Dear all,

Happy Monday!  It's great to be working in a bright and totally painted office here in Landis House.  I'm catching up from a winter cold but have much beauteous news to report.

First of all--I'm very excited to announce two fabulous opportunities, one in February and one in March, one a funded service trip and the other an exciting campus-based seminar!

On February 11-13--that's right, next week--the Department of Women's and Gender Studies, the Women's Center, and the Office of Religious Life and Community Service are co-leading a trip to Washington, D.C. to participate in a seminar about human trafficking.  We will also serve a community of women facing domestic violence while we're on that trip.  This unique learning-and-service opportunity has been paid for by a grant from the United Methodist Church's Board of Higher Education Ministry.  This trip is open to all Dickinson students, so if you're interested to learn more about human trafficking, please email me (bartlows@dickinson.edu) or Mira Hewlett (hewlettm@dickinson.edu) for more information.

On March 9, College Advancement and the Women's Center are hosting 125 Years of Women at Dickinson:  A Legacy of Success, a daylong conference showcasing some of Dickinson's greatest past, present and future leaders.  The day will include a morning panel on Women in Leadership, a lunchtime panel on student leaders, and an afternoon celebration of Women in Science.  We invite you to join us for any of these panels; please email women@dickinson.edu if you're interested.  The Women in Leadership panel will include:

 Sylvia Rambo '58 -- Chief Judge, US District Court (Major: Political Science)

Kellie Newton '81 -- Attorney, partner at McKenna Long and Aldridge LLP (Majors: Political Science and History)

Linda Steckley '63 -- former VP for Development and Acting VP for the Center for Public Education at Brookings Institution; Leadership positions in fundraising for Duke and NYU Schools of Law, and University of Miami Schools of medicine and Business. (Major: English)

 Rhonda Ebert '76 -- Senior Vice President at Morgan Stanley (Major: History)

 **

Also on deck for me this week:

• Women's and Gender Studies 200 class prep and grading 

• Outreach and advertising for the March 9th event, especially the student panel and the Women in Leadership panel    

• "Big picture" text about the 125th anniversary for the March 9th event

• Support staff needs:  Paula (Director of ODI) and I will be meeting to discuss our shared and discrete needs for support staff in the new facility.   In an ideal world, what kind of support would our offices need?  More to the point, what kind of support would we like to begin to pursue to function with maximum efficiency?    

• grant case statement:  deferred from last week (mostly due to my cold), I need to draft a short missive that will help summarize for broader college partners the value and purpose of our application to the Department of Justice's Office of Violence Against Women grant.

• victim advocate survey questions:  another illness-deferred item:  to finalize questions for the victim advocate survey of students and to roll out the naming contest!

• first year experience programs:  I'm part of a team of folks working to create more integrative and compelling programs as part of orientation & the first-year experience, and it's on my calendar to check in with our team leader this week about any tasks/areas on which I should focus

• Counseling center search review:  I'm also on the search committee for a new counseling center Director, and need to re-familiarize myself before our meeting this week  

• YBEC collaboration:  Following a great collaboration last year, the Yellow Breeches Educational Center will be returning to Dickinson for visits to discuss healthy sexuality, relationships, and gender 101.  I need to find some college partners for these visits and/or develop an itinerary for the students and teachers.

***

As always, let me know if you'd like to get involved or find out more about these projects.  Looking forward to another fabulous week that will culminate in our open house on Friday at 4:30 pm.  Hope to see you all there!

Be well,

Susannah