Present: Dee Abrahamson, Monique Bernoudy, Virginia Cassidy, Kay Chapman, Deborah Haliczer, Celeste Latham, Amy Levin, Judith Lukaszuk, Doreen Mace, Shirley Mashare, Adriana Moreno Nevarez, Regina Rahn, Lesley Rigg, Julie Robertson, Rhonda Robinson, Lise Schlosser, Debbie Smith-Shank, Marianne Tomlinson, Josephine Umoren.
Absent: Karen Baker, Barbara Burrell, Glenda Jones, Lisa Kay, Jan Rintala (leave), Denise Schoenbachler, Lorraine Scurti, Taalia Whitehead.
The meeting was called to order at 1:05 p.m. by Chair, Josephine Umoren in Altgeld Hall 203. Debbie Smith-Shank made a motion to approve the minutes from the January 17, 2007 meeting. Amy Levin seconded the motion. The minutes were approved unanimously. Introductions were made.
Affirmative Action Diversity Resources Report: Karen Baker sent an email to report that officers will be selected (or at least nominated) at the Feb 20th meeting; diversity statements (similar to the EEO statement of non-discrimination) are in draft form for consideration; and the committee is reviewing the possibility of hosting a meeting of the commissions similar to the previous workshop conducted by Tim Griffin and the Social Justice Committee. More to come on this issue.
Campus Climate and Quality of Life: Amy Levin reported that they would like to recommend a guide for FMLA creating flexibility for chairs. A General Survey will be created and should be coordinated by AADR or Human Resources.
Personal Professional Development: Julie Robertson announced that Barbara Burrell will be February’s networking luncheon speaker. Her topic will be "Are Americans Ready for A Women President?: Results from an Experiment". Judith Lukaszuk from FCNS will speak on March 30th on "Women’s Health Issues", On April 10th we had planned the presentation of two new PCSW awards unfortunately these awards have been suspended until a policy has been issued by the President’s office to make the creation of new awards uniform. We will wait to hear from Dr. Tom Krepel before proceeding with the awards. Amy Levin will refer to AADR, as our representative, to discuss protocol and propose a suggested policy to the president to possibly speed the process. This way all the commissions will have in-put at the same time. Since we will have no awards to present on April 10th, we decided to proceed with the luncheon and have a continuation of last year’s panel discussion on women at NIU. Julie will contact individuals who participated and see if that is possible. It will be held in the Capitol Room, HSC.
Research: Lesley Rigg reports that the Gender Equity report is being finalized and the cover letter written.
Awards and Recognition: Betty Baugh reported that 120 individuals have been nominated for the Outstanding Women Student Awards, approximately 15 applications have been returned at this time. The selection committee will be contacted soon. Jenny Meyer, the new intern at the Women’s Resource Center, has contact classrooms in the Communications/Journalism Department as well as the English Department to encourage students to submit entries for the Martha Cooper Journalism Award. We have generated great interest so hopefully we will have more entries this year. We have had some inquiries about the Wilma Stricklin Award but no nominations to date.
Women’s History Month Update: Amy Levin reported that the Women’s History Month Calendars are being distributed.
Josephine Umoren announced that the two candidates for Director of the Women’s Resource Center have been to campus to interview: Jill Dunlap (February 1-2) and Linnea High (February 8-9).
Dr. Tom Krepel sent a draft of the new listing for the PCSW to be placed in the University Committee book. Two minor corrections were noted: Women’s Studies Program and The Outstanding Women Students Award
Josephine Umoren adjourned the meeting at 2:00 p.m. A "Pink Elephant" exchange took place after the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Betty Baugh