NOMINATIONS BEING SOUGHT!

Chancellor’s Committee on Women Annual Awards

Know someone at CU who is an advocate for other women? Know a department that continually works to improve the climate for women at CU? Nominations of students, faculty, staff, departments, or units are currently being accepted for the annual Chancellor’s Committee on Women (CCW) awards. Award recipients will be honored at the CU Women Succeeding Symposium Feb. 23-24, 2012. All nominations are due Jan. 27, 2012, by 5 p.m. Please e-mail nominations to Jan.Owens@colorado.edu.
 
We ask that a nominator write a letter, including specific details, explaining why the person or unit should be recognized. Nominations that include 2 or 3 additional letters of support are likely to show breadth and depth of activities. Please also include the name and position of the person, or the name and mission of the unit. The committee will consider self-nominations as well.

Contact:  Jan Owens, 2-4078 (303-492-4078)

Criteria for Award:

• Recognizing and working with the issues faced by women who may be marginalized or underrepresented on the basis of race, class, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, religion, or gender
• Providing women with promotion and training opportunities for leadership roles
• Participating in or supporting women’s participation in the Chancellor’s Committee on Women (CCW) and other committees and groups working on women’s issues
• Creating mentoring opportunities for women
• Aggressively recruiting and promoting women administrators
• Ensuring salary equity
• Supporting a work-life balance—flexibility on family issues
• Promoting safe and accepting spaces on campus including classrooms, residence halls, departments
• Creating and implementing staff incentives that reward community and university service
• Actively promoting the voices of women on campus
• Using information gathered on exit interviews to improve university climate
• Addressing issues raised in the CCW report
• Actively participating in or supporting student organizations relevant to promoting and advocating women’s issues

Past Award Recipients

2010 Recipients

Cindy Donahue is the Director of Disability Services. She brings to the university a strong commitment to equal educational access and an equally strong sense of professionalism. The CU Disability Services Office is recognized throughout the country as an outstanding program for students, faculty and staff with disabilities.  She is cognizant of the multiple intersections that women students, faculty and staff face as they struggle with issues of race, class, gender orientation, and diverse identities. Cindy is an excellent representative of disability and access matters both within our community and nationally.

Margaret Eisenhart is a professor in the School of Education. She is nationally recognized for her research and outreach on educating girls and women in science and engineering.  Her findings are particularly important for those in engineering and computer science at CU who are trying to increase enrollment of women and underrepresented students in our fields.  Margaret’s scholarship has been recognized with her appointment as Distinguished University Professor of educational anthropology and research methodology.  The importance of Margaret’s contributions to our understanding of the factors which influence the education of women and underrepresented groups in science and engineering cannot be underestimated. Her insights provide guidance for future efforts to increase diversity in the critical areas of science education and practice.

2009 Recipients

CU Women's Resource Center

Beth Osnes

2008 Recipients

Laura Border, Director, Graduate Teacher Program.  Laura’s nomination points to her advocacy for inclusion and social justice within her program.  Her nominators laud her commitment to “a multicultural environment and ethos.” Laura is appreciated for her many efforts to move women on campus forward, both professionally and personally.  Her staff speaks to her support and mentorship—she encourages people to participate actively on campus and helps them expand their own professionalism. Laura is known as an excellent collaborator across campus. Finally, the CCW would like to recognize Laura Border as a founding CCW member.

Candice Bowen, Director of the Office of Discrimination and Harassment and the Office of Labor Relations.  We’d like to join Candice’s nominators in applauding Candice for her efforts to educate the campus community with regard to issues of sexual harassment and gender equality.  She has been a true champion of these efforts on our campus.  Further, her staff recognize Candice for her inspirational leadership.  She has mentored her team and serves as a strong role model. Candice has concerned herself with women’s issues on campus for many years, including serving on the CCW for several years, serving on the Sexual Assault Protocol Task Force, and chairing the Sexual Harassment Resource Committee.  Her service has extended into the community as well with Candice’s service to the board of MESA.

Patricia Rankin, Professor of Physics and the LEAP program.  The CCW recognizes Patricia Rankin for her work in the classroom, across campus, and nationally in advocating for women, particularly in the sciences.  Her nominators note that her work has significantly improved the “status, climate, and representation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines.”  Her work with LEAP has as its primary goal the promotion and retention of women and minority faculty, largely through leadership workshops. Participants from LEAP speak to the benefits they derived from the program—better preparation and excellent mentorship, but they also point out that the overall effect of the program has been to promote a broader campus climate that is more welcoming and supportive of women faculty.  Patricia is active on a national level as an advocate for women in science as well.

Elease Robbins, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, and Dean of Students.  Elease’s many nomination letters uniformly attest to Elease’s role as a strong mentor and role model for women and other underrepresented groups on campus. Her influence extends from administrators, to faculty, to staff, to students and their parents. Her staff laud her efforts to promote work-life balance.  She takes steps to coach people to allow their empowerment and agency.  Says one letter, “Many of us enjoy the freedom to say and do what we feel is right because of the safe and supportive environment created by Elease.”

2006 Recipients

Janet Garcia, Office of International Education. Janet was nominated for her tremendous service to the CCW.  For many years (and we actually think since the committee’s inception) Janet has served on the committee in an effort to serve the entire campus community.  She dedicated countless hours to CCW meetings, chair meetings, research and focus groups for the Status of Women Reports and so forth.  Janet has been key to contributing to all the goals of CCW, but what stands out is her ability to listen and a willingness to advocate on behalf of women who may not be in a position to advocate for themselves.  She has always taken particular care to address the concerns of individuals who have English as a second language or who may be differently-abled.  While Janet is no longer serving on the committee because of other obligations, we honor her for all she has done.

Polly McLean, Women’s Studies Program. The students who nominated her note that Polly is so much more than just a program director.  She is a force of change!  Working with students, she has uncovered the history of Lucile Berkley Buchanan, the first black woman to graduate from CU.  In the course of this work, they discovered that Lucile actually graduated before the student who is currently holds the title of “first woman to graduate.”  Polly engages students, faculty, and staff in open, honest educational dialogue about often-controversial topics.  In so doing, she challenges assumptions, fosters openness, and promotes real understanding.  As many of us know, Women’s Studies has faced a number of challenges over the years, but Polly has worked with her colleagues – students and faculty alike – to strengthen the program.

Dr. JoAnn Silverstein, Chair of the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering Department.  Dr. Silverstein was nominated for her impressive work serving engineering women at CU.  Their nomination letter included numerous examples of why she deserves this award.  Some of her impressive accomplishments include being instrumental in establishing the Women in Engineering Program and earning the Distinguished Engineering Educator award from the National Society of Women in Engineers.  She was also instrumental in creating an undergraduate environmental engineering program at CU, a discipline which has encouraged a significant amount of young women to pursue the engineering field.  And in her spare time, she has participated in numerous outreach efforts which have significantly broadened minority participation at CU and advanced the causes of women in higher education.

Sylvia Gardner, Program Assistant for Housing and Dining Services.  Sylvia was nominated for outstanding work in Housing and Dining Services.  Most notably, Sylvia has been an outstanding advocate for women of color on the CU campus.  She has taken it upon herself to educate all those she works with on how to be better mentors, supervisors, and advocates for women whose voices are not often heard.  Sylvia also serves on the department’s social justice planning team and helped bring to the department a training firm to help them develop foundational skills in diversity and social justice.  With her determination to create awareness and her dedication to promoting the voices of women and minorities on this campus she impressively serves the missions of CCW.

2005 Recipients

Caroline Himes, Executive Associate Director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.  Caroline’s nominators provided ample evidence of Caroline’s work on behalf of women.  Among the many things they noted are Caroline’s commitment to ensuring women have moved into every level of management and leadership in her unit.  She has been “instrumental in providing opportunities for women through promotion and training for leadership responsibility.”  According to her nominators, she has not only made a place for women in science and engineering, but she has made it possible for them to succeed.  Caroline also supports a work-life balance in her unit, and strives to ensure pay equity.  All of these goals support the mission of the CCW.

Zan Johns, Director of Human Resources.  Zan’s noted that Zan and her department have made significant strides in almost all areas of the CCW recommendations.  Under Zan’s leadership, HR was instrumental in developing an employee recognition program for staff on campus, which has been used as a model across campus.  She supports a work-life balance, has created many mentoring opportunities for women, encourages women on her staff to participate in CCW & other committees and groups working on women’s issues, and has actively worked to advance women in the workplace. 

Paul Tabolt, Vice Chancellor for Administration. Paul’s nomination directed our attention his constant support of the Office of Sexual Harassment, saying “VC Tabolt has actively promoted the safety and well-being of women on campus by securing additional funding for the Office of Sexual Harassment and actively monitoring employees in his division” to ensure they have complied with training requirements.  Even in this climate of budget constraints, VC Tabolt has shown the campus that the sexual harassment program is a priority, and that his commitment to the program has helped create a safer, more respectful climate for women on campus.