Mission + History
Truth Values Community Post-Performance Panel Discussion. From left to right: Gioia De Cari; Rhonda Davis, Head, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, National Science Foundation; Evelynn Hammonds, Ph.D., Professor of the History of Science, Professor of African and African American Studies, Harvard University; Silvia Mazzula, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, The City University of New York.
Our History
The Truth Values Community Project originated from conversations surrounding Founder Gioia De Cari’s award-winning national-hit play, Truth Values, an “energetic, intimate, hilarious” (Wired) autobiographical work that explores one woman’s search for identity in the mostly male world of elite mathematics.
Gioia speaks at MIT about the origin of the Truth Values project.
Winner of a New York International Fringe Festival Overall Excellence Award, the play Truth Values has been presented at more than 50 theaters and performing arts centers nationally, including the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York, the La Jolla Playhouse, and USC’s celebrated Visions and Voices Arts and Humanities Series, among many others.
De Cari, an arts professional with an unusual background as a Ph.D. student in math at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had left math in the midst of her studies, joining the many women who reach a certain point in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), and then disappear. She eventually made a new path for herself in the arts, in which she worked happily for over ten years while keeping her math background a secret. An uproar in the news about inherent gender differences in science and math ability caused her to consider sharing her story, which became Truth Values.
Gioia De Cari in Truth Values. Photos by Silvana Ximena.
Our Mission
Truth Values has been embraced nationally as a conversation catalyst on the crucial topic of diversity in STEM. Presentations of the play on tour have sparked over 75 post-show discussions with leading experts on gender and unconscious bias and women in STEM, resulting in the development of an extraordinary network.
The Truth Values Community Project is the result of De Cari’s passion to create the supportive environment in STEM she wished for during her own graduate studies. To that end, De Cari joined forces with Principal Investigator and award-winning educator Dr. Silvia Mazzula, specialist in diversity, equity and inclusion, and Associate Professor of Psychology at John Jay College, The City University of New York (CUNY), to make this dream a reality.
We are profoundly grateful to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for their generous funding for a pilot of this project. We are also deeply grateful to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s School of Science for sponsoring a second phase of the program, and for the support of numerous other partners and sponsoring organizations.
Despite advances toward equity in STEM fields, women remain underrepresented. Although women are 50% of bachelor-level graduates in some of the sciences, they are less represented in the academic and career pipeline thereafter, as are racial and ethnic minority groups (URM).
Meet Our Leaders
-
Gioia De Cari
Creator + Founder
-
Dr. Silvia Mazzula
Principal Investigator
Join Us
Our uniquely designed post-performance conversations are based on studies that show that spending even just one quality hour with a relatable mentor/role model can measurably affect a mentee's chances of success. The pairing of our talkbacks with the play Truth Values adds humor and humanity to the conversation. Our feature documentary will allow for sharing our programming more widely. We warmly welcome you to join us in our efforts to support women in STEM and increase diversity in these fields.
Film
Photo by Ivan Singer
Tour
Booking
Special Thanks to Our Sponsors + Partners
