Present: Karen Baker, Amanda Bartling, Monique Bernoudy, Virginia Cassidy, Deborah Haliczer, Celeste Latham, Amy Levin, Shirley Mashare, Julie Robertson, Rhonda Robinson, and Josephine Umoren.
Absent: Kay Chapman, Jill Dunlap, Adrienne Holloway, Glenda Jones, Tifarah Jones, Lisa Kay, Judith Lukaszuk, Erika McCall, Regina Rahn, Lesley Rigg, Christine Stakal, Talia Whitehead, and Kerith Woodyard.
The meeting was called to order by Chair, Rhonda Robinson in Lowden Hall 304 at 2:10 p.m. Shirley Mashare moved to approve the minutes from the January 16, 2008 meeting. Deborah Haliczer seconded the motion. The minutes were approved unanimously.
AADR report- No report.
Campus climate and quality of life subcommittee- No report.
Professional Development Committee- Julie Robertson reported that Monique Bernoudy’s February luncheon was an excellent presentation and well attended. The Networking Luncheon planning is completed for spring semester.
It was suggested that a future networking luncheon presenter be Jenifer Montag from CARR. She has presented several signing workshops that have been excellent.
The networking luncheon format was discussed. The brown bag format was thought to not be professional enough and would be inconvenient for some individuals. According to the Networking Luncheon records from the last four years the increase in lunch price has not reduced attendance. This being the case reduced fees was discussed for students to encourage increased student participation. Virginia Cassidy made a motion that we increase the price of the luncheon to $10.00 to defray the cost of students and admitted students for free. The motion was approved unanimously. Should this become a financial burden to the PCSW it may be considered for review at a later time.
Awards and Recognition sub-committee- Josephine Umoren requested that the same selection committee be used for all the award selections this year. The PCSW members agreed this would be most efficient. Outstanding Women Student materials are due February 29, 2008 with the committee meeting March 18 and all other award deadlines are March 3, 2008.
Research subcommittee- They met with President Peters regarding the campus climate report being revised for him and he suggested more benchmarking. It was suggested to ask Institutional Research to collect more data for the report. We are to incorporate information in comparison to benchmarking. Lesley Rigg responded to President Peters about the due date and progress of report.
STEM initiative is part of a University wide focus and a meeting was held last week to discuss its progress. There was an interdisciplinary turnout. Even if this project is not funded through the Strategic Plan it will be a major benefit to NIU.
Rhonda Robinson asked Deborah Haliczer to report on mentoring programs and needs of civil service personnel. Deborah reported that no formal mentoring programs were available to civil service employees and there were gapping pockets of need. Major difficulties include collecting information more systematically and identifying needs of staff. This issue may have more impact if brought to President Peter’s attention as a major concern with recommendations from all commissions. It was suggested that this be a topic of discussion at the next luncheon of the commissions. All commissions should collaborate on recommendations on this issue.
One avenue of mentoring because of time constraints may be the possibility of using electronic mentoring systems. It was also suggested that student – faculty links are important mentoring tools. Amy Levin suggested that the second recipient of the Outstanding Mentoring Award present a networking luncheon next fall on ’10 tips for mentoring’.
International Women’s Day will be held February 29, 2008, "Bahai Women and Transnational Communities" Join us for the 2008 annual International Women's Day luncheon with a keynote by Dr. Siew-Sim Chin, a 2006 graduate of the Counseling, Adult and Higher Education program at Northern Illinois. Dr. Chin will share her research on women in the Bahai Faith and their engagement in building transnational communities. Don't miss this important annual event - reservations are required, so save your place now by calling 815.753.0320. Time: 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Location: Chandelier Room, Adams Hall. Please encourage your colleagues to attend.
University Campus Climate Surveys were launched Monday. There has been good publicity and a good return rate so far. The commissions were given an opportunity to include ten questions on the survey. The process of identifying the questions was a learning experience and very congenial. We were able to include a general gender question. Booklets were passed around by Amy Levin: Women, Work and the Academy, Strategies for Responding and What Others See That We Don’t, Barnard (www.barnard.edu/bcrw ). Deborah Haliczer passed around a booklet from the University of Michigan, Making the Best of Both Worlds.
Shirley Mashare moved that the meeting be adjourned, Celeste Latham second the motion and it was unanimously approved. Meeting adjourned at 3:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Betty L. Baugh