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News Release

Last modified: Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Office for Women's Affairs announces annual awards, affiliation with IU Working Moms group

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 10, 2011

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Working Moms group is officially affiliated with the Office for Women's Affairs (OWA), it was announced at the Office for Women's Affairs annual spring award ceremony yesterday (May 9) at the University Club in the Indiana Memorial Union.

Provost Karen Hanson presided over the awards ceremony, at which the following awards were presented:

• OWA Distinguished Scholar Award, Professor Portia Maultsby, Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology
• OWA Outstanding Staff Award, Jackie Puterbaugh, Campus Recreational Sports
• IU Bloomington Early Educator of the Year Award, Jasmine Zachariah, Campus Children's Center

The Indiana University Working Moms group was established in May 2010 to provide programming, networking and support for working mothers who are members of the IU faculty and staff, with an emphasis on fostering social connections and providing relevant educational and professional development opportunities.

"The IU Working Moms Group is a welcomed addition to Office for Women's Affairs," said Professor Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh, dean for the Office for Women's Affairs. "It is composed of hard-working and dedicated women who are driven by a passion to make IU a better place for working moms. In the process, they are helping to transform IU into a community that is better for everyone and that will be better positioned to meet the global demands of the future."

A group of working mothers shaped the group by participating in monthly events, creating a vision and plan and publicizing the group on campus and throughout Bloomington.

Among the early members were Laura Guthrie Eads (Residential Programs and Services, Office of Student Ethics), Amanda Peterson (School of Public and Environmental Affairs), Theresa Hitchcock (Office of Mentoring & Student Leadership Development), Carly Friedman (The College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry), Dani Marlette Perkins (Wilkie Residential Programs and Services), Ari Stern-Gottchalk (Slavic Language and Literatures), Katrina Reynolds (Office for Women's Affairs), Jennifer Piurek (University Communications), Erin Kirchhofer (Career Development Center) and Adrienne Sewell (Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, University Division).

Current committee members are Peterson, Perkins, Guthrie Eads, Hitchcock, Friedman and Stern-Gottchalk from the founding group and newer members Amber Kent (Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region), Natalie Kubat (School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation), Erika Lee (University Graduate School), Caitlin McCready (Residential Programs and Services), Tehanee Ratwatte (Office of International Services) and Jackie Daniels (Office of Alternative Screening and Intervention Services). The group's liaison and creator is Andi Gitelson (Department of Criminal Justice, College of Arts and Sciences).

"We envision the Indiana University Bloomington community as one where working moms can perform to their fullest potential by exposure to both personal and professional development specifically relevant to their environment at work and at home," Gitelson said. "Our hope is by establishing a positive work-life balance among IU faculty and staff, along with opportunities for service to peers and the community, a healthy and productive professional and personal lifestyle will develop and be maintained among working moms."

The IU Working Moms mission

• Establish and maintain a structured organization that will work towards addressing the needs of IU faculty and staff working moms, and for programming and resource distribution useful in doing so.
• Disseminate resources and firsthand stories related to working moms, parenting and policy related topics.
• Foster relationships with other related individuals (student moms, single parents, etc.) and organizations and provide a presence on the Indiana University Bloomington campus and Bloomington community by collaborating with other women and organizations in need of relevant resources and support related to work-life balance and all stages of parenting.
• Develop a campuswide mentoring option for faculty and staff who are or plan to be working moms.
• Advocate for parenting-related concerns and policy issues brought to IUWM's attention by our participants and other campus or community organization.
• Research other possible organizations across the country, similar to IUWM, in order to continuously grow and develop our organization and meet the needs of participants.

For more information on IUWM or to join the listserv, e-mail iuwm@indiana.edu, visit the group's resource blog at https://iuwm.wordpress.com or look for IUWM on Facebook.

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