This four-week workshop will explore one of the most controversial topics today: work/life balance. We will look at this topic from two angles:

1) The big picture: What is work/life balance? Is balance possible? What barriers exist to achieving a balance between family and work from historical, social, and policy perspectives? How do men and women experience this struggle differently? How does race, class and sexual orientation impact people’s perceptions of “balance”?

2) The personal: What does balance mean to you? What are work/life balance challenges you’ve experienced? How would you define success?

 

Objectives: 

• Understand motherhood as a socially constructed role.
• Explore the stumbling blocks experienced by mothers that makes work life balance difficult.
• Learn about activists who are working on challenging those barriers.
• Question the expectations and commonly held beliefs about what makes a good or bad mother.
• Share narratives and stories from our own mothering experiences, or those of being mothered.

Dates: November 7 - December 2, 2011

Location: Online

Time: There will be one meeting that will be scheduled as a live session, otherwise all other sessions will be completed at the student's own pace. The instructors will be flexible with participation for the live session.

Cost: $99 if registered before November 1, 2011
           $120 if registered November 2, 2011 or later

Continuing Education Credit:

• 15 contact hours

Audience: This program is designed forrofessionals or women in transition who are affected by caregiving and mothering responsibilities, or anyone who wants to gain an understanding of why work life balance is one of the top challenges for parents today.

 

Presenters:

Lynn Keuchle is an instructor in the Communication Studies Department at Minnesota State University and the Education director for the Museum of Motherhood. She has written a play titled "The Mother Monologues," which was the inspiration for a special produced by PBS in Austin, MN. Recently, Lynn has been teaching leadership courses and is currently working on a curriculum for mothers as leaders for the Museum of Motherhood (NY). She has authored four book chapters, has two children, and lives in Mankato, Minnesota.

 

Jocelyn Fenton Stitt

Jocelyn Fenton Stitt is an Associate Professor of Gender and women Studies, where she teaches courses on global feminism, postcolonial culture and theory, and feminist mothering. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan. She is the editor, along with Pegeen Reichert Powell, of "Mothers who Deliver: Feminist Intervention in Public and Interpersonal Discourse" (SUNY Press 2010). Most recently, she has published work on public perceptions of postpartum depression, maternal peace activists and grief, and the activist group Gold Star Families Speak Out. Stitt is a member of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (MIRCI) and Academic Committee member at the Museum of Motherhood.

 

Museum of Motherhood in the New York Post

Cancellation Policy

Questions: If you have questions about the training or how to register, contact the College of Extended Learning at 507-389-2572, or 1-800-311-3142, or email