Make your reservations now for the: Elizabeth Cady Stanton Luncheon - Thursday, November 12, 2009

History and Mission of the Women's Center

The UofL Women's Center serves as a catalyst for empowering women at UofL and throughout the Louisville area.

The mission of the Women's Center is to build alliances with campus and community groups in order:

• to promote equality

• to increase women's self-reliance

• to heighten the understanding of women's contributions to all societies

The Women's Center carries out this mission by designing programs that encourage participation, including performances, discussion, exhibitions; by involving women and men of diverse races, classes, ethnic origins, sexual orientations, and age groups in creative activities contributing to public education, research, and policy development; and by producing informative and coalition-building publications.

Since its inception, the Women’s Center has contributed to the university through grant funded projects, ongoing programs, and individual stand-alone programs.

The Center has shown leadership in key areas at the University, including securing external funding of $1.2 million to establish the PEACC Program and over $96,000 for the KTAP Program for single parents.  Additionally, the Center provides valuable programming on women’s issues at the University and in the Community. 

1993 the Center won funding from the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Foundation for the Louisville American Festival Project, “a nationally recognized coalition of artists and sponsors who use the arts…to build understanding between diverse people and forge community alliances.”

 1999 the Center won a USDOJ Grant to establish the UofL PEACC Program. Over the next six years, this funding grew to a total of $1.2 million.  According to the University’s online Sexual Harassment Prevention policy the Women’s Center is a “resource [which is] available” to provide informal advice about resolving situations in which “discriminate[ion], including sexual harassment” may have occurred [http://louisville.edu/hr/affirmativeaction/sexualharassment/resources.html].

2008 the Center won a grant from the Commonwealth of Kentucky to provide “supplemental work-study like grants” for UofL students who are recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.

Annual Programs include:

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton Awards Luncheon and established the two awards presented there: The Mary K. Bonsteel Tachau Gender Equity Award (for faculty and staff) and The Celeste Nichols Professional Development Award (for graduate students).
• Women’s Equality Day; Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day; Equal Pay Day; The Kentucky Women’s Book Festival; the Women’s History Month Calendar; and publication of the Women’s Center News.

Stand alone Programs  include: 

Parent’s Group; the Women 4 Women Student Chapter; class presentations, films, health fairs, speakers, art shows, book discussion groups, focus groups,  informational tabling, and programs on women’s issues for the university and civic community.

 The Center provides an internship site for students from the Kent School of Social Work, the College of Education and Human Development, and the Women’s & Gender Studies Program.

Today, members of the Women’s Center staff are active on multiple planning committees; and work with civic agencies to address issues of concern to women.

The Director of the Center is an ex officio member of COSW where she has worked on sexual harassment policy, child care, gender equity, and staff and faculty climate issues. She serves as a member of the advisory board for the Kentucky Women in Higher Education Network, and has worked with the Kentucky Commission on Women, the Metro Office for Women, and the Center for Women and Families.

Members of the Center staff continue the mission of the Women’s Center, by serving on the UofL planning committees for the Transformation Tea; Body Acceptance, Body Awareness Week; Take Back the Night; the Counseling Center’s Depression Awareness Screening.  Center staff also provide advocacy for students, faculty, and staff through referrals to university and community resources.

With the contributions of the Women’s Center, the University is a “Great Place to Work”

Champions 4 Her team

The Women's Center Invites you to join our Champions 4 Her team or send a donation.   Visit our Team Page at for details!  All donated funds raised on-line will be returned to the Women's Center.  Thank you for your support!

Current Scholarship News

The Women's Center promotes many local and national scholarships and are pleased to provide the following current links.  We are pleased to provide a grants, scholarship, and intern booklet(PDF) which contains 100's of opportunities for you to download for free.  This download requires adobe acrobat.

The University of Louisville Women’s Center announces the seventh annual  M. Celeste Nichols Award (2009) and the Mary K. Tachau Gender Equity Award.

More information to follow.

KTAP Grant

When the United States Congress ended Aid to Families with Dependent Children in 1996, the Commonwealth of Kentucky began the Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (KTAP) to help Kentucky families transition from welfare to self-sufficiency. In 1998, Nancy Theriot of the Women's & Gender Studies Program at UofL created a project designed to aid UofL students who are enrolled in the Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program. The project provided students work-study internship opportunities for 10 hours per week at $7.25 per hour during the fall and spring semesters.

Renewed annually, the project now serves 16 students who have been placed in work situations which are of direct interest to them and where they receive mentoring. Some do research for individual faculty members, others work in department or campus organization offices, and others work in volunteer positions off campus.

Students must be enrolled at UofL and receiving KTAP to qualify to work under this grant. Interested students can apply by calling Mary Karen Powers, Director of the Women's Center office at 852-8976. Positions are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.

U OF L WOMEN’S CENTER ANNOUNCES AWARD WINNERS

IN GENDER EQUITY; GRADUATE & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The University of Louisville Women’s Center recently presented awards in the following categories at their annual Elizabeth Cady Stanton Luncheon held in November.

The Dr. Mary K. Bonsteel Tachau Gender Equity Award was presented to Julie Hermann, Senior Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator in Athletics at U of L.  Hermann is also a Champion 4 Her. The Tachau award is given to a member of the U of L community who has done significant work towards gender equity.  The award is named in honor of Mary K. Bonsteel Tachau, constitutional scholar, the first woman to serve as chair of the U of L history department, and the first woman chair of the faculty senate.

The Dr. M. Celeste Professional Development Award was presented to graduate students, Kim Roper, English Rhetoric & Composition; Jamie L. Izlar, School of Law; and Nichole Burruss, Humanities. The award is given to a U of L graduate student for travel or other professional development beyond normal graduate program expenses.  The Nichols award is named in honor of M. Celeste Nichols, student, scholar, mentor and professor.  She was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from U of L’s English Department.

The Women’s Center serves as a catalyst for empowering women at U of L and throughout the Louisville area.

Upcoming Events

Get Healthy Now   -  Be a Champion

U of L’s health management program, Get Healthy Now, is coordinating U of L’s involvement in the Champions 4 Her Run, Walk & Festival. Whether you are a seasoned athlete or a novice, Get Healthy Now has designed a program that allows you to work with a team toward individual cardio goals and to earn prizes. Get Healthy Now support includes: personalized fitness training by certified coaches, your own personal web site for tracking progress towards goals, and a supportive group of teammates. More information can be found at: http://www.louisville.edu/hr/gethealthynow/champions-4-her 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your wonderful support of the Women's Center in Champions 4 Her!  Through your participation and generous donations the Women's Center received $13,777.89! 

Stay tuned to our web site for more events and information! 

 

 *The Champions 4 Her Walk, Run & Festival was created to improve the health and financial well-being of women and girls in Louisville.  Selected beneficiary partners for 2008  focus on: youth mentoring; treatment of severely traumatized children; leadership development for women and girls;  prevention of sexual violence and services for its victims; artistic expression for underprivileged girls;  the needs of single mothers and their children;  and education and competitive athletics for college-aged women. No funds will be distributed to organizations whose primary focus is religion, politics, or reproductive rights

Current Women's Health News 

Click now on this very valuable link for Women's Health take the challenge and get healthy now.

You can advance Women's Health for Women by Women!  GET INVOLVED

You can advance the health of Kentucky Women by joining the Kentucky Women's Health registry.  Help yourself and women across the Commonwealth by filling out a confidential questionnaire once every year.  From the privacy and comfort of your own home, in just 20 minutes each year, you can help improve the health of 2 million women.  Please join your sisters today and fill out the survey at www.kywomensregistry.com.   If you have further questions please call 1-800-929-2320.

Visit our Raising Women’s Voices project news page to find out how you can help to raise women’s voices in local, state and national debates over health care reform, so that women’s perspectives about their health care needs and those of their families can be powerfully articulated, genuinely considered and incorporated into health care reform policy.

Raising Women’s Voices is a collaboration between the Avery Institute for Social Change, the National Women’s Health Network and The MergerWatch Project.

Contact Information

Office Hours: 8:30-5:00 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday

Address: Administration Annex (Belknap Campus)
University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292

We are on the ground floor of the Administration Annex, building #15 on the Campus Map, near the corner of Eastern Parkway & 3rd Street; not far from the Information Center South (1B).

Phone: (502) 852-8976

E-mail: womenctr@louisville.edu