Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Women

Report from the Graduate/Professional Student/Postdoctoral Women's Event

Rachel S. Popelka-Filcoff, Status of Women Committee and Graduate Professional Council
Donielle M. Lovell, Graduate Student Association
Rachel R. Ruhlen, Postdoctoral Association

May 6, 2006

(PDF Version)

Though turn out was lower than anticipated, the conversation of the event was rich and informative. To start the session, Dr. Michael Middleton (Deputy Chancellor) spoke about the importance of diversity and student participation. Noor Azizan-Gardner (Diversity Coordinator, Chancellors' Diversity Initiative) was also present and gave comments encouraging the group to act beyond the dialogue to create change in the campus climate.

Three themes were discussed at this with suggested action steps to address the concerns. The themes included Graduate Students/Postdoctoral students-Health, Maternity Leave, and Conflict. It is the intent of the authors and their representative organizations to continue working on these issues with university administration and interested partners.

This dialogue was very useful in identifying issues not only important to women, but that affect the overall graduate/postdoctoral population at the University of Missouri. Dialogues such as the one that took place on April 3, 2006 inform student leaders and University administration of the work needed to improve graduate and postdoctoral education and research. Directed action by student groups and the administration can make real changes in the issues described in this report.