caused, managed to earn a 4.0 GPA her entire time at Las Positas College. Fatima s life was abruptly changed when her father was killed in a car accident 7 years ago. Subsequently her mother moved the family to California from Oregon to be near the grandmother. As a result, Fatima became depressed and starting failing in classes. That shocked her, and she realized she needed to change her actions. Even though the family was very poor, they supported one another. The siblings pooled their money to buy gas to get to school and work. They helped one another succeed. After arriving at Las Positas Fatima realized that there was no student organization for Muslims on campus, so she decided to organize one. It has the goal of providing a platform for dialogue and unity. She wished to break common stereotypes about her faith and gender. The other goal is to help others, so they collected shoes for the Tri-Valley Haven this past year. She also tutored other Afghan-American students in English, hoping to help them understand that selfimprovement and altruism, not rituals and regulations, are the greatest form of religious expression. When she transfers to a university her intended major is Human Development, with post graduate work to become a medical doctor. With that goal in mind she volunteers at Sutter Community Hospital as a member of a patient support team. As you can see, Fatima is an exceptional student and person, and well deserving of this year s AAUW Tribute to Excellence Award. Elva 2016 NON EVENT FUND RAISER: Co-Chairs: Ginny Reineking, Patti Joki We have recently received a few more checks for our Scholarship Fundraiser... Thanks to members June Schaefer and Mary Ann Karlsen. We also received donations in memory of Elizabeth Nichols, a former member and past president of our branch. So far, we have had a very successful event. If, however, you wish to donate, it is never too late! Please send donations to Ginny Reineking or Carolyn Kotch. Thanks to all.. Ginny & Patti COFFEE AND June 2, 2016 We meet at Sweet and Savory (corner of Stoneridge & Gibraltar Drives) in Pleasanton on the first Thursday of the month. All members are welcome. We like having friends & prospective members, too. WHAT: A social time for all AAUW LPD members & guests. WHEN: Thursday, June 2 at 10 AM Sweet and Savory 5685 Gibraltar Dr., Pleasanton WHEN: Thursday, July 7 WHEN: Thursday, August 4

7 PAGE 7 This is our own member Mary Ann Karlsen speaking at the Women in Science and Engineering talk at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. More than 50 employees attended a talk by Mary Ann (Mansigh) Karlsen Wednesday to hear first-hand about her career and experience as one of the early employees of Computation at LLNL. Photo by Julie Russell/LLNL. This talk was hosted by the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Women s Association s Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Group and Computation. Taken from LLNL website: Karlsen was just 22 years old and less than a year out of college when she answered an ad under Men Wanted in the Oakland Tribune for mathematicians to work as programmers at the University of California Radiation Laboratory in Livermore. Answering that ad led her to the Laboratory and landed her a job that she started on May 5, 1955, 61 years ago. Karlsen was more qualified after having graduated with a bachelor s degree in education from the University of Minnesota with a double major in mathematics and chemistry and a minor in physics. An on-the-job, self-taught computer programmer, the majority of her career was spent coding seminal simulation runs for prominent scientists including Berni Adler, David Ceperley, Tom Wainwright and many others. I never thought of myself as a 'woman' programmer, I was just a programmer, she said. My teachers in high school and college were women so I never thought I didn't belong. Assigned to work on the UNIVAC, Karlsen spent thousands of hours helping computational physics legend Berni Adler turn his molecular dynamics into computer code to run on Lawrence Livermore supercomputers. One of the resulting papers, Ground State of the Electron Gas by a Stochastic Method remains one of the most highly cited in Physical Review Letters, with 8,493 citations to date. The 1980 paper was the first important application of a type of quantum many-body algorithm now known as the Quantum Diffusion Monte Carlo method, or quantum DMC. Coauthors Ceperley and Adler applied DMC to determine the properties of electron gases at intermediate densities. The paper relied heavily on the simulation results Karlsen coded, and she is recognized in the acknowledgements. Mary Ann (Mansigh) Karlsen, as one of the early employees of Computation at the Lab. Berni Adler is in the background. Ceperley needed the computing power only Livermore computers could provide (his simulations required thousands of hours of computer time), but he didn't have a clearance. He describes the work process as such: I had to communicate my instructions to Adler's assistant, Mary Ann Mansigh, over the telephone. We'd spend half an hour talking every day and she would set up 5 or 10 different runs for the evening. The next morning she would tell me what the results were, or mail me back the output. Karlsen was devoted to her work, but never forgot to make work fun. One colleague remembers her gluing a quarter to the pavement and then watching people try to pick it up. One year on Halloween, she and a colleague managed to send out a message to a few select users: Merry Christmas. Oct. 31 = Dec 25 (a joke that only makes sense to a programmer). The highlight of my career was actually in 2009, 15 years after I retired from LLNL, when Berni received the National Medal of Science from President Obama, said Karlsen. I am proud to have contributed and most proud that Berni acknowledged me as a magnificent programmer. Karlsen said that once in a while she stumbles across her name on the internet and smiles, even though sometimes it's buried in Russian text.

8 PAGE 8 TECH TREK WENDY PING lpdtechtrek@aauw-lpd.org Our eight 2016 Tech Trek campers are busy filling out paperwork and trying to select their preferred classes for the July session of Camp Curie at Stanford University. Here are the core classes they get to choose from: 3D Math Games App Inventor Cyber Security Engineering Design Forensic Science Marine Biology Doesn't that just make YOU want to go to Tech Trek Camp?!? The 2016 Trekkers will meet at Wendy Ping's home on May 24th for an Orientation, where they'll not only get to meet their fellow LPD Trekkers, but also both the Camp Director and the Administrative Coordinator for Camp Curie. To top it off, some of our 2015 Trekkers will also come, to give this year's campers the real scoop on what a week at Tech Trek is like! It'll be July and time for our Trekkers to head to camp at Stanford before we know it. Be sure to come to the September Tea, when the 2016 Trekkers will share their stories of Camp Curie! Donations can be made to Tech Trek at any time. Donations can be made online (be sure to choose Stanford Camp Curie, and be signed in to your AAUW account!), or by check. Checks should be made out to AAUW, with "Tech Trek Camp Curry LPD" in the memo line, and mailed to: Tech Trek, P. O. Box 661, Livermore, CA % of all funds donated go directly to sponsoring girls from Livermore-Pleasanton-Dublin to attend Tech Trek camp. Your support is appreciated, and every donation helps! Wendy COMMUNICATIONS SANDY HANSEN info@aauw-lpd.org IS AAUW IN YOUR WILL? Members who have notified AAUW that AAUW is in their will recently received a notification from AAUW about an address change. If you have named AAUW in your will, but NOT notified AAUW, you need to be aware of the following, quoting from the letter sent to Legacy Circle (you've notified AAUW) members. It applies to EVERYONE. You are not required to make any changes in your will, but when you next update your documents for other reasons, please include AAUW s new address: 1310 L St. NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC When you do this, please ensure that you have also included AAUW s tax ID or Employer Identification Number ( ). This just makes it 100% clear that your gift is going to AAUW and not some other group with a similar name. The current AAUW office on Sixteenth Street is in need of major upgrades. The National Board of Directors has approved this move and we expect to hear more about this move in the future. Sandy

9 PAGE 9 CALENDAR OF COMING EVENTS 2016 DATE EVENT LOCATION/TIME May 31 Girls & Sex Talk Lynnewood UMChurch 7:00 pm Pleasanton June 2 Coffee AND Sweet & Savory 10:00 am Pleasanton June 4 Old/New Board Meeting Wendy Ping 9:30 am Pleasanton June 4 Brunch/Installation Wendy Ping 10:30 am Pleasanton June 7 Cocktails & Conversation 838 Main 6:00 pm Pleasanton June 8 New Board Meeting Chris Alesso 1:00 pm Pleasanton June 8 Evening Books Connie Squires 7:30 pm Pleasanton June 13 Afternoon Books T.B.A. June 13 Monday Night Bridge Vicki-Dawn Rader 7:00 pm Pleasanton June 15 Touring Group S.F. MOMA 10:15 am P/D East BART June 17 Solo Dining Pacific Catch 6:00 pm Dublin June 23 Morning Books Sally Stock 9:30 am Pleasanton June 23 Dining Around Handles Gastro Pub 6:00 pm Pleasanton June 27 Monday Night Bridge Marti Silva 7:00 pm Pleasanton June 28 Duplicate Bridge Marti Silva 7:00 pm Pleasanton Jul 5 Cocktails & Conversation 838 Main 6:00 pm Pleasanton Jul 7 Coffee AND Sweet & Savory 10:00 am Pleasanton July 11 Afternoon Books T.B.A. July 11 Monday Night Bridge Sally Stock 7:00 pm Pleasanton July 13 Evening Books Patty Rabada 7:30 pm Livermore July 15 Solo Dining Railway Café 6:00 pm Livermore July 25 Monday Night Bridge Carol Guarnaccia 7:00 pm Pleasanton July 26 Duplicate Bridge Vicki-Dawn Rader 7:00 pm Pleasanton July 28 Morning Books T.B.A. July 28? Dining Around T.B.A. Aug 2 Cocktails & Conversation 838 Main 6:00 pm Pleasanton Aug 4 Coffee AND Sweet & Savory 10:00 am Pleasanton Aug 8 Afternoon Books T.B.A. Aug 8 Monday Night Bridge Carol Kinnard 7:00 pm Pleasanton Aug 10 Board Meeting Chris Alesso 1:00 pm Pleasanton Aug 10 Evening Books Bev Howell 7:30 pm Pleasanton Aug 19 Solo Dining Peasant and the Pear 6:00 pm Danville Aug 22 Monday Night Bridge Ginny Reineking 7:00 pm Pleasanton Aug 25 Morning Books no meeting Aug 25? Dining Around T.B.A. (Daggett)

10 Livermore-Pleasanton-Dublin Branch P.O. Box 661 Livermore, CA Address Service Requested By joining AAUW, you belong to a community that breaks through educational and economic barriers so that all women have a fair chance. AAUW EMPOWERS ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS TO REACH THEIR HIGHEST POTENTIAL. VISIT THE AAUW WEBSITES THE GRAPEVINE A monthly newsletter of the AAUW Livermore Pleasanton-Dublin Branch Ten issues are published yearly, September to June. Newsletter Editor Carol newsletter@aauw-lpd.org Next Deadline: Please submit articles to Carol for the September Grapevine by August 18, 2016.