Tag Archives: AAUW Eugene Lane

Victoria Olajide’s 2021 NCCWSL Report: “Use Your Voice”

AAUW Eugene-Lane was proud to sponsor branch member and UO doctoral student Victoria Olajide, as she attended AAUW’s May 25-26, 2021 National Conference for College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL)! Victoria is currently spending the summer in her native Nigeria, so she graciously created the following video report of her NCCWSL experiences.

Click to View Victoria’s video

Being inspired to “use her voice to effect change” was Victoria’s biggest take-away from the event, but her entire seven-minute video is worth checking out.

Alternatively, here is the transcript from her report (although the video version is more compelling):

Transcript:

Hello everyone, my name is Victoria Olajide. I’m a soon to be third year PhD student at the University of Oregon, a PhD student of the anthropology department. I was sponsored by the AAUW Eugene Chapter to attend the 2021 NCCWSL Conference, the virtual conference that held on the 25th and 26th of May, 2021. And I should be giving this report in person.

Unfortunately, I’m in Nigeria right now, and Nigeria is nine hours ahead of the US, so I decided to make a video, and the network situation is quite unpredictable right here, so I decided to send in a video. I hope that is acceptable by everyone.

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AAUW 2020-2021 Funds Report

Have you wondered about how your AAUW 2020 Funds donations were put to work? AAUW Funds Co-Chairs Claudia Gray and Betsy McDowell provided the following report:

Where Did AAUW Funds Donations Go in 2020?

Members often ask where their donations go, and while we love bragging about the fact that Oregon has 20 fully-endowed Fellowships to offer, the direct donations go to other Funds in AAUW. Here is a list of where that money went in 2020 – and it is impressive!

$3.6 million awarded to more than 200 recipients for the 2020-21 academic year with the goal of advancing educational opportunities for women around the globe!
30,000 people reached by our 35 free webinars featuring career tips, advice on activism, interviews with thoughts leaders and other educational offerings!
4 research reports or updates undertaken this year, exploring the plight of Latina essential workers, women in manufacturing, how college debt disproportionately burdens women and the effect of the gender wage gap on women of color!
227 women trained in salary-negotiation skills through our Work Smart and Start Smart programs to date!
62,000 letters sent to elected officials urging immediate action on COVID relief, paid leave benefits, voter access and other key AAUW public policy priorities!
227 media outlets have featured AAUW’s work in 2020, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, NBC News and more!

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AAUW Oregon 2020-2021 State Meeting and Awards Ceremony

By Sheila Ramerman

Not to be daunted by COVID-19, AAUW Oregon held its April 18-20^th Annual State Meeting and Awards Ceremony. Following are some highlights.

State Meeting News

Attendance statistics: This is the FIRST year ALL 23 Oregon AAUW branches were represented at the State Meeting. A total of 147 members registered to attend, 123 attended, and 101 were delegates. Eugene-Lane Branch’s delegates were Jean Simutis and Cindy Parker; also attending were Gail Goshert and Elena Rae (in her capacities as Online Branch President and Central District Director as well as branch member).

Keynote Speaker Jessica Vega Pedersen: Currently a Multnomah County Commissioner, Pedersen also spent several years as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives. After giving an overview of her political career and her experience working with (and appreciation of) Oregon AAUW, she talked about the Universal Pre-School initiative that won with a 64% “yes” vote in Multnomah County last November. The free, full-day, year-round program for 3- and 4- year-olds will be funded by a tax on high-earner households in the country, and is one of the most progressive in the nation according to this piece in The New York Times. Teachers will be paid on par with what public school kindergarten teachers make, which is more than what a ‘day care’ or preschool teacher currently makes.

Business: AAUW Oregon officers introduced the slate of State officers for 2021-2023 and the Nominating Committee for 2021-2022; there were no nominations from the floor and both slates were elected with no opposing votes. The 2022 Annual Meeting will be April 8 – 10, in Ashland.

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CHiPS-Inspired Student Video: “A Signal for Little Lives”

by Peggy Shippen, CHiPS Committee

Frida Arriaga

Advancing gender equity for women and girls through advocacy, education and research many times requires us to call on our knowledge of basic civics – a piece of education so many students are now lacking. Frida Arriaga, a Palm Springs AAUW branch 2019 TT Camper made a video, “A Signal for Little Lives,” which shows she (and adults alike) can – with passion, purpose and patience – effectively drew upon basic civics to make positive difference for girls and boys in her community.

Frida is still focused on STEM, is a math whiz at Shadow Hills High School and on the track team. This picture is of her on the way to a track meet in Hemet last week. She tells me she is also interested in exploring what it takes to become an engineer – at USC!

AAUW Eugene-Lane Branch asked Frida to make her video available to help launch a new Civics Trek Contest that requires participants to make a video of how they would go about making a civic change. (While we did not quite realize our contest aspirations this year, we hope to try again in the future.)

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A Very Special Dec. 12 Holiday Gathering: “Sharing Winters’ Tales”

Trena Cleland, Personal Historian

What early-life memories does the onset of winter evoke in you? Perhaps you remember festive holiday traditions or Solstice rituals; the squeak of boots in snow or the scrape of ice skates; or the delicious smells of a special dish that your mother made only once a year. When you think of childhood winters, what comes to mind?

You’re invited to share these memories during our AAUW Eugene-Lane branch interactive Saturday, December 12 holiday branch gathering, 10 am – noon, guided by longtime personal historian Trena Cleland.

What To Expect

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SPICE in the Time of COVID-19

By Mary Durfee

UO SPICE Volunteer Brandy Todd and “Milly” the Science Rat

At the last AAUW Eugene-Lane branch meeting, Brandy Todd and Jorjie Arden gave an update on the SPICE project at the University of Oregon. SPICE organizes summer camps for middle school girls to get, and more importantly, keep them interested in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering & math).

One reason I joined the Eugene-Lane branch was because I read about its support for this work. I was not disappointed. Following are my reflections as a new member attending my first meeting, and learning more about SPICE.

SPICE had to cancel last summer’s effort, but are now working out alternative ways to reach the girls during the summer in case the virus prevents an in-person summer camp again.

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What’s It Take To Become a Branch Leader?

By Sheila Ramerman, President

What does it take to become an AAUW Eugene-Lane branch officer? Mostly, a passion for lifelong learning, being part of something important, and enjoying the company of others who share these same interests! Beyond that, here are some “job descriptions” for elected officer positions that are currently or soon will be up for grabs, including secretary, membership VP, communications VP, and Program VP:

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19th Amendment Moment: Native American Women in Historic Oregon

By Cathy Meyer

The story of Native Americans, who some considered inferior to whites, was revealed through Oregon newspapers articles. The children were forcibly removed from the reservation to boarding schools. The purpose of the schools were to “legally” assimilate Native Americans into white American society by converting them to Christianity and preparing them for work limited to manual labor or domestic servitude. Inequality was built into a system that kept the Native Americans from access to a better workforce and independence. One of the four remaining boarding schools today is the Chemawa Indian School. In 1880 Forest Grove did not want it there so it was moved north of Salem.

Many whites’ perception of Native Americans as being incapable of being educated evolved, only within the limited view of assimilation. Oregon newspapers praised the Native American girls and young women with racist undertones reinforcing the belief that they were suited only for servility. While white women were making great strides into the white-collar workforce, Native American women didn’t have the preparation for advancing to better jobs.

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How Do You Zoom?

Are you new to Zoom? Following is an overview of how to join our Zoom-based branch events while we wait for an end to our social distancing period.

To join a Zoom conference from your computer, laptop or mobile device (with audio and visual):

ANY TIME PRIOR TO MEETING START TIME:

Receive an invite from us via private email with a link including a Meeting ID and password information. Keep that info handy for when the meeting time comes!
If you’ve not already done so, download the Zoom app by entering https://zoom.us/download in your web browser, and following the prompts from there. You only need to do this once. After that, your device will be “Zoom ready” for good.

AT MEETING START TIME:

Enter the Zoom web address sent to you privately for joining the particular meeting.
Have the Meeting ID and password handy in case you’re prompted to enter either or both.

If you’d prefer to join us by phone (for audio only):

Call the following number: (346) 248-7799.
When prompted, enter the Meeting ID and password sent to you privately.

If you could use some help downloading or practicing with Zoom, contact Sheila Ramerman or Wendy Cook at your earliest convenience.