Advancing Equity at RWU: A Celebration of Women’s History Month

March 2, 2021

To the RWU Community, 

Throughout March, Women’s History Month provides us with an opportunity to honor groundbreaking women like Maya Angelou, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and our own Elizabeth Ortiz ’07 L’10, who was recently appointed the first Latina Family Court judge in Rhode Island. It is a time to celebrate the advancements women and individuals who identify as women have made in recent years, but also to consider how we as individuals, as a campus, and a nation can take action toward achieving parity and inclusion in our society.

We have an obligation as an institution of higher education to use education to open doors to greater opportunities and a better quality of life for so many. Across the country, women still do not receive equitable status to men in the workplace and in various fields in academia. I have dedicated my career to advancing women in STEM fields and I am a proud recipient of the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus’ Good Guy Award for increasing representation of women in higher education and leadership roles. At RWU, I have continued to lead the shared commitment to inclusion and equity that drives our mission to be the university the world needs now.

We are working this spring to complete an ambitious long-term strategic action plan that integrates the vision and goals of our Equity Action Plan. While our strategic action plan will be delivered to the RWU Board of Trustees in May, I want to take a moment now to share with you the progress we have made to date in expanding representation and celebrating women and women-identified individuals and call out some of the amazing community work we have under way.

Building Equity in the RWU Community

If you want to make a difference and enact real change, you must start with yourself. As Mahatma Ghandi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

RWU has been leading the way toward achieving equal representation of women in STEM fields and advancing women in leadership positions. Here are some examples of progress over the past five years:

  • In Fall 2020, women students accounted for 49% of all students in STEM majors, which includes the sciences, math, engineering, and computer science.
  • The number of women students of color in STEM majors has increased by 45% (71 students).
  • Our women graduate student enrollment has increased by 30% and accounts for 60% of total graduate program enrollment.
  • At RWU Law, women student enrollment has increased by 37% and now accounts for 58% of the total law school enrollment.
  • We are also making gains in faculty parity – 48% of all full-time faculty are women.
  • Women hired into management roles continues to increase each year, with women managers now constituting 58% of all management positions across RWU and RWU Law.
  • And 50% of RWU’s Senior Leadership positions are women, providing equitable representation as the top decision-makers on the President’s Cabinet.

As we have worked toward equal representation, RWU has also considered how our policies, culture and community can confront inequalities and break down barriers. While it is not possible to provide an exhaustive listing, I will highlight here a few examples of some of the many recent efforts:

The Intercultural Center’s RWU Safe Zone Training program has been provided to more than 600 students and employees, helping to increase awareness and acceptance of our queer, transgender, and gender nonconforming students, faculty and staff.

With 138 members across our two campuses, the Women’s Affinity Group provides our women employees a networking, mentorship and a professional development series, along with smaller cohorts of Women in Senior Leadership Caucus and Women Faculty Caucus. The members celebrate the work of our women employees through campus events like the Women @ RWU Conference (next one may be held in the fall) and RWU Outstanding Women on Campus Celebration (happening on March 8). They are also active in working with the university on policies that support equity for women and families, including the recent revision of a more flexible children in the workplace policy.

We provide safe and inclusive spaces through gender-inclusive restrooms in residence halls and buildings across campus and gender-inclusive housing, as well as building community through a Queer/Trans Living Learning Community (LLC).

There are many opportunities for student involvement with clubs that focus on women’s and gender advocacy. For example, there are the Sexuality and Gender Alliance, Feminists United, and Providing Awareness & Victim Empowerment.

In addition to updating the children in the workplace policy, the university recently adopted a pets in the workplace policy; offered temporary alternative work arrangements to employees struggling with child care during Covid; provided on-campus breastfeeding accommodations for new parents; and developed more inclusive guidelines for domestic partners in employee benefit programs – all to promote a more equitable work-life balance for our community.

Recognizing that some students and employees may prefer to identify themselves by a first name other than their legal name, RWU provides the Chosen Name Policy which allows community members to designate a preferred first name and preferred pronouns to be used where possible in the university community.

In the year ahead, many new items will emerge from our strategic planning efforts as we design new ideas and continue to enact various ideas from the Equity Action Plan. I look forward to supporting new ideas that arise, such as the new proposal for a Center for Women and Gender @ One RWU, an initiative launched through the Women’s Affinity Group dedicated to supporting students and employees who identify as women. More details will be announced on this in the months ahead.

Events 

Throughout March, a number of events celebrating Women’s History Month will occur that are open to the entire RWU community.

  • The university’s yearlong series, “Hidden Truths: Stories of Race and Place,” focuses this month on centering Black women. On March 3 at 7 p.m., Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies Kamille Gentles-Peart will present “Black Women, Thick Bodies, and Anti-Black Racism in America.”
  • Also on March 3 at 6 p.m., RWU Law presents the 2nd Annual Women in Law Leadership Lecture, featuring Debra Katz, Esq. During this event, the law school will announce the winners of its essay/artwork contest for Rhode Island schoolchildren: “How has Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg inspired me?”
     
  • Sixty women faculty and staff members will be honored for their service and dedication to the university during the RWU Outstanding Women on Campus Celebration on March 8 at 3:30 p.m. This year’s event will recognize both our 2020 and 2021 honorees.
     
  • On March 12 at noon, the university presents “Honoring the Life and Impact of Ruth Bader Ginsburg” – a conversation with RWU alumna Elizabeth Ortiz ’07 L’10 who is the first Latina judge appointed to the Rhode Island Family Court. Ortiz will talk about Ginsburg’s pioneering judicial career and reflect on her own groundbreaking career.
     
  • The Intercultural Center and the Sexuality and Gender Alliance will co-sponsor a presentation of “HerStory” on March 16 at 7 p.m.
  • Also upcoming:
    • The Intercultural Center will feature the stories of influential women throughout history on its Instagram page (@rwu_interculturalcenter) throughout this month, and plans to share a video featuring women students, faculty and staff reading Maya Angelou’s famous poem – “Phenomenal Woman” – in commemoration of International Women’s Day on March 8. Those interested in participating the video should contact David Hayes ’20 at dhayes254@g.rwu.edu.
    • Tentatively scheduled for March 23 at 4 p.m., the documentary film “Glimpses into the Spirit of Gender Equality” will be screened.
    • The Women’s Faculty Caucus is sponsoring a Women @ RWU Art Exhibition on April 13-15 in the Lower Commons Faculty & Staff Dining Room. To have your artwork included in this event, contact Elizabeth Duffy at eduffy@rwu.edu.

 Equity Work in the Community

An important aspect of RWU is to share our knowledge and skills to make a difference in our communities. Through our outreach and research, we are helping to address real needs and issues and advances equity across our region. I am so proud to note a few examples here that have happened recently and are ongoing. 

Each year, the student chapter of Society of Women Engineers (SWE) brings scores of fourth-grade girls to campus for a hands-on engineering lesson that helps them earn a Girl Scouts badge. This year’s group is led by students Daniella Giannotti and Hannah Darling, who are also the leaders of our student chapter, Engineers Without Borders. With the pandemic disrupting their annual workshop, SWE is looking to partner with local schools to send an “engineering kit” and share their knowledge through a socially-distanced virtual lesson to continue reaching and inspiring schoolchildren.

Through a collaboration with Community Partnerships Center and the City of Newport, students in Charlotte Carrington-Farmer and Debra Mulligan’s history courses are telling the untold stories of African-American men and women interred in a burial ground where many slaves and free people of color were buried alongside their “owners” in what was part of the epicenter of the historic triangle slave trade. Among some of the little-known women of color coming to light from their research are Dutchess Quamino, the “pastry chef of Rhode Island” rumored to have created confectionaries that caught the attention of George Washington, and Dr. Harriet Rice, a locally famous, 19th century doctor.

At the Providence campus, HousingWorks RI has been raising awareness of their research into women-led families bearing the brunt of challenges during Covid.

Students in Laura D’Amore’s cultural studies course are continuing an ongoing partnership with nonprofit Girls, Inc. of Taunton, mentoring girls and young women through teaching empowering activities; also students in a writing course recently redesigned a resource guide for the YWCA of Central Falls.

Our student-athletes are also very active within our local communities. In just one example, the field hockey team is collaborating with the Women’s Resource Center in Warren, which shelters and empowers women and families impacted by domestic and sexual violence. From March 1 to March 8, look for the team’s collection box outside the Covid testing center to donate nonperishable foods, baby care items, and toiletries for our local women and families in need.

I invite you to be engaged in these activities and join us for many of these upcoming events and in celebrating the incredible work happening throughout our community. Together, we can continue to create the change that is needed here at RWU and beyond.

Sincerely,
Yannis 

Dr. Ioannis Miaoulis is the eleventh president of Roger Williams University