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Northern Illinois University

President Commission on the Status of Women

Minutes: March 24, 2004

Present:Barbara Burrell, Virginia Cassidy, Sally Conklin, Sharon Howard, Glenda Jones, Amy Levin, Kathy Lockard, Carol Patch, Josephine Umoren, Randi Wolfe.

Absent: Stacy Allie, Karen Baker, Joanne Dempsey, Deborah Haliczer, Lisa King, Sue Ouellette,JulieRobertson, Lise Schlosser, Julia Sober.

Guest: Sheri Kallembach.

The meeting was called to order at 1:10 p.m. by Chair Barbara Burrell in Lowden Hall 304. Sally Conklin made a motion to approve the minutes from the February 11, 2004 meeting and Randi Wolfe seconded the motion. The minutes were unanimously approved.

Old Business

Affirmative Action Diversity Resources Report (AADR): No report they have not meet since our February meeting.

Campus Climate and Quality of Life: Kathy Lockard reported that the subcommittee has not met. She did hear from Karen Baker that it would not be possible for Voices for Change workshops to be held based on the Victim Economic Security Safety Act requirements.

Personal and Professional Development: Josephine Umoren announced the next Networking Luncheon would be April 2, 2004. Speakers will be Dr. Mary Pritchard, Associate Dean, College of Health & Human Sciences and Dr. Aimee Prawitz, Associate Professor, School of Family Consumer & Nutrition Sciences. The title of the presentation is “Eating from the Bare Pantry: Food Insecurity Challenges”. We already have 21 reservations.

Research: Barb Burrell has been in touch with Dan House and is in the process assessing data that is available regarding NIU women. There is no news on the Family Medical Leave information.

Awards committee: Sharon Howard informed us that the Outstanding Women Student Awards selection committee would be meeting Friday, March 26, to choose this years’ recipients. The Wilma D. Striklin selection committee will meet Monday March 29 to review this years’ three nominees. They will also be discussing the possibility of revising/adding/changing the award process. The Martha Cooper Journalism Awards entries have not been received as yet.

The Salary Equity Task Force has not met and there was no report.

New Business

Sherri Kallenbach presented the possibility of a potential half-day fall workshop dealing with women’s leadership to be held at NIU. As the Illinois representative for, Illinois Network of Women Leaders in Higher Education, Sheri would be willing to work and coordinate this effort but is seeking input and support from the commission. Possible topics could be successful leadership skills; negotiation skills; team building skills, etc. There was discussion as to wanting to narrow the topic to fit in a half-day format while still being able to be broad enough to fit the needs of the women on campus. A possible twist of diversity, such as gender diversity in leadership roles, was suggested. Overall the members are supportive of the effort. A small committee comprised of Sharon Howard, Randi Wolfe, Glenda Jones, Josephine Umoren will meet with Sheri to discuss this further.

Barbara Burrell reminded us to encourage students to attend the Women Student Leader’s Conference coming up in June. The cost is $400 to attend. Amy Levin announced that the Women’s Studies Program has limited travel funds available to help students who would like to attend.

Since Cary Groth will be leaving the university and was a member of the Govenor’s Commission it was suggested that we might want to find out if it would be possible to appoint someone else from NIU to that commission or find out if the commission is still active. Barb Burrell will contact Kathy Vittner.

The nomination committee for next years PCSW officers will be Josephine Umoren and Virginia Cassidy.

Announcements

  • Nancy Naples, Professor of Sociology, University of Connecticut, leads informal workshops at 3:30 p.m. and lecture at 7:00 p.m. on Feminist Activism and Globalization. She is author of four books and authority of teaching strategies.
  • The Wellness Fair is being held at the Holmes Student Center today until 4:00 p.m.
  • Interviewing for the Vice President of Student Affairs will begin in early April.

Adjournment

A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Kathy Lockard and seconded by Amy Levin. The motion was approved unanimously. Barbara Burrell adjourned the meeting at 2:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Betty Baugh