We hope this newsletter finds you all happy and healthy amid a busy and eventful semester! We have had a lot going on this month, from a call for The Vagina Monologues performers, to Violence Free Zone training, to a film showing about women artists! Please stop by the Women’s Center, CSU 218, to get more information about any of the people or events you see in the newsletter. If you have something you would like to contribute to our upcoming newsletters, please submit them to blythe.newburg@mnsu.edu. We are always looking for submissions from students, faculty and staff members. Anything creative such as art work, photographs, poems or short stories, as well as any announcements for upcoming events that you have is welcome. Thank you everyone and enjoy your semester!
Lauren Pilnick – Sexual Violence Education Program Coordinator
Gail Abraham – Office Manager
Bri Bigouette – Graphic Artist
Nicole Bourdeau – Sexual Violence Education Program Intern
Rachel Compart – Office Assistant
Kerry Diekmann – Program Coordinator
Emily Dolentz –Office Assistant
Justine Johnson – Sexual Violence Education Program Advisor
Natasha Kaiser – Student Mother Program Intern
Blythe Newburg – Marketing Coordinator
Violet Woods – Returning Women’s Mentoring Program Intern
The mentoring program is coming along nicely with mentors and mentees interested. There are applications available in the office for those women who have established themselves as successful students on campus and want to support other returning women students just starting back. We hope to expand the group so that many more women who have returned to MSU can have the opportunity to get their questions answered, find a place that they matter, and share their joys and frustrations about returning to campus.
In similar news, the Returning Women’s Discussion Group has met twice so far this semester. It has given all returning women (regardless of how long they've been back to school) a place to connect, laugh, talk, share, and have a free lunch! The conversations have been rich and the lunch has been great as well! We met with both a library representative on October 12th and a health care representative on October 26th, and both had good information to share. We have discussed childcare, studying space and time, the various meanings of feminism, and unavailable partners among other things.
We meet alternating Mondays in CSU 256. The next time we meet is from 12:00-1:00 pm, November 9th. A financial aid representative will be there to briefly explain the process before we engage in fruitful discussion. There will always be open seat for any women student who has returned to MSU after a break in education and wants to share her experiences with others.
From the Sexual Violence Education Program:
Thank you to everyone who made Domestic Violence Awareness Month a success!
The Vagina Monologues will be happening in February and we are still looking for V-Crew members. If you are interested, please contact Lauren at lauren.pilnick@mnsu.edu or call 389-6146, or just stop by the Women’s Center in CSU 218.
Faculty/Staff Spotlight
Anne Blackhurst is Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, a position she has held for three years, including two years as Interim Dean. Prior to her appointment as Dean, she taught graduate courses in Counseling and Student Personnel at Minnesota State Mankato for 12 years--during which she mentored more than 100 emerging women leaders--and served as department chair. She earned her doctorate in Counseling and Student Personnel from Ohio University, where she served as Associate Director of Residence Life. Her 14 years of experience as a Student Affairs administrator also included positions as Director of Residence Life and Assistant Dean of Students at Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio. Anne has published and presented the results of her research on women in higher education administration, including research on career satisfaction and commitment, perceived gender discrimination, and the benefits of mentoring for women leaders. As Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, Anne is responsible for programs and services that enhance graduate education and support the outstanding research conducted by Minnesota State Mankato’s faculty and students. Her son, Evan, is currently a graduate student at Minnesota State Mankato. Witnessing the excellent graduate education Evan is receiving at Minnesota State provides added meaning and satisfaction to a position that is already professionally and personally rewarding.
Dean Blackhurst will be the keynote speaker at the Women’s Leadership Conference on November 14th!
Student Poetry Corner
Little Lamb
When the smoke finally cleared I saw her.
A small creature. Pretty. Childishly grown-up.
She whispered to me about her love heart she hides in a trinket box under her bed.
She told me she’s afraid someone may find it;
I told her I wouldn’t tell.
Untitled
“I love him,” she said
With her black eye and broken spirit.
“He loves me,” she said
As she pick up the pieces of the shattered vase and shattered devotion
“I shouldn’t make him so angry,” she said
As she wiped the tears from her face
“He doesn’t mean it,” she said
Cleaning the last trace of her blood and his odium from her lip
“I love him,” she said
- Written by Emily Dolentz
Upcoming Events
November 11th, 2009 at 7pm in the CSU Ballroom
The Mother Monologues is a script written by Lynn Kuechle. It is a combination of the different perspectives of several mothers. There is a mother with young children, played by MNSU student Natasha Kaiser, a mother with teenagers played by Amy Mukamuri from the MNSU Institutional Diversity Office, and a mother with adult children, played by Maria Baxter-Nuamah from the MNSU Multicultural Affairs Office. The narrator is Lynn Kuechle who works at the MNSU Department of Communication Studies.
Motherhood is a transformation process much longer than pregnancy. We have manuals that tell us week by week what is happening in the womb, but there is nothing that tells women about the metamorphosis to mother.
This performance will examine roles and concepts of women in different stages of motherhood. You do not need to be a parent, a grandparent, or a woman to understand it. If you know anyone who has children or who has raised children, this is an extraordinary presentation to watch!
Be You(tiful): A Night for Women
Monday, November 16, 2009
6:30 – 9:30 p.m. in the CSU ballroom
This cool event was developed and arranged by our Student Programming Board!!
Experience a night of activities, education, and discussions: Empowering women by learning to love ourselves, inside and out; effectively engaging in honest, healthy relationships with others; and understanding the role societal influences plan in hindering our development of a positive female identity. There will be freebies, food, and fantastic females. Please join us!
A new group is forming to provide support to women working on their doctoral degrees. Only one in a thousand people enroll in a doctoral program and even fewer finish. Women face unique needs in higher education. Stressors, isolation, competition, personal life, and jobs are some of the factors influencing completion of the degree. Sharing your advice and experience about courses, teaching, internships, research, dissertations, and committee selection can help you as well as others. Come join us!
This discussion forum will meet from 12-1pm (please bring your lunch along) in CSU 123 on November 11th and 25th
