Women and Leadership Forum Set for March 25

PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University’s annual Women and Leadership Forum,
set for March 25, will honor the recipients of the Woman of the Year and Women of Distinction
awards, which recognize the achievements and contributions of women at WSU and in the
community. The event is part of the university’s recognition of Women’s History Month.
The daylong forum, planned for 7:45 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Compton Union Building, provides an
avenue for participants to interact and discuss various leadership styles and a way to learn new
skills or build upon skills one may already have, say organizers.
Sister Kathleen Ross, president of Heritage College, Toppenish, and a MacArthur Fellow,
will serve as the keynote speaker at the day’s luncheon. Sister Ross is originally from Seattle and
has a master’s degree in non-Western history from Georgetown University. Ross also has earned
a doctorate in higher education management and cross-cultural studies from Claremont Graduate
School in California. She has received numerous awards from colleges and universities for her
merit in cross-cultural communication and education.
An employee, a student, an alumna and a woman from the community who have contributed
significantly to the advancement of women will be honored at the luncheon.
There will be three different “tracks” or workshops for participants: leadership development,
group dynamics and organizational leadership, and holistic management. Each track has three
sessions, two before the luncheon and one following.
The leadership development track will start the morning out with women who have
participated in leadership development programs before at WSU. The next session will be spent
with past women delegates to Bryn Mawr and Harvard leadership institutes. These people will
share their stories and experiences and give tools to apply them. In the last session, women
deans, faculty and students will discuss mentoring in a university environment.
The group dynamics and organizational leadership track will teach participants about the
character and capabilities needed by leaders in the next millennium and the stages of group
development and dynamics during the first two sessions. Power and group power will be the
topic in the third session.
The holistic management track will explore the essential skills needed to resolve conflicts
and obtain mutual agreement. The afternoon session will consist of a slide presentation that will
demonstrate the importance of life, economics and the environment to holistic decision-making.
The event is sponsored by the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, the WSU
Foundation, the Women’s Resource Center and the Women and Leadership Alliance. WSU
participants are sponsored, and the cost is free. The non-WSU participant registration fee is $15.
Luncheon tickets cost $12 and must be purchased by March 12. Direct questions to WSU’s
Women’s Resource Center, Wilson Hall, Room 8, 509/335-6849. A sign-language interpreter will
be present at the forum’s opening and closing programs. Registration details about the
conference are available from WSU Conferences and Institutes, 509/335-3530.
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