Spring Break
OSU Women's Network brings female faculty together
Program founded as Faculty Women's Network in 1986 is used as a resource for women
Samantha Blann
Issue date: 5/21/09 Section: News
All Oregon State University female employees now have a new opportunity to gather and mentor one another. The new organization, known as the OSU Women's Network (OWN), grew out of the Faculty Women's Network (FWN), which only served teaching and professional faculty.
"FWN was a good opportunity to get women faculty together," said Beth Rietveld, Women's Center coordinator. "I became involved the very first day."
FWN was started in 1986 by Liz Gray, Joann Trow and Mimi Orzech. The three women wanted a support network for female faculty members who found themselves in academic environments dominated by males.
When the Women's Advancement and Gender Equality (WAGE) organization was started in 2007, FWN was joined with it. In order to fit WAGE's mission to include all women, FWN was changed to include all women employees of OSU, which led to OWN.
OWN will offer services to all female employees of Oregon State University, including classified staff, professional faculty, teaching faculty, and research and extension faculty.
OWN will provide receptions for community-building and informal networking with others, workshops for members' personal and professional development, panel discussions, and special interest meetings to provide a safe space for members to speak. OWN will also offer mentoring in career advancement and life balancing issues.
So far, OWN has held an open house and three workshops on leadership and communication skills.
"I love the concept of women getting together to help other women," Rietveld said. "We may have male partners and male coworkers, but women can help each other in ways that men never will be able to do. There is something that women provide for other women."
The office of WAGE was established to provide professional development opportunities to women, to promote the advancement of women and to eliminate barriers to women's achievement in higher education. WAGE strives to improve the status of women and is committed to fostering diversity in higher education leadership.
"FWN was a good opportunity to get women faculty together," said Beth Rietveld, Women's Center coordinator. "I became involved the very first day."
FWN was started in 1986 by Liz Gray, Joann Trow and Mimi Orzech. The three women wanted a support network for female faculty members who found themselves in academic environments dominated by males.
When the Women's Advancement and Gender Equality (WAGE) organization was started in 2007, FWN was joined with it. In order to fit WAGE's mission to include all women, FWN was changed to include all women employees of OSU, which led to OWN.
OWN will offer services to all female employees of Oregon State University, including classified staff, professional faculty, teaching faculty, and research and extension faculty.
OWN will provide receptions for community-building and informal networking with others, workshops for members' personal and professional development, panel discussions, and special interest meetings to provide a safe space for members to speak. OWN will also offer mentoring in career advancement and life balancing issues.
So far, OWN has held an open house and three workshops on leadership and communication skills.
"I love the concept of women getting together to help other women," Rietveld said. "We may have male partners and male coworkers, but women can help each other in ways that men never will be able to do. There is something that women provide for other women."
The office of WAGE was established to provide professional development opportunities to women, to promote the advancement of women and to eliminate barriers to women's achievement in higher education. WAGE strives to improve the status of women and is committed to fostering diversity in higher education leadership.
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