Women’s studies dept. receives grant, makes positive changes
Released: May 1, 2008
Sometimes intelligent women have a difficult time imagining themselves in leadership positions. Now, with the help of $4,500 from two University of Wisconsin System Office of Professional Development (OPID) grants, Lauren Smith of the women's studies department hopes to change these thoughts.
“I'm really excited about the prospect of starting a Women in Leadership certificate at UW-Whitewater,” said Smith, chair of women's studies. “I have extremely bright students every semester who just don't think of themselves as capable of taking on leadership roles. That has to change. Our communities need these young people to find the courage and learn the strategies to step forward.”
In order to achieve this goal, the grants will fund a lesson study for UW-Whitewater students. “We are designing a lesson that involves guest speaker Kathleen Falk to talk about her experiences as a woman who has taken on important leadership roles,” Smith said. Falk is the Dane County Executive and ran for governor in 2002.
“The learning goals of that class will be to help students re-examine their ideas about what leadership is and who can and does take on leadership roles," Smith added. "We also want students to examine and expand their ideas about leadership styles. Our ultimate goal, of course, is to encourage our students to imagine themselves and/ or the women around them taking on more civic and leadership responsibilities."
The grants will also fund a mini-conference at which interested faculty affiliated with women's studies will come from all over the state to discuss strategies for getting younger people, especially young women, civically engaged. Yvonne Lumsden-Dill, the executive director for the Women's Leadership Institute of Mount Mary College, will speak at UW-Whitewater about Mount Mary's program.
Smith applied for the grant with Languages and Literatures Lecturer Mary Emery, Political Science Professor Zohreh Ghavamshahidi, Assistant Professor of Women's Studies Ellie Schemenauer and Assistant History Professor Rebecca Shrum. All six women believe that encouraging civic engagement is an important part of liberal arts disciplines, especially women's studies.
This program directly addresses UW-Whitewater's strategic plan to “broaden accessibility to education and services through the assessment of learning outcomes and evaluation of the effectiveness of university services and promote our image as a diverse, respected and empowering institution of higher learning.
Upon receiving the grants, Smith said, “I felt hopeful. What we'll do with these two grants is important.”
- Regina Shirkey,shirkeyrm26@uww.edu
