Organization Development and Training

August 23, 2007

 

Dr. Mark A. Emmert, President

Office of the President

301 Gerberding Hall

Box 351230

Seattle, WA 98195

 

Dear President Emmert:

 

In Fall 2006, the President’s Advisory Committee on Women celebrated its tenth year of service to the University of Washington.  Appointed in 1996 with Susan Jeffords as the first Chair, the group was charged with promoting the improvement of the campus climate for women.  PACW has played an important role in many ways during the past decade including:

§  Leadership forums for students, staff and faculty

§  Faculty Recruitment Toolkit for increasing diversity

§  Dual Career Brochure, published and disseminated to new  hires

§  Clarification of the Family Leave Policy

§  Creation of a Women of Color Subcommittee which offers a dynamic variety of programs and networking under the auspices of the Women’s Center and PACW

In 2005 PACW held a retreat to rededicate itself to its mission which was slightly revised to read:

 PACW's mission is to collaborate with the President to improve the state of and     environment for all UW women. Specifically, we serve all members of the UW community by focusing on issues of women at:

·         UW Seattle, Bothell, and Tacoma

·         Medical Centers

·         and UW Alumni

The committee is charged with four tasks:

1.      Identify issues of concern to women at the University;

2.      Disseminate collected information on the status of women;

3.      Advise the President concerning issues relating to women; and

4.      Make recommendations to the President for improving the status of women faculty, staff, and students.

 

An important change that came from the retreat was the decision to create the position of Vice-Chair and to have the Chair serve for one academic year. This enables a smooth transition from one year to the next.  The plan is to alternate the Chair position between a faculty member and a non-faculty member at the UW.

 

During 2006-2007, the committee continued with its mission and tasks, including:

  • Hearing concerns from women about various topics including night security issues and graduate student health insurance and relaying those to the President’s office
  • Supporting the idea of a daycare facility in the UW Tower
  • Partnering with women in Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital for a symposium entitled “Creating Institutional Change for Work/Life Balance in Pediatric Careers”
  • Asking the Chair of the Faculty Committee on Women to investigate the use of the appointments with the title of “Acting Assistant Professor” by the Medical School.  FCWA found that the Medical School was in compliance in its use of such appointments.
  • Consolidating the records of PACW since 1996 and sending appropriate materials to University Archives
  • Chair met with ACE representatives during the Sloan Project Site Visit
  • Had the budget for PACW to pay the Graduate Research Assistant moved to the President’s office
  • Had the PACW website moved to the President’s page
  • Created a “Featured Women” section on the PACW website

 

The most significant activity of the committee was the production of the 2007 Report on Women at the University of Washington.  As far as we knew, no one had attempted to bring data about UW women together into one overview collection.  We set about the task of finding out what data are collected, who collects data, and where the data resides.  The report is in the form of a website and should be very useful as a baseline, for identification of gaps and concerns, and for future comparisons and enhancements for women at the University of Washington.

 

Thank you very much for your continued support of PACW as it enters its second decade.

 

 

 

Most sincerely

 

 

Elaine Zaremba Jennerich, Ph.D.

Chair, President’s Advisory Committee on Women, 2006-2007

Director, Organization Development & Training

University of Washington Libraries

 

Cc: Phyllis Wise, Provost