Stevens named director of USU Women’s Center
After 27 years of leadership by one woman, the USU Women’s Center has welcomed a new director.
Patricia Stevens now heads the office, which serves the USU campus and community as an advocate for women and their issues, along with serving reentry students and is located on the second floor of the Taggart Student Center.
Stevens is a native of Alabama, where she attended Spring Hill College, obtaining her bachelor of science in psychology in 1983 and then continued her studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, receiving her master’s in agency counseling, then earning her Ph.D. in counselor education in 1990 at Mississippi State University.
Prior to moving to USU, Stevens was a professor at Morehead State University in Kentucky. She has also been a professor at Eastern Kentucky University and the University of Colorado at Denver.
Stevens is the author of numerous scholarly journal articles, book chapters, book reviews and one book. She has presented seminars throughout the country and world.
“Being the director of the Women’s Center at USU puts me in a place where I can focus on what I think is important, which includes studying the differences between white males, women and people of color,” said Stevens.
She would like to see the Women’s Center play a more visible role on campus and in the community, saying, “In the short time I’ve been here, I’ve noticed that people don’t know about us.”
Stevens has several goals for the Women’s Center, including having the center partner with self-defense classes, as well as classes on study habits and time management and have one-on-one student mentoring programs. She would also like the center to provide programs relating to gender issues and thinks that an on-campus daycare would be of benefit and is working on making that happen.
The Women’s Center opened in 1974 and Betty Ford, the former first lady, cut the ribbon to officially open the USU Women’s Center for lifelong learning.
The center serves two specific functions. It serves re-entry students within the Student Services Division and as a more tangible expression of USU’s commitment to an equitable campus community, providing services and opportunities for all female and male students, according to the center’s Web site.
The Women’s Center sponsors activities and programs throughout the year, including Plant a Pink Tulip Day,w hich will take place on Oct. 21 and is a student and community event that honors victims and survivors of breast cancer by planting pink tulips.
The Clothesline Project will be held Oct. 23-25 and is a visual display of shirts with messages and illustrations that have been designed by women survivors of violence, their friends and families.
A re-entry student is someone who has a college education gap of at least five years. Scholarships are available to these students, and include scholarships for single mothers, multicultural students or victims of abuse.
Re-entry students have an organization where they gather once a month and talk about issues they face and plan fundraisers.
Stevens said the two biggest challenges that returning students face are time and financial challenges. “We help by assisting them with learning ways to creatively use their time and by providing scholarships,” she said.
When asked about future challenges for the Women’s Center, Stevens said that may include budget cuts, but noted it appears that USU has a strong commitment of support.
Although it is called a women’s center and deals with major issues concerning women, help is available for men, as well.
Stevens said that there is a myth that a center is no longer needed for women. “Gender discrimination is more subtle than it used to be, but bias still exists. Women do get promoted, but their climate to succeed is set up to fail,” said Stevens. “The Women’s Movement of the 1970s only affected about 10 percent of women. It was a white, upper-class movement.
“I have the opportunity and responsibility to create programs that can affect change, and I have the authority to ensure that these changes occur,” she said.
According to its Web site, there are many types of services available at the Women’s Center, created to benefit students.
The Women’s Center library contains a number of books, articles, magazines, pamphlets, subject files and videos on a variety of women and gender issue topics. The Parent Locator Emergency Contact Service enables student parents to be contacted on campus by children/daycare providers, schools and family. Students must be registered to use this service and can do so by bringing class schedules to the Women’s Center located in the TSC, Room 315, each semester.
Special programs and activities sponsored by the Women’s Center include guest lecturers, workshops, conferences and seminars addressing topics of current interest. Interested students can stop by the TSC Room 315 for a current calendar.
There are personal and professional development opportunities through social and academic interaction, offered through structured activities, informal gatherings and support groups initiated by students, faculty or community residents.
The Women’s Leadership Institute provides opportunities that address the educational and developmental needs of female students. A three-credit course is offered for students, especially women, who want to gain a stronger sense of self, discover ways in which they can lead, develop and practice leadership skills before they leave USU by enrolling in the course WGS 2010: Women and Leadership.
For more information on these services or the Women’s Center in general, visit http://www.usu.edu/stuserv/womencen.
-heidifk@cc.usu.edu