Conference Will Explore Obstacles Faced by Women in Higher Ed

The Center for Higher Education Retention Excellence (CHERE), which is sponsoring a three-conference series this year examining obstacles to success for various demographic groups, will turn its attention to women at a day-long session on Thursday, Sept. 20 at the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford.

Women students face special obstacles to navigating higher education, from stereotypical expectations of female submissiveness to obligations to care for children and family, and even threats of sexual violence. Among the questions to be discussed: How do low-income and minority women experience gender as an obstacle to successfully completing their degree? How do effective programs help female students to get the resources they need, find their voices and take charge of their educations and careers?

Co-sponsors of the Sept. 20 conference include the Aurora Women and Girls Foundation, based in West Hartford at the University of Saint Joseph, and the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education. The conference runs 9 am to 3 pm.

Women’s leadership programs teach students to advocate for themselves and encourage campus involvement that improves their persistence. Career exploration and development, particularly in fields such as STEM and manufacturing that are nontraditional for women, help students find role models and gain access to careers with higher salaries to support themselves and their families.

Effective campus response to sexual violence works to ensure that survivors are able to pursue their education and to train all students to be effective bystanders, changing the campus climate and preventing assaults. Wrap-around services for women students with children often address survival-level needs, with persistence to graduation and increased earning potential breaking the cycle of generational poverty.

These and other aspects will also be discussed by expert panels and break-out sessions during the day. In addition to faculty speakers on various panels during the conference, student voices will also be heard, which is a staple of CHERE conferences.

Program panelists and speakers during the day include: Ellen Peltier, Asnuntuck and Tunxis Community Colleges; Amy Barzach, University of Hartford; Anne Gowdey, Asnuntuck and Tunxis Community Colleges; Shannon Mumley, University of Hartford; Tamara O’Day-Stevens, Goodwin College; Theresa DeFreitas, University of Hartford; Bonnie McKee, Capital Community College; Tracy Ouellette, Asnuntuck Community Collee; Andrea Mullin, Charter Oak State Collegte; Jayda Hawley, Goodwin College; Wanda Warshauer, Charter Oak State College; Janee Folston, Manchester Community College; Brett Boudreaux, University of Saint Joseph; Jessica Zolciak, Manchester Community College; and Colleen Kearney, CSCU.

“Colleges and universities seek to nurture diversity, but also provide opportunities for like-minded people to be together; so what’s needed for healthy, respectful campuses is a fine balance between diversity and inclusion,” said David Johnston, Director of CHERE.

The first of the year-long series, Being Diverse Isn’t Enough: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Action, was held in June at the University of Hartford. The final conference of 2018 will be Success for Men and Other Groups, on Nov. 9 at Gateway Community College in New Haven.

The wrap-up conference, November 9 at Gateway Community College in New Haven, is centered on the reality that all students face obstacles to college success, often very different ones for students of different backgrounds, including the challenges facing men both accessing and succeeding in higher education. The conference will look at ways that schools and colleges are addressing these challenges and highlight innovative practices that have been proven to work.

The mission of CHERE is to “understand and improve policies and practices for challenged students that lead to higher college retention, from the summer after high school graduation, through the first year, to graduation, and to employment.”

Since its founding in 2012, CHERE has conducted nearly 20 conferences hosted by educational institutions throughout Connecticut, focusing on a range of critical and cutting-edge issues facing higher education in Connecticut and nationwide.

For more information or to register for the conference, please call David Johnston, at (203) 640-6201, email him at educationRwe@gmail.com, or visit www.thechere.org.

CHERE is a program of the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education.