Mansfield University

President’s Commission on the Status of Women

Minutes for April 27, 2011

In attendance: Jennifer Demchak, Rebecca Dodson-Webster, Courtney Hull, Wendy Hardenberg, Ruth Hermansen, Judith Brayer, Jamey Harris, Barbara Butcher, Gretchen Sechrist, Amy DeLozier, Mary Lou Stroud, Alan Zellner, Sue Laib, Dean J. P. Burke

  1. Motion to approve March 16th minutes: Approved
  2. Treasurer’s Report—balance of $598.74.
  3. Funding Request by Sydnee Reeves—She is requesting funds to attend an upcoming NCAA event. She has attended events in the past and has greatly benefited. A motion was made to grant her the full amount for travel of $250. It was approved. Courtney will request permission to release the funds.
  4. PASSHE conference—No one has applied to attend.
  5. Mentor Celebration—A special thanks to the committee. Another successful event. Eight mentors were honored and this was the first time a student nominated another student.
  6. Elections—Gretchen Sechrist is the new President; Vice Chair is Courtney Hull; Treasurer is Lindy Hampsher; and someone will need to fill in for Jennifer Demchak as Secretary in the fall as she has a class during the scheduled meeting time. Members include: Shawndra Holderby, Ruth Hermansen, Janice Purk, Nanci Werner-Burke, Barbara Butcher and Casey Wood. Welcome and thank you for your willingness to serve the commission!
  7. Campus Happenings—
  8. Matt Baker bill—nothing to report
  9. Collaboration—this should be a focus of the committee next year. We should talk to AKL who has been partnering with the Women’s Center on many events.
  10. Athletic Posters—Mary Beth will talk with MU Crew
  11. Sexual Harassment--We will work with Amy Letts to organize a self-defense training at Kelchner in the fall. It will be open to both faculty and students. We will work with Dusty to try to tie this into her Red Zone talk with Freshman during the first week of class.
  1. New business
  2. Alan Zellner suggested that we make a list of conferences we would like for our students to attend so that we can start recruitment early in the semester. The events the commission strongly supports includes: Governor’s Conference for Women (October/November), Women’s Consortium (October), PASSHE Undergrad Leadership Conference (summer), Political Women’s Conference in Pittsburgh, and AAUW. We need to add this to the website and recruit so our students will attend.
  3. Remaining balance—A motion was made to spend the remaining balance of $348 on mentor luncheon supplies and an additional needs to support the commission.
  4. An annual report will be sent for the commission members to review.
  5. Future meetings will be held at Wednesday at 11:30 am in Alumni Hall. Dates and times to be announced by the new President.