Hi my name is Gail, I am the Office Manager in the Women’s Center. I have worked at the University for 26 years in many different offices. My favorite foods are pizza and anything with shrimp. I love spending time with family & friends playing golf or just messing around. Please come and visit our Center.
"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy."
Hey! I’m Nicole and I am interning with the Sexual Violence Education Program this fall. I am graduating in May 2010 with a Gender & Women’s Studies major and a Corrections minor. I am so excited to be an intern in the Women’s Center and to be working with Lauren, the Sexual Violence Education Coordinator. I didn’t begin college as a Gender & Women’s Studies major, but when I transferred to MSU I really found my home in the Women’s Center and Lauren immediately took me under her wing and I became a volunteer for the SVEP. I have completed my Service Learning in the Women’s Center, I helped carry out many on-campus events, and I was in The Vagina Monologues last year as a member of both the cast and crew. The Women’s Center is a great place to get involved and feel connected with the campus community. I hope to see you soon!
"You don't have to be anti-man to be pro-woman." - Jane Galvin Lewis
I am Rachel. I’m going to school for a BFA with a concentration in Painting. I plan on continuing my education once I graduate from MSU to become an Art Therapist and work with children in some way. I got hired at the Women’s Center this semester as an office assistant and so far the best thing about it is the women who work here, very friendly and full of good information. I love lots of things but some in particular are spending time with my son, fall weather, painting, laughing, helping people, shoes, and napping.
“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.” – Pablo Picasso
Hi! My name is Kerry and I am the Program Coordinator for the Women’s Center and a second year doctoral student in the Counselor Education and Supervision program. Throughout the year, I will be working on various programming endeavors which seek to support and empower women on campus. Additionally, I am an advisor to the Women of Action Committee (WAC) and the Student Programming Board (SPB) for the Women’s Center. Some of my favorite things about the Women’s Center are the great conversations and the phenomenal people I get to meet. Oh, and did I mention the Women’s Center is completely fabulous?!
“No one in the entire world can do a better job of being you than you.” –Susan Carlson
HI! I'm Emily Dolentz and I'm one of the Office Assistants in the WC. I am an undergrad in Gender & Women's Studies with a minor in History. I will be graduating in May! YAY! I have a 5-year-old daughter. She loves to visit the center, so if you stop by some time you might be lucky enough to meet her! She'll be the short one. I am very passionate about feminism and I love discussing it. My specific interests surround women's reproductive health and critiquing and devouring all things pop culture. I am so excited to spend my last year at MSU working in the WC; the women who I get to work with everyday are so amazing and I am constantly inspired by them.
“I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse, perhaps, to be locked in.” -Virginia Woolf
Hey! My name is justine johnson and I’m a first year graduate student in the Gender and Women’s Studies program (yah!) I work as the SVEP advisor, which I love because before I came to graduate school, I was a sexual assault victim advocate. Working with Lauren Pilnick and the Women’s Center is so great! The WC is a great chance to get to know resources on campus, other people and have some fun—so stop by! PS—I also like cappuccino jelly beans!
"Nobody needs to go anywhere else. We are all, if we only knew it, already there. If I only knew who in fact I am, I should cease to behave as what I think I am; and if I stopped behaving as what I think I am, I should know who I am." --Aldous Huxley
Hi! My name is Natasha L. Kaiser. I am a junior in the Social Work program as well as a mom of three little ones. I am doing an Internship/Junior Field Study in the Women’s Center working on finding resources available for student mothers here on the MSU campus and around the Mankato area. We want to make it easier to find what you need in order to support a balance with a successful college life and everything you and your family need to have a great time at home.
"Motherhood: makes you laugh, cry, and feel like a failure. But, at the end of the day when you look down at their smiling faces... all you feel is LOVE."
Hi! I'm Blythe and I'm a first year graduate student in Gender and Women's Studies. I'm also the Marketing Coordinator for the Women's Center. I maintain the website and the listserv, amongst other technologically related things. I’m a big film geek, so when I’m not at the Women’s Center or studying for my classes, I’m probably watching a movie or talking about one. My favorite television show is 30 Rock and I love to spend time with my friends.
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
My name is Lauren Pilnick and I am the Sexual Violence Education Coordinator here at the Women’s Center! I moved here from Florida in December of 2007 and was welcomed with nearly a 100 degree temperature difference. I completed my undergraduate studies in Women’s Studies and Crime, Law, Justice at Penn State and got my Master’s from Florida Atlantic University in Women's Studies. I’ve been a Shelter/Hotline Advocate, Community Educator, an Adjunct Instructor in Women’s Studies, and a Care Coordinator for child abuse and neglect prevention. When I’m not advocating for survivors of violence or facilitating educational programming, you can find me spending time with my loved ones and my cat, Wesley and my dog, Henry (yes… he’s hairless!). My favorite TV show is “LOST” and I’m always down for a good game night. I am always interested in meeting new people so stop by, even if just to say “hi” or to see picture proof of my dog with no hair! My door is open! O+
"Where’s the outrage? “What if one out of every three multinational corporation CEO's were raped every year? Don't you think that would raise a kind of ruckus?" - Inga Muscio
Kia ora! My name is Wanda Viento and I’m the director of this wonderful Women’s Center. As a social worker for nearly 20 years, I worked primarily with sexual trauma survivors, women's issues, and social justice advocacy. Then, I returned to school to pursue my Ph.D. in Student Affairs in Higher Education with an emphasis in Multicultural Issues. I’ve worked as a counselor at Kalamazoo College, an LBGT Student Services coordinator at Western Michigan University, and most recently as the Women’s Center director at Boise State University. I have a lifelong passion for traveling to other countries and cultures. Come by the WC and check us out!
“If folks can learn to be racist, then they can learn to be antiracist. If being sexist ain't genetic, then, dad gum, people can learn about gender equality.” - Johnetta Betsch Cole
My name is Violet Woods and I am the Returning Women's Mentoring Program Coordinator here at the Women’s Center. I moved to Mankato from Duluth to get my Ed.D. in Counselor Education from the Counseling and Student Personnel department. When I am not recruiting mentors and mentees for the our discussion groups and mentoring program, I have my head buried in my textbooks. When I do have free time, I watch “Lost” and play board games with my loved ones.
"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas." - George Bernard Shaw
