By the Women, For the Women

By Kristen Barton

Patricia Earl, unit coordinator and academic adviser for the Women’s Studies Program at Texas Tech, said the Women Staff Professional Network (WSPN) was conceived after a discussion within the Women Faculty Writing Group, which was formed roughly a year ago.

“We created a committee to facilitate different sessions and forums throughout the year,” she said. “We just started this summer, June was our first session, and we were packed.”

In an effort to help women staff at Texas Tech University advance, the President’s Gender Equity Council and the Women’s Studies Program started the WSPN.

The network hosts events for female staff at Texas Tech to help further their careers and make connections.

According to its website, the network’s purpose is threefold. It hopes to understand the needs of women faculty members at Texas Tech, provide professional development opportunities and create venues for networking.

The group met in the Matador Room of the Student Union Building on Oct. 12 for a Title IX presentation.

Photo from the WSPN website.

Photo from the WSPN website.

Anneliese Bustillo, prevention specialist in the Risk Intervention and Safety Education (RISE) office, presented at the event.

“We want to make sure everyone on campus has a good understanding of Title IX,” she said. “That’s the way we create a more inclusive environment and that’s the way we create an environment that takes care of our students.”

In Bustillo’s presentation, she said the more people know about Title IX, the better the university can respond to cases of sexual assault. It also addressed the basics of Title IX and how faculty and staff can help point students in the right direction for resources.

Earl said the topics of presentations come from women staff and the results from a survey they created.

“We had a good response and a lot of the staff were letting us know what it’s like to work here at Tech, some interactions they’ve had and what they want to learn more of,” Earl said.

Earl said another result found through the survey is that women feel they cannot express their experiences or needs in their departments, about their personal or work lives.

“What we have realized is the women who have been a part of our events over the last few months, they’ve been able to share, a little more openly, their lived experiences as women,” Earl said. “It does play into our professional lives, maybe a little more than we’re used to knowing.”

Amber Krause, a graduate part time instructor in the College of Media & Communication, said workshops hosted by organizations to help women with issues of feeling disrespected are beneficial.

Krause said other opportunities to learn how to communicate with the opposite gender, other ethnicities, and even people from other colleges could also be helpful.

Photo by Kristen Barton.

Photo by Kristen Barton.

Krause said talking with other women about their experiences can help improve how they are treated in the workforce.

“It would be nice to hear other people’s experiences,” she said. “If they aren’t happening to me personally but it is to a coworker across campus I could bring my own perspective or say, well that’s not how we do it in our college and talk about how I communicate with my mentors or colleagues.”

Krause said she has had overall positive experiences with male coworkers, which could be for a variety of reasons. There have been many women in communications who set a path for her. As a result, she feels heard and respected in her department. She also spent time in Agricultural Communications, a male dominated field, so she has dealt with males professionally before.

While Krause feels comfortable in her workplace, she feels there are certain expectations for her as an instructor that differ from her male colleagues.

“I feel that because I’m female I have to be a little more nurturing,” she said. “If I come off as strict in the classroom, that’s something that would be expected as a male instructor, as a female instructor, I come off as rude.”

Earl said these events will continue to be offered and will be an ongoing network. The survey results will also be released.

All female staff members can attend the WSPN events. The next event will be at noon on Wednesday, Nov.16 in the Matador Room of the SUB.

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