Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Women

2005 - 2006 Annual Report

(PDF Version)

The Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Women convened for the 2005-2006 year under the co-leadership of June DeWeese (faculty co-chair) and Megan Warner (staff co-chair). The Committee met on October 10, 2005, November 14, 2005, December 12, 2005, January 31, 2006, February 13, 2006, March 13, 2006, April 10, 2006 and May 8, 2006.

Membership:

Members of the Committee were: Debora Bell (faculty, Psychological Sciences), Chip Callahan (faculty, Religious Studies) (on leave), June DeWeese (faculty, MU Libraries), Nancy Flournoy (faculty, Statistics), Bina Gupta (faculty, Philosophy), Jim McGlew (faculty, Classical Studies), Barbara Townsend (faculty, Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis), Lauren Bacon (staff, Development for Veterinary Sciences), 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), Bonnie Gregg (ex officio, Human Resources), Laura Hacquard (ex officio, Women's Center), Jackie Litt (ex officio, Women's and Gender Studies), Ruby Jo Behymer (ex officio, MU Retirees), and Noor Azizan-Gardner (ex-officio, Provost's Office).

Reporting Structure:

The Committee reports to Deputy Chancellor Michael Middleton. The co-chairs met with Deputy Chancellor Middleton in May in order to discuss the accomplishments of the Committee and future goals. The Deputy Chancellor also attended the December meeting to discuss issues and goals with the entire committee.

Tribute to MU Women Awards:

The Fourth Annual Tribute to MU Women was held on March 23, 2006 in the Faculty Reception Room in Memorial Union. The following women were honored: Jackie Cook-Eberle, Communication student, Magdalena Garcia-Pinto, Professor of Romance Languages and Literature, Annie Morrison, Biological Sciences and English student, Sarah Pedersen, Psychology Doctoral Student, Sheryl Tucker, Professor of Chemistry, Shannon Walls, Director of Life Long Learning for Alumni and Development and Sara Ashley Warren, Biological Sciences and Sociology student.

Deputy Chancellor Mike Middleton 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, Staff and Graduate Student Convocations:

Convocations were hosted individually for Women Faculty, Staff, and Graduate Students by the Status of Women Committee. Each event allowed participants to discuss issues pertinent to their constituent group and share ideas for changes/improvements to the status of women on campus. The Faculty Convocation welcomed Provost Foster and Roger Worthington, coordinator of the Campus Climate Task Force as speakers. The Staff Convocation was hosted by Karen Touzeau from Human Resources and included welcome introductions by Deputy Chancellor Middleton and Provost Foster. The Graduate Student Convocation welcomed Deputy Chancellor Middleton and Noor Azizan-Gardner from the Chancellor's Diversity Initiative as speakers. All three events were successful and provided the Status of Women Committee with project ideas for next year. The committee will probably host similar events again next year.

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, Staff, and Grad Student Convocations (previously mentioned in detail)
• Statement on Violence Against Women and Supplement
• Petition to fund the Self Defense Class on campus

The Committee was able to work on and accomplish many projects and initiatives this year. We were able to get started earlier this year which was helpful. However, we struggled with attendance of the primary MSA student representative. 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 worked very hard this year and are proud of our accomplishments. The co-chairs would like to thank everyone serving on the Committee for their dedication and hard work

Respectfully submitted:

June DeWeese

Megan Warner