Funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Initiative will offer education programs in technology issues and competence in nonprofit organizations, public policy activism, and nonprofit management and leadership. The project's activities include a new consortium of statewide nonprofit associations, innovative credit and noncredit courses, policy and management round tables, an annual curriculum development and field internship seminar, and an annual research and knowledge exchange forum. Margery C. Saunders, NEI Project and Fellowship Director, and Judith R. Saidel, Executive Director, lead this endeavor. Gender and Small Business Ownership Study Underway Research Director and Associate Professor of Sociology Karyn Loscocco is principal investigator of a two-year study funded by the National Science Foundation of women and men who own their own small businesses. Dr. Loscocco has assembled a diverse project team of graduate and undergraduate students from sociology, organizational studies, and psychology.
Interviewers are currently in the field pre-testing the survey instrument.
Though small businesses are extremely important to the economy, they have been overlooked by researchers and policy makers. This study of 600 local small business owners addresses key unanswered questions about what motivates the women and men who choose ownership, what are the obstacles to greater success among women owners, and how well ownership facilitates work-family balance for those who seek it. The Center for Women in Government was awarded a continuation grant from the Ford Foundation for a second phase of the Appointed Policy Makers in State Government Project. Through interviews in five states across the country, Judith R. Saidel and Norma M. Riccucci, Professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy, are exploring the impact of women and men department heads on internal and external agency policy change. Several weeks ago the project released individual state and national profiles in Women's Leadership Profiles , as well as a compendium of information on all 50 states.