Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Women

2003 - 2004 Annual Report

(PDF Version)

The Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Women convened for the 2004-2005 year under the co-leadership of June DeWeese (faculty co-chair) and Megan Warner (staff co-chair). The Committee did not meet until the middle of the Fall semester because of the time it took to appoint the co-chairs and add new members. The Committee met on November 19, 2004, December 13, 2004, January 31, 2005, February 21, 2005, March 28, 2005, April 18, 2005 and May 2, 2005.

Membership:

Members of the Committee were: Chip Callahan (faculty, Religious Studies), June DeWeese (faculty, MU Libraries), Nancy Flournoy (faculty, Statistics), Bina Gupta (faculty, Philosophy), Linda Reeder (faculty, History), Pamela Smith (faculty, Law), Hema Srinivasan (faculty, Mathematics), Lauren Bacon (staff, Alumni Center), Bonnie Gregg (staff, Human Resources), Tammy Ralston (staff, Family Medicine Clinic), Chari Severns (staff, Development Research), Linda Tremaine (staff, Psychological Sciences), Bina Vanmali (staff, The Learning Center), Megan Warner (staff, College of Business), Sameera Ali (student, MSA), Jordan Hoyt (student, MSA), Rachel Popelka (student, GPC), Noel English (ex officio, Minority Affairs/Faculty Development), Laura Hacquard (ex officio, Women's Center), Jackie Litt (ex officio, Women's and Gender Studies), and Noor Azizan-Gardner (ex-officio, Provost's Office).

Reporting Structure:

The Committee now reports to Deputy Chancellor Michael Middleton. The co-chairs met with Mr. Middleton early in December in order to discuss the role of the Committee and the process of communication with him. It was a very productive meeting where goals and issues were discussed.

Tribute to MU Women Awards:

The Third Annual Tribute to MU Women was held on March 31, 2005 in the Faculty Reception Room in Memorial Union. The following women were honored: Nancy Flournoy, Professor and Chair of the Statistics Department; Patrice Hutton, undergraduate student; Sylvia Jauregui, Residence Hall Coordinator-Johnston Hall; Krystal Keup, Medical student; Penny Lorenz-Bailey, Training and Development Coordinator-Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; Logan Micheel, undergraduate student; Julie Middleton, Director of Organizational Development and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis; Mary Jo Neitz, Professor of Sociology and Women's and Gender Studies; Cathy Scroggs, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs; and Judy Wall, Professor of Agriculture Biochemistry.

Chancellor Brady Deaton and Deputy Chancellor Mike Middleton both gave the opening welcome. One nominator for each woman honored presented information about their nominee. All of the nominators came up to the front as each honored woman was presented. Each honoree was given a certificate and a beautiful Gerber daisy to commemorate the occasion. Those women being honored, colleagues, family and friends attended the lovely reception sponsored by Deputy Chancellor Mike Middleton's Office and hosted by the Status of Women Committee.

Women Faculty Gathering:

This event was a joint venture of the Interim Provost's Office and the Status of Women Committee. The Women Faculty Gathering took place on April 18, 2005 at Dobbs Pavilion on campus. 52 women faculty attended. The purpose of the event was for women faculty to network and discuss issues. Jackie Litt and Linda Reeder, members of the Status of Women Committee along with Jeni Hart and Barbara Townsend, faculty from the Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis department co-facilitated the event. It was a successful event and the participants decided to continue having it every semester. A Women Faculty Gathering and a Women Staff Gathering are tentatively planned for Fall Semester 2005. A WebCT site has been set up by Margaret Gunderson at ET@MO that will serve as a way for faculty women across campus to share resources, communicate with each other and keep records of gatherings and topics of interest for discussions.

Committee Work:

Issues the committee discussed and worked with this year included:

• Parental Leave/Accommodation policies
• Domestic Partner Benefits
• Tribute to MU Women (previously mentioned in detail)
• Women Faculty Gathering (previously mentioned in detail)
• Women Resources website project
• Violence Against Women statement

The Committee got off to a late start because of the time it took to appoint faculty and staff co-chairs as well as new staff members of the committee. We probably could have accomplished more with this Committee if we were able to begin meeting at the start of the fall semester. We understand that we cannot get membership solidified until the fall semester because we have to determine student involvement in the fall. However, we struggled with attendance of the MSA student representatives. Thankfully, our alternate student member and our GPC student representative were very committed to the Committee and attended almost every meeting. The Committee would like to encourage MSA to be more intentional about appointing and involving students who are committed to the work of the Committee.

Otherwise the meetings and events were well attended by faculty, staff, and ex-officio members. We feel that we were able to accomplish quite a significant amount of work this year. The co-chairs would like to thank everyone serving on the Committee for their dedication and hard work.

Respectfully submitted:

June DeWeese

Megan Warner