There's Something I Like About This Year

What an incredible semester so far--and it's only Week 3! A big welcome to Sara Klemann, who has stepped ably into her role as ODI/Women's Center Program & Administrative Assistant.

The title of this blog perfectly describes how excited I am about what's in store for the Women's Center and Dickinson in 2011-2012 (it's from Frightened Rabbit's "Square 9", which pops up frequently in my iTunes). The main goal for the Center this year is to broaden--broaden the programs we offer, extend our outreach, and communicate our accessibility across the campus. So I've also been creating more inclusive gender conversations, like the drop-in "Conversations About Gender" Discussion Group I'm co-facilitating with Don Domenici from Counseling Services of the Wellness Center.

From our lovely friends at Franklin & Marshall's Women's Center, I got the notion to do Women's Center lunch discussions. This Friday, we'll be talking about what it means to be women from multiple perspectives; last week, we joined forces with the Dept. of Women's and Gender Studies to host a faculty research presentation from Assistant Professor Amy Steinbugler. If you have a topic you want to bring forward, email women@dickinson.edu and the interns will hook you up!

The Internship Program:  I am so excited about this that I am using Grammatically Incorrect Punctuation. The Women's Center is offering transcript notation for interns to serve on a street team that facilitates Women's Center programs and develops more outreach, events, and leadership opportunities. So I've been organizing leadership trainings for the interns, reviewing applications, and thinking up projects that will help them develop critical leadership and gender education skills. It's going to be Amazing. Amy Lane (2013) and Swechha K.C. (2013), returning interns, have been instrumental in shaping this project and I'm grateful they are hanging in to help the new interns and coordinate fun events (like our Superhero Party in October).

I am also a mission/vision/planning geek, so it's been powerful to develop, write, and implement the Women's Center Strategic Plan. I did focus groups and interviews, and solicited email feedback, to measure the consensus of folks across the college about next steps for gender-based work on campus. It's been a thrill to initiate the practical steps of this big vision by contacting colleagues in Student Development to discuss their campus ecology work. [Campus ecology:  a lens for seeing how the campus culture, facilities, and practices connect with students’ academic, social, and personal lives, enabling a holistic approach to providing education, leadership development, and healthy community.] This means a lot of meetings about men's initiatives, RA training/education sessions, and other opportunities to branch out and reach folks the Women's Center could support in building a healthy campus culture!

Last but not least, I am teaching a so-far-fantastic Methods in Women's and Gender Studies course. With my background in writing education it's great to return to teaching writing intensively and focusing on students' research and writing goals. A small class size allows us to develop in-depth understanding and analysis that will generate some very cool research projects (I hope).

In short:  there's something I love about this year. Hope to see you soon for a lunch discussion! As always, email women@dickinson.edu to get in touch.