Commission on the Status of Women
Minutes
Friday, October 12; 2:00 – 3:00pm
Ho Chunk Room, Davies 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: Teresa O’Halloran, Mary Canales, Demetrius Evans, Patricia Karlen, Mitra
Sadeghpour, Melissa Bonstead-Bruns
PAST MINUTES APPROVED
October 12, 2012
FUTURE MEETINGS:




Tuesday, October 23, 1:00 – 2:00 (meet with Interim Chancellor); Ho Chunk Room, DSC
Friday, November 9, 2:00 – 3:00; Ho Chunk Room, DSC
Tuesday, November 20, 1:00 – 2:00; Ho Chunk Room, DSC
Friday, December 7, 2:00 – 3:00; Ho Chunk Room, DSC
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
 A segment called ‘The women of Haas’ created by Mitra Sadeghpour, more information
on that will be sent to the list serv for CSW.
 Chancellor is doing a Q&A on the 17th.
NEW BUSINESS:
 It was recommended that we invite the Interim Chancellor to our October 23 meeting.
o It was agreed to discuss the climate survey at our next meeting then meet with the Chancellor
at a subsequent meeting so we can discuss this issue and other topics CSW will be working on
for the year.
o Teresa made arrangements for the Interim Chancellor to meet with CSW the first half hour of
our Tuesday, October 23 meeting. She will provide him with CSW background. We will finalize
a list of topics we want to discuss at our October 12 meeting.
o It was agreed to discuss the following at the meeting with the Chancellor
- Develop a uniform family leave plan
- How can we change the culture => different chairs/directors level of family leave
support
- How can UWEC show it values its human resources:
 Free tickets to performance
 Free access to wellness-related activities & facilities
 More professional development opportunities
CONTINUING BUSINESS:

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

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 Do we want the analysis to be linked to the CSW website?
o Teresa is going to forward an employee environment document asking for comments.
o Wellness Committee Update from Vicki
o Tuition benefits—Syracuse and Vermont
o Children’s Center Committee—Do we still want a CSW member to be part of this?
o The question remains whether CSW wants to make a recommendation to the Chancellor

EDI: CSW recommended this discussion continue. Mary Canales is EDI Fellow
o Teresa: report on the Committees’ progress this past summer: how to tie the Inclusive
Excellence plan with the Strategic Plan and will develop the action plan/priorities.
o Teresa shared that the Chancellor’s Diversity Advisory Committee has drafted an Inclusive
Excellence plan for the campus. It will be reviewed by the Dismantling Racism group Friday
March 9 and shared w/the Faculty Senate Tuesday, March 13. CSW will be able to review it in
the near future.
o History/Background: UW System uses to require a 10 year diversity plan from every campus;
although these 10 year plans are no longer required, System did request an ongoing plan. For
UWEC, this includes the Equity Scorecard system, which provides guidance for the plan’s
measures; an introduction and 4 pages outlining 4 goals and examples for how to reach each
goal. This plan mimics the framework of the University’s Strategic Plan. In addition there will be
annual action steps to be accomplished.
 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 talk to Sarah.
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.
 It was recommended that CSW work with Foundation regarding donors designating contributions
directly to CSW. Robin provided the following guidance:
-If donor has a particular interest they can direct their donation to CSW
- CSW should come up with specific projects we need money for then contact Foundation for
a possible contribution
-this organization has to be proactive with its ideas to attain monetary contributions
-CSW can add a “please donate to CSW” box on its website (see Foundation for guidance)