Present: Dee Abrahamson, Karen Baker, Barbara Burrell, Virginia Cassidy, Deborah Haliczer, Glenda Jones, Amy Levin, Judith Lukaszuk, Shirley Mashare, Doreen Mace, Jan Rintala, Rhonda Robinson, Lise Schlosser, Lorraine Scurti, Marianne Tomlinson, Josephine Umoren.
Absent: Lisa Kay, Regina Rahn, Julie Robertson, Denise Schoenbachler, Debbie Smith-Shank.
The meeting was called to order at 1:05 p.m. by Chair, Josephine Umoren in Altgeld Hall 203. Jan Rintala made a motion to approve the minutes from the May 3, 2006 meeting. Dee Abrahamson seconded the motion. The minutes were approved unanimously.
Affirmative Action Diversity Resources Report: Karen Baker reported that they had not met and there was no report at this time.
Campus Climate and Quality of Life: Amy Levine explained the activities of the committee for the benefit of new members: identify issues related to women and families; strive for recruitment and retention of women in all employment categories; utilize campus resources to increase visibility of the PCSW. The primary goal of the committee is to promote professional development of all women on campus.
Personal Professional Development: Lise Schlosser reported for Julie Robertson, who is volunteering to continue on as chair of the Personal Professional Development subcommittee. This committee primarily programs the networking luncheon series for the PCSW. An annual report of last year’s activities was distributed to members. Over the summer, Julie developed a protocol for setting up the Networking Luncheons to assist and simplify the process for future chairs of this committee. Joan Quinn is now the contact person in the Chandelier Room. Possible dates available for networking luncheons for this semester are October 27th, November 3rd, and November 17th. All of these dates are Fridays. Julie wanted to know thoughts from members regarding possible speakers and the dates. It was mentioned that it might be a good idea to not have all the luncheons on Friday so individuals who have Friday schedules that do not permit them to attend would have an opportunity to attend occasionally. Lise will relay this information to Julie. Members who would like to be involved in this committee or have suggested speakers/topics should contact Julie Robertson.
Research: Jan Rintala discussed the goals of the research committee. They have primarily been working on reviewing data on the presence of women among employment and student groups at NIU from 1998 through 2004 as was recommended in the ACE Agenda Recommendation Review Report of January 2000,
located at the following link for those new members who wish to read the recommendations or those members who would like to refresh their memories: http://www.niu.edu/women/PCSW/ACE_agenda.shtml . They have completed a working draft of the findings from this review which will be emailed to members this afternoon. Please read this draft and be prepared to discuss it at the next meeting. Virginia Cassidy also distributed a Gender Equity in Higher Education: 2006 American Council on Education Center for Policy Analysis to members.
Awards and Recognition: Betty Baugh explained the four awards that the PCSW presented last year: Outstanding Women Student Awards; Martha Cooper Journalism Award; Wilma D. Stricklin Award; 25 Amazing NIU Women Award. The first three awards are annual awards that have been given routinely over the years. The 25 Amazing NIU Women Award was a new award created last year and will need to be reviewed and discussed as to whether this award should be continued and if so in what format. We have been discussing the addition of awards to recognize the contributions of women who do not qualify for the Stricklin Award and this may be one way to achieve that. Anne Kaplan also contacted Josephine Umoren with information regarding an award titled "Women to Watch" from the College of Business Newsletter as a kind of award the commission might want to consider.
This years PCSW budget remains the same as last years, $9,882.93. This will be our base budget to pay for expenses of the PCSW award ceremonies and miscellaneous expenses throughout the year. We also have a 41 account that contains $6,466.97 that may be used for funding additional projects or if we have unforeseen expenses.
Amy Levin, Director and Rebekah Kohli, Program Coordinator of the Women’s Studies Program have once again requested that the PCSW support women’s history month by providing funding for the cost of the women’s history month poster. The request is $300 for a student to create an original design for the poster and approximately $500 in printing, for a total commitment of $800 for the 2006-2007 Women’s History Month poster project. Barbara Burrell made a motion that the PCSW fund the 2006-2007 Women’s History Month poster project for up to $800. Jan Rintala seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.
It has been brought to the attention of the PCSW that new employees that find need to use maternity leave are having difficulty and are finding inequity of FMLA. This is a complicated issue with flexibility at the Dean’s level. Both the Faculty Senate and the Benefits Committee are aware of the issue. Questions such as the employee awareness of the flexibility were discussed. Should a policy be developed/created to prevent the dependence on generosity of deans and create equity across colleges? Members felt this should be made an agenda item and be a topic for the Campus Climate and Quality of Life to pursue.
Jan Rintala made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Deborah Haliczer seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously. Josephine Umoren adjourned the meeting at 2:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Betty Baugh