Press Release: Women Graduates USA

Women Graduates USA began its formation at the Triennial Conference of the International Federation of University Women (IFUW) this past August. Plans are underway to affiliate with the International Federation of University Women beginning in 2008.

Women Graduates-USA will focus on issues such as live long education for women and girls, international cooperation, friendship, peace and respect for human right. Other efforts will include advocating for the advancement of the status of women and girls and encouraging and enabling women and girls to apply their knowledge and skills in leadership decision making in public and private life.

Detailed information about the organization and the meetings held in Manchester, England, can be accessed at www.wg-usa.org Women interested in potential membership are asked to contact, Barbara Carey, interim membership chair, at b-carey@pccnm.com.

The International Federation of University Women was initiated in 1919 by the leadership of Dean Virginia Gildersleeve of the American Collegiate Association and Rose Sidgewick of Great Britain. Eight associations from Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United States formed the original organization. The American Association of University Women has served as the United States affiliate organization until 2007.

2007 - 2008 Association Goals for States and Branches

Fresh off the press from AAUW's president, Ruth Sweetser are Association's goals for states and branches (s/b). They include:

1) supporting the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL)
Note: support can take dozens of forms, financial being one of them
Note: about a dozen s/b supported students to the F07 NCCWSL, helping increase attendance from 165 in 2006 to 345 in 2007. To reach our F08 attendance goal of 500, s/b participation is really essential.

2) engaging in theme-based Program (meetings/projects/activities/events) as noted in the AAUW Mission-Based Program brochure distributed at the Association Convention (copies are available upon request to monroes@aauw.org)
Note: s/b can keep a list of all theme-based programming and forward to the Program Development Committee chair, Marcia Capriotti (cinicapr@aol.com)

3) engaging in the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP)
Note: S/B can facilitate identification at the local/state level of STEM programs for girls and ensure that the regional program representative (an AAUW member) receives that information. Details about NGCP are at http://www.aauw.org/education/ngcp/index.cfm

Tips for Attracting Members and Volunteers

There is a vast differences in volunteer retention among the 50 states, ranging from a high of 76.4 percent in Minnesota to a low of 47.2 percent in Mississippi. Thinking that there were probably some solid managerial tools that could be used to get volunteer retention closer to the Minnesota range, Nancy Shoemaker (President, AAUW North Carolina) did some research and found Rober Grimm, director of research and policy development for the Corporation for National and Community Service.

According to Grimm, one out of three people who volunteer in one year don't volunteer at all the next year. "We have a leaky bucket in volunteering," he said. "About 21 million people who volunteered in 2005 didn't volunteer in 2006."

What's to be done? Grimm had a few ideas:

• Volunteers have to be challenged to use their skills effectively; it's just silly to use a trained social worker to stuff envelopes.

• Regular opportunities to volunteer - rather than sporadic ones - tend to keep people interested and engaged.

• Organizations that screen and match their volunteers, provide recognition for their volunteers and have some kind of individual on staff to manage the volunteers do best at retaining these helpful people.

• Volunteers will thrive if they report to someone who demonstrates that they're important to the organization. Many organizations give volunteers to a lower-level employee, which leads them to believe they're not seen as an important resource.

• It can be very helpful to offer some training or professional development for the volunteers.

Meetings - Madness or Sanity?

The worst meetings I've ever seen
Accomplish absolutely nothing.
They last too many hours
And leave us feeling most sour.

The best meetings I've attended
Run quickly, smoothly,
And leave none offended.
Through careful planning,
They accomplish their task,
Even where problems
And solutions are unmasked.

My favorite meeting I'll tell
Was the one not held. . .
It allowed me more time
To handle goals of mine.

Published with permission of author from the meeting management book"R.A.!R. A. ! A meeting Wizard's Approach: by Shirley Fine Lee

First Woman Beefeater

Another male bastion permeated!

"Leaders Envisioning the Future"

This was the theme of the 2007 AAUW TX Leadership Conference which was held in Austin this past weekend.

Before we could envision our future, we needed to be clear about who we are now. We accomplished this via a "visit" from our founder, Marion Talbot, and a showing of "Iron Jawed Angel."

Our keynote speaker, futurist Terri Grimm, helped us understand the benefits of envisioning the future and also gave us some tools to help us in that work. A wonderful panel helped us see the importance of envisioning our financial future. In workshops and during round-table discussions, we gained tools to help us envision our future as AAUW leaders. Emmy-award-winning journalist, Jeff Crilley, gave us some tips and techniques on using the media to envision our future. And, Lisa Maatz, AAUW's Director of Public Policy and Governmental Relations, shared the importance that public policy has in our future.

It was an educational, inspirational, and fun-filled weekend and the participants left eager to do the work of AAUW in Texas!

Anniversary of Seneca Falls Convention

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal.” These words were not present in the Declaration of Independence; rather, they were written in the Declaration of Sentiments and signed by a number of women leaders, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. This all occurred at what was the first women’s rights conference in the United States, known as the Seneca Falls Convention, held in Seneca Falls, New York on July 19 and
20, 1848. On the anniversary of this historic gathering this past weekend, all of us need to celebrate the event and the strides made towards women’s equality. But we also recognize that even today, over 150 years after the convention, the equality that Elizabeth Cady Stanton
spoke of has not been achieved. AAUW urges you to use this anniversary to be an advocate for women and girls, because equity is still an issue.