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Reviews: TWP serves ‘vital, unique’ purpose

Posted on | October 21, 2009 | 332 views |

By Jeff McCallister

Clearly Deb Ballam is pleased about — and a little bit proud of — the institutional advances women have earned at Ohio State during her time as director of The Women’s Place.

But at the same time, she knows there’s still much to be done, and as she leaves her position there to return to full-time faculty in the Fisher College of Business, she knows TWP is in a strong position to affect even more positive change.

“We have a strategic plan that calls on The Women’s Place to continue and expand its leadership programs, and career and professional development will be a huge focus,” Ballam said.

“Also, it came out very clearly in the strategic planning process that women want more opportunities to connect with each other and there are various ways to do that, such as additional programming and increasing our use of available networking technology.”

The Women’s Place was created here in 2000 and charged with ensuring that both existing and emerging women’s issues are identified, discussed and systematically addressed. Since that time, TWP has developed leadership programs for women (and some men as well), been an agent for improving the institutional culture and kept important issues such as childcare on the frontburner with the administration.

TWP’s position of strength on these and other issues has been enhanced with the recent release of an external review that affirmed its effectiveness in the job it’s doing.

“The OSU Women’s Place serves the vital and unique function of providing important support for women faculty and staff as they work to achieve their professional goals,” wrote the reviewers, Yvette Alex-Assensoh, dean of the Office of Women’s Affairs at Indiana University; Donna Champeau, director of Women’s Advancement and Gender Equity at Oregon State; and Carla Fehr, associate professor of philosophy at Iowa State.

“Because of the Women’s Place, OSU is a better place to live, work and learn, not only for women but also for all students, staff and faculty. When women are valued and encouraged to live up to their full potential, everyone benefits, as does the institution as a whole.”

That positive report, and a self-study of TWP prepared by Ballam and the strategic planning subcommittee of the President’s Council on Women, have formed the base on which the Office of Academic Affairs built an action plan for TWP. That plan recommends that TWP continue its current structure, reporting to the vice provost for academic policy and faculty resources, but also strengthen its impact by making sure it has a central role in coordinating initiatives across campus.

The internal and external reports, according to the OAA action plan, give ample evidence that TWP is playing a vital role on campus in building community, establishing collaborative partnerships and providing a clearinghouse of information and ideas.

“TWP has established itself as an important catalyst on campus,” said Susan Williams, vice provost for academic policy and faculty resources. “We recommend that it continue and strengthen this role by making coordinated and strategic uses of resources across campus so that women find Ohio State to be a vital place in which to spend their professional lives.”

The job ahead

Among the items on the Office of Academic Affairs’ action plan for The Women’s Place are immediate steps to name the successor to Director Deb Ballam.

Ballam, the second director in TWP’s 10-year history, had originally come on as a six-month interim director in 2004, but has been there since.

“It’s been enormously satisfying to have been able to contribute in such a positive way not only for the women of this university but for the university as a whole,” Ballam said. “One of the reasons we’ve been successful is that people realize that this culture change is not only good for women, but for everybody.”

Ballam said that after 5 1/2 years, she missed her classroom in the Fisher College of Business.

“I really love teaching students,” she said. “The original plan when we removed the ‘interim’ was to stay for three years, because for an office like this where the focus is culture change, it’s important to get a fresh perspective in here periodically. It’s time for that to happen again.”

The next director will play the central role in deciding which aspects of the strategic plan to focus upon. But the OAA action plan did give a bit of direction, suggesting the goals be in line with several principles that came out of the self-study and the external review. Among them:

• TWP should continue to analyze and present data related to the achievements of women staff and faculty.
• The Director of TWP should work to identify programming (lab management training, for example) needed by faculty and staff.
• TWP should serve as the umbrella organization for all Critical Difference for Women activities.
• TWP should find specific and consistent ways to increase its outreach to women of color and to international women.
• TWP should work to find incentives for supervisors to work with employees to facilitate staff participation in Women’s Place activities.
• The staff of TWP should continue to serve as a safe sounding board for individuals and units seeking resources for identifying problems and finding constructive solutions.
• TWP should build a presence in and connection to all university locations, including regional campuses.

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