|
|||||||
|
|||||||
| ~ FOWS: donations
directly benefit students: e.g., funding for travel to conferences; support
for projects that benefit women and the community. ~ Women's Studies Unrestricted: also supports students and their activities as well as the many incidental (and expensive) costs we incur for events (e.g., supplies, printing, and copying) ~ Catherine Coogan Ward Visiting Professorship: supports bringing a broad range of speakers and special guests to campus ~ Gail Martin Faculty Development Fund: supports our faculty; travel funds for conferences; lectures, and so on |
 |
| A group of WS supporters and donors turned out for the Friends of Women's Studies inagural ceremony, graciously hosted at the home of Gary & Julie Ransdell. |
 |
| WS minors (left to right) Jillian Palovich and Kanya Reid listen intently to one of the panelists at the Global Women's and Human Rights Conference in Atlanta. FOWS co-sponsored travel funds and membership fees for 10 students and a faculty person. |
  |
|||||||
|
 |
||||||
The
gift with the highest return . . .
|
|||||||
| Join Us! The Women's Studies Program welcomes your support. Various membership levels exist for you to choose from. (Click here for form and information.) | You may make a tax-deductible donation to Friends of Women's Studies (FOWS) or, for as little as $25.00, become a member of FOWS. (See list of current members at the bottom of this page.) We also welcome donations to other areas of the Women's Studies Program. You're a Friend of Women's Studies with a donation of $25.00 or more to any area of the Women's Studies Program. |
OFFICIAL FRIENDS OF
WOMEN’S STUDIES
* INDICATES LIFE MEMBER OR LIFE PATRONS |
||
Kathryn Abbott |
 |
Joan Krenzin Elise Talmage Lieb *Dixie & Pete Mahurin *Gail & Cornelius Martin Linda McCray *Mary Ellen Miller *Patricia & Mike Minter Charmaine Mosby Elizabeth & John Oakes Jane Olmsted Elizabeth & James Oppitz *Judy & Ernie Owen *Regina Parsley-Byrd Katrina & Nate Phelps *Jimmie Price Kelly Reames Karen Schneider *Valere Scott *C.G. Shahmir Patsy Sloan *Cora Jane & Col. Spiller *Dr. Robert Spiller, Jr. *Katie & Bob Ward Your name could be here! |
|
Once upon a time in a place that seems now like another world, I became interested in women’s studies as an academic discipline. As I read all the books and articles that I could squeeze into my busy days, I found myself experiencing one Eureka moment after another. Just as I was approaching senior citizen status, the world opened up for me. Now in the final phase of my life, I could see my experiences and my intellectual life in a new light. I began to share some of this exciting new thought with my students, and I saw them experience similar intellectual and personal transformations. I began working with a appointed committee led by Carol Crowe Carraco, and we slowly got a few women’s studies courses added to the curriculum as well as a fledgling program. We were on the books but had almost no money with which to operate. Then one day, I went to my mail box in the English office, and there was a personal check for $10,000 sent by an anonymous donor from California who had never lived in Kentucky. This woman, who turned out to be a single mother with two young sons, had determined to use part of her inheritance to support programs in Kentucky that were improving the status of women. This check blew my mind. Suddenly I realized the power of money to promote change. This woman, whom I had never met, was willing to testify to her values by supporting our efforts. I decided to follow her example and made my first gift to the Program. Val Scott, our now public donor, continued her annual donations for a number of years, and so did I. Once President Ransdell arrived at Western and established a solid fund raising drive and a development office that followed sound stewardship practices, I became more determined than ever to continue my support of the Women’s Studies Program at Western. Here was a program that taught women to think for themselves, to
discover the long buried repository of women’s culture, to
find the power to reach, and to help create a better world. Our students
were not content to improve only their own status, but were reaching
out to the broader community. They were leading book clubs in the
County jail and raising money to support BRASS and Harbor Hope. They
were visiting middle schools to demonstrate the excitement a woman
could find by following a career in science or engineering. Here
was the kind of informed, enthusiastic leaders a university can create.
And I became proud to have the privilege of being a part of their
development. Supporting the Women’s Studies Program gives me
an opportunity to achieve some degree of transcendence. Every student
my life/money touches will eventually touch another life—so
way leads on to way, long after I am gone. What more could a person
ask. Note: For more information on the history of Women's Studies, please visit our new "WS History" pages, created by Heather Bridges, WS Graduate Assistant.
Return to Women's Studies Homepage Accessibility
Statement
|
