Columns:: ‘Life-changing’ experience: Network helps women further careers in higher education

since 12/15/98

Columns::September 30, 2002

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Jeri Benson, associate dean in the College of Education, described her experience at last summer’s seminar. (Photo by Peter Frey)

‘Life-changing’ experience
Network helps women further careers in higher education

By Sharron Hannon
shannon@uga.edu

Last summer, for the second year in a row, UGA sent the largest contingent of any institution to the Summer Institute for

Pearl Bigfeather, assistant vice president for academic affairs, was part of UGA’s contingent at the seminar. (Photo by Peter Frey)

Women in Higher Education Administration, held at Bryn Mawr College. Established 27 years ago, the program aims to improve the status of women at the middle and executive levels of higher education administration--levels at which women traditionally have been underrepresented.
The group which attended the Summer Institute last June shared their “life-changing” experiences at a noon session Sept. 16 in the Tate Student Center.
The presentation was part of a regular monthly gathering initiated last year by the provost’s office to facilitate networking among women on campus. The brown-bag lunch meetings, held on the third Monday of each month, are open to anyone.
The presenters Sept. 16 included Jeri Benson, associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Education; Pearl Bigfeather, assistant vice president for academic affairs in the Provost’s Office; Cheri Hoy, director of the School of Professional Studies in the College of Education; and Jean Sander, professor of avian medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Nancy Kropf, chair of the doctoral program in the School of Social Work, also attended the institute, but was not available for the presentation.
Sanders talked about deciding to attend the intensive four-week institute. “The time commitment is huge,” she said, “so

Maureen Grasso, new dean of UGA’s Graduate School, attended the seminar in a previous year. (Photo by Peter Frey)

you have to make it work.” She suggested trading courses to have the summer off or delegating research responsibilities to post-docs. Obtaining financial support is also critical, she said, noting that this year’s group had funding from their departments and the provost’s office.
Hoy discussed the advance work the group had to do after receiving acceptance letters in mid-April--interviews with senior UGA administrators, plus reading and writing assignments.
At Bryn Mawr, the schedule ran from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily--with more reading assignments each evening, said Benson.
“But it was worth it,” she said. “We learned a lot professionally, but also a lot about ourselves. It was a transformative experience.”
Bigfeather said the cohort from UGA plans to keep in touch with each other and to network with other alumnae of the program.
Sharon Nickols, dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, who attended in 1987 when she was at the University of Illinois, said she has gotten together each year with three women she met at Bryn Mawr. Of the four, two became deans, one is a college president, and the fourth decided to return to her faculty position.
Maureen Grasso, new dean of UGA’s Graduate School, is another alumna of the program.
The Summer Institute is sponsored jointly by Bryn Mawr College and Higher Education Resource Services, Mid-America. Applications are due in mid-March, and details can be found at www.csupomona.edu/~skpuz/brynmawr.

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