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Women's Studies Times
The Women's Resource Office (WRO) at Purdue University is responsible for improving the campus climate for women and developing and implementing programs that address women's issues and gender-related concerns. Working in collaboration with other University offices, our office provides advocacy and support for women's concerns; initiates and sponsors educational and professional development programs for and about women; provides information, counsel, and advice to women seeking assistance; assists University committees, departments, and offices seeking to improve recruitment and retention of women faculty and administrators, makes recommendations on policies of concern to women; increases sensitivity in the campus community to gender-based issues; and works to correct gender-based inequities.
WRO has moved to the 10th Floor of Young Hall. We still offer all our services, including the BEAR program (Boilers Educating against Rape), resources and referrals. All our contact information remains the same. Please feel free to visit our new location! We welcome walk-in visitors, requests for information and are happy to assist students, faculty and staff in any way.
Upcoming in March is Women’s History Month. There is a variety of programming happening across campus during the month. Of particular note is our Keynote Address on March 25 at 8 pm. Julie Burkhard, Chair of the National Panhellenic Conference, will speak on Women and Mentoring. This program is open to the entire campus community. It is also part of our Purdue Women’s Network calendar of events and is cosponsored by the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence. Visit our web calendar for more information on this event and a complete listing of campus-wide Women’s History Month activities.
Please always feel free to contact our office with any questions or concerns 494-9879 or wro@purdue.edu.
Visit our website: http://www.purdue.edu/humanrel/wro/index.shtml
Advisory Board for LGBTQ Issues on Campus
In October 2007, an advisory board was assembled to assist the Provost's office with understanding the campus climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer-identified (LGBTQ) students, staff, and faculty. The board is currently comprised of 39 members. Many are leaders in campus and community organizations, including the Queer Student Union <http://pqsu.org/> , Pride Lafayette, Inc. <http://pridelafayette.org/>, PFLAG <http://pflag.org/> , and Citizens for Civil Rights <http://www.nlci.com/ccr/>. Purdue students, administrative staff, clerical staff, and faculty are all represented.
By the end of December 2007 the development of the new Purdue strategic plan focused the efforts of the advisory board toward the creation of a document to be submitted for input into the plan. In January 2008, the advisory board began the herculean task of writing a white paper in the period of six weeks. A writing committee spent late hours and weekends researching scholarly works, collecting data from peer institutions, and putting the paper together. Committee membership was open and advisory board members attended writing sessions as they were available. It must be noted that students were consistently in the majority during the writing sessions.
Thus far, the white paper has been well received by Purdue administration. The advisory board is now working with administrators to support the implementation of the white paper's recommendations. Key recommendations include broadening University policies to include gender identity and gender expression, the creation of an LGBTQ resource center staffed by full-time employees, and the founding of a queer studies program.
The advisory board welcomes everyone's support in these efforts. Those interested in becoming involved should contact Kelly Leonard, chair, at kleonard@purdue.edu.