By Jo McCulty Judy Fountain, director of The Women's Place, addresses President Kirwan, Provost Ray and more than 200 attendees of the Women's Reception Oct. 25 at the Younkin Success Center. Permanent President's Council on Women's Issues to be appointed By Emily Caldwell Ohio State's leaders, reinforcing the institutional priority to create a more supportive environment for women, have announced the official creation of a permanent President's Council on Women's Issues. A consultative process, which included interviews of 53 University and community leaders, led to development of the council's structure and charge. It will help us set an action agenda in support of women, and help us understand areas where we are making progress and where more work is needed. Judy Fountain, director of The Women's Place and coordinator of the process that led to development of the new council, said a revitalized focus on women at Ohio State is not designed to exclude men.
Women can be effective problem-solvers.
Calling for accountability and providing more resources in support of women at all levels of the University will ultimately benefit everyone. As we move toward institutional excellence, we fully intend for Ohio State to be a place where women and men will succeed. Though we don't have the community we'd like to have at Ohio State yet, many of you have accomplished extraordinary things. We're supportive of this special time to celebrate those accomplishments and to network and expand possibilities for each other. Kirwan noted that in this era of change at Ohio State, when pursuit of goals set by the Academic Plan and the Diversity Action Plan remains front and center, he hopes people will see the documents as mutually reinforcing.