Commission on the Status of Women
Minutes
Friday, December 7; 2:00 – 3:00pm
Ho Chunk Room, Davies Student Center
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is charged with making recommendations to the Chancellor
regarding issues, policies, and initiatives affecting women, as well as seeking input from and providing
information to those individuals, departments, units, and organizations interested in the status of women.
ATTENDANCE:
Chris Jorgenson, Teresa O’Halloran, Judy Gatlin, Mary Canales, Kate Hinnant, Melissa BonsteadBruns, Pat Karlen, Dee Evans and guests Audrey Mulliner and Jody Schneider
PAST MINUTES
November 9, 2012 Approved with the understanding that CSW prefers to meet with the Chancellor in person versus by
phone.
November 20, 2012 (was cancelled)
FUTURE MEETINGS:
Pat will email everyone for their free days/times to determine our list of meeting times for
next semester.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
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Chris handed out Fireball posters. The ball is on February 12. The funds raised will be used to fund female and
LGBTQ students attendance at conferences, meetings, etc.
Caitlin is in the process of hiring a web design intern who can help with our website and other projects.
A documentary that CASA recommended is currently on loop in the Davies Student Center.
There were not a lot of people who attended last week’s Diversity reception but it went well.
Kate announced that in January AAUW-Eau Claire will be taking applications for three full scholarships to attend
the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders. The conference is held in DC in May. Kate
provided the link which will be added to the CSW site: http://www.nccwsl.org/
Women’s Studies have been sending out email announcements. CSW members are not always included. Pat
will email Lucy to request we be included in all of their mailings.
NEW BUSINESS:
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Robin asked if we could take up the comparable worth issue. Can we pick up where it was left off and do an
update? Per Robin’s email back in the 80’s there was a lot of activity System-wide. After 25+ years, a reportcard update might be helpful and enlightening. Did not discuss.
Discuss next semesters schedule, listening session, meeting with the Chancellor.
o Our original goal of meeting with the Chancellor early in the year then at the end of the year did not
work out so we agreed to just meet with the Chancellor (in person) at one of our last meetings. As soon
as we establish our spring semester schedule Teresa will check with the Chancellor’s schedule.
o For our listening session this year we discussed doing a “Joint Climate Summit” which would provide an
opportunity to discuss in greater detail Melissa’s analysis of the 2009/10 climate survey. The summit
will be end of February. Melissa will do a 20 minute power point presentation.
CONTINUING BUSINESS:
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Encourage Faculty across Disciplines to Consider and Highlight the Role of Women in the Discipline:
o Look into CETL/ORSP workshops
o Start with a capstone class
o Piggyback issues of gender with collection of resources document
 Robin suggested CSW start working on doing something special for the Centennial in 2016. CSW
members were asked to bring their ideas to meetings for consideration. So far the following ideas
have been suggested:
o Sarah Harder & Sue Lemke were instrumental in bringing women’s issues to the forefront. Look
into telling their story in some type of way. Judy will check with Archives to see if they still have
the vision document, posters and interviews that were done approximately 10 years ago.
o A quilt telling a story of where we have been and where we are going
o Melissa will send CSW a time log she did when Gloria Steinem was last on campus. We
discussed adding to the timeline.
o Discuss adding a special link to the CSW website with historical-related data, documents,
pictures, stories and time logs.
o Women of (______) building. Mitra is currently working on HSS.
o Discussed the possibility of doing a capstone project. Looking for someone to head this up.
 It was recommended that CSW work with Foundation regarding donors designating contributions
directly to CSW. Robin provided the following guidance:
o If donor has a particular interest they can direct their donation to CSW
o CSW should come up with specific projects we need money for then contact Foundation for a
possible contribution
o This organization has to be proactive with its ideas to attain monetary contributions
o CSW can add a “please donate to CSW” box on its website (see Foundation for guidance)
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Work/Life Balance – Employee Satisfaction:
o Further discussion of Melissa’s analysis of UW System’s work life/climate survey that was
conducted in 2009.
- Melissa handed out another analysis (attached). Discussion included:
 There is a concern about work/life balance.
 No widespread satisfaction among positions.
 Within overall satisfaction of career progress, there aren’t any known gender
effects but there is a noticeable positional effect.
 There are disparities between men and women in the acquisition of equitable
teaching support.
 The climate survey shows that faculty is least likely than academic or classified
staff to feel like they have the equipment and supplies needed to adequately
perform their work.
 Less than 50% of classified staff feels that they are lacking support from decision
makers who support their career advancement.
o Wellness Committee Update from Vicki
- City of E.C. Chamber of Commerce Wellness Program:
 What can we do to adopt it at UWEC?
 Can there be health insurance premium benefits attached to it?
o The question remains whether CSW wants to make a recommendation to the Chancellor
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Future meeting with the Chancellor:
o Develop a uniform family leave plan
o How can we change the culture => different chairs/directors level of family leave support
o City of E.C. Chamber of Commerce Wellness Program:
- What can we do to adopt it at UWEC?
- Can there be health insurance premium benefits attached to it?
o How can UWEC show it values its human resources:
- Free tickets to performance
- Free access to wellness-related activities & facilities
- More professional development opportunities
- Tuition benefits
- Pay equity (memo CSW sent to UPC)
- Question: What is Madison doing in this area?
o We will provide the Chancellor with a copy of Melissa’s analysis