The Women’s Center Advisory Board is a collective of faculty, staff, and students with an interest in supporting and cultivating the work of the Women’s Center at UMBC and advancing gender equity and social justice on UMBC’s campus.

Board members participate in monthly board meetings, scheduled for the first Friday of each month during the academic year. This forum allows Women’s Center staff to share information about the Center and similarly allows the board members to share their knowledge, wisdom and unique perspectives to advance the mission of the Women’s Center. 

In addition to advising the Director and Coordinator of the Women’s Center, board members provide support in the planning, programming, and advocacy of the Women’s Center. Board members are encouraged to attend Women’s Center events when possible and volunteer at larger events such as Critical Social Justice, Take Back the Night, or the Returning Women Students networking event. These responsibilities may entail additional hours of commitment outside of the monthly board meetings.

Board members are appointed for two-year terms, with the possibility of renewal.

The Women’s Center seeks to serve a diverse community of people interested in women’s, gender, and social justice issues.  We seek a diverse board to assure that varying needs and interests are represented.
For more on the Women’s Center mission, guiding principles, and priorities, visit womenscenter.umbc.edu

DEADLINE: Friday, April 20, 2018

Submit via email or campus mail. 

For additional information, please call the Women’s Center at x52714 or email womens.center@umbc.edu. 

All Are Welcome So Long As They Respect Women’s Experiences, Stories & Potential

In the last few iterations of our roundtable series, we’ve noticed that the classroom is, in many ways, replicated in the Women’s Center. Yes, we have beanbags and we gather together in a big friendly circle to discuss topics one might not cover in class, but structurally, we were learning in the same exact way. Experts are invited to talk, and we listen. Don’t get me wrong. All of our roundtables brought forth amazing conversations and beautiful insights. As much as the Women’s Center likes to be a space where classroom discussions can continue to grow, we also want to offer a new structure for having those conversations. We want to try something that incorporates social justice and brave spaces into how we learn. So this year we’re trying out knowledge exchanges.

Inspired by the tenets of radical pedagogy that are outlined by scholars such as Paulo Freire and bell hooks, we at the Women’s Center want to create space for learning that blurs the power dynamics of a typical teacher-student relationship and posits, instead, a team of “co-investigators.” For example, we envision an opportunity for professors, students, staff, community members, etc. to all come together to learn from each other and work out problems using their unique knowledge bases. This as opposed to a teacher leading a class to the solution of a problem. We hope that knowledge exchanges can be a sort of respite from the classroom for both students and teachers, as well as staff and all the other folks on our campus.

Missy introduced me to the concepts of pedagogy and andragogy, which strongly inform our Knowledge Exchanges.

In our knowledge exchanges we aim to do several things:

• Create a network of lifelong learners and curious co-investigators among all aspects of the UMBC community.
• Collaborate on dynamic solutions to complex, multi-faceted problems
• Have fun! No, really. A big goal with these knowledge exchanges is to build relationships across campus and make friends with the folks that are gathered together.

Led by Brave Space guidelines, we hope to have conversations that are led by the following values:

• We will respect each other as both learners and knowers; experts of our own lives and experiences.
• We will challenge ourselves as active listeners, community members, and co-investigators to collaborate with those gathered.
• We will build community by nurturing our relationships, holding each other accountable, and collaborating together in an equitable structure.

Knowledge exchanges will be a little messy at first. We’re all still sorting out what it means to work towards a learning space that’s more equitable to all involved. That’s what’s fun, though. We’re able to get messy, learn from each other, and hopefully use our combined knowledge to find the right questions and perhaps move towards some really good solutions.

Over the spring semester, we have three Knowledge Exchange events planned. Topics are broad and (hopefully) worthy of deep discussion creative problem-solving, and imagination:

• Thursday, February 22^nd 3:30 pm to 5 pm: Super Representation
  • Black Panther is out, and we want to know what you think about all of this superhero kerfuffle. We’re thinking about diversity in superhero movies, comics, toys, video games, etc. and we’re thinking about it more broadly than the tokenized sexy lady assassin or the wheelchair bound sidekick. Let’s talk about the possibilities of superhero diversity!
  • Partners: Dr. Elizabeth Patton, faculty in Media and Communication Studies

• Wednesday, March 14^th, 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm: Consciousness Raising: Past, Present, and Future
  • Consciousness raising is an integral of feminist movements. Simply, consciousness raising is a gathering focused on learning more about experiences different from your own. In this Knowledge Exchange, we want to look back at the history of consciousness raising, how (and if) it happens now, and what it could look like in an ideal future.
  • Partners: Dr. Jodi Kelber-Kaye, Assistant Director of the Honors College

• Tuesday, April 24^th, 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm: Mediating Media Intake
  • Do you ever read or watch or listen to the news and just want to cry? Or flip a table? Or hide? Us too. Let’s discuss strategies for keeping up to date and also keeping our mental and emotional health. In this Knowledge Exchange, we’re going to talk media literacy and conscious consumption.
  • Partners: Dr. Rebecca Adelman, faculty in Media and Communication Studies

POLI 353, Government Budgeting, has a special instructor this spring, and will focus on Baltimore City issues.  The instructor is Andrew Kleine, who became Baltimore’s budget director in 2008, after nearly 15 years of federal government service that included budget and policy positions in the U.S. Department of Transportation, White House Office of Management and Budget, and Corporation for National and Community Service.  He is a nationally recognized leader in budgeting for outcomes, long-term financial planning, Lean Government, and pension and health benefit reform. 

A blog post written by student staff member, Sydney.

It’s official! The Women’s Center has a new ongoing event starting this spring semester. What is it you ask?

Pop Culture Pop Ups!

You’re probably wondering, “What the heck is a Pop Culture Pop Up?” Well, that’s what I’m here to explain.

If you frequent the Women’s Center you know that it is often a space for spontaneous discussion with others regarding shared interests (about life, events,  and school to include the awesome, the good, the bad, and the frustrating – and more!). The energy and critical dialogue that comes from these conversations are what make the Women’s Center the Women’s Center and we wanted to nourish more of these moments by carving out time for more intentional dialogue surrounding both fun and serious topics that come up in our daily lives. Hence, the pop up of these Pop Culture Pop Ups.

We envision these pop ups will create a space for anyone who is on campus and wants to discuss an event, movement, hashtag (and more!) that has gotten huge attention or gone viral to come to the Women’s Center and have a brave space to discuss their feelings, reactions, and ideas linked to the topic. Of course, we’ll make sure to talk about how these pop culture moments intersect with gender and women’s issues, feminism, and social justice. Yet, unlike many of the other events that we hold in the Women’s Center, there won’t be a planned agenda, prepared questions, or a panel of experts and practitioners to guide the conversation.

Essentially, our plan is to take the conversations we notice people are often having on social media and make them into IRL conversations! We may do a bit of background research or read an article that shows up on our Facebook, but this is really a space for raw, immediate reactions to what it happening in a fun and thoughtful way with other people on want to engage in a conversation around the same topic.  That’s why our Pop Ups won’t come with a “save the date.” While they will be held on Wednesdays at free hour, they will be spur of the moment decisions (get it, Pop Ups?) in reaction to an event. This means we we could decide to have one the Sunday before or Tuesday night so check our social media for updates!

Some of you may still be confused about what it is we’d talk about or what is considered pop culture, and the ambiguity is kind of the beauty of it (it can really be anything), but it may help to have an example.

A Pop Up we would have loved to have, but unfortunately weren’t able to because of winter break was all things Golden Globes. From the second I heard about #TimesUp and the #whywewearblack Black Out/ Protest, I was hooked and invested. This is something I wanted to discuss and dissect with others. Who was involved in the decision? Did everyone wear black? What is the point? These would all be questions that would definitely come up in a Pop Up.

Hollywood showed up in black this year at the Golden Globes.       Photo Credits: Getty/WireImage

If you watched the show, or saw any of the coverage after the fact, you’d know that almost everyone did indeed wear black, but you also would have seen the backlash about why this form of protest just wasn’t good enough. Wearing black isn’t that hard-especially for men, said some while others said that a better idea would be to protest the event all together. Not only did the dress-code come under fire, but so did the men (and some women) who showed up wearing black and the Times Up pin. What about the actors and actresses that are wearing black but work with Woody Allen or other stars that are being held accountable? What does wearing black do when you’re still silent about sexual violence and believing survivors in your daily life as well as career? I know these questions flew around my head and basically everyone’s on the internet. I wish we could have had a Pop-Up to really reflect on how we were feeling post black-out. I still don’t know how I feel about the whole thing. I love the men and women who came out to support, I love that a lot of them made donations and brought activists as their dates, and I love that we’re finally TALKING ABOUT IT…. but I also ask, is it enough? This is why Pop Ups are important. They’ll come together fast, bring us together about current issues, and let us digest these potentially confusing emotions and reactions.

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!

While the Blackout is something that could take up a whole Pop Up on its own there was another highlight of the night that we would have LOVED to talk about. You guessed it folks — OPRAH!

Me listening to Oprah’s speech!

Oprah Winfrey accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement (the first Black woman to do so) and delivered a speech that BROUGHT THE HOUSE DOWN. She discussed growing up and representation in the media, people who took a chance on her and how that led to success in her career, her value of the press and the pursuit of the truth, the sexual violence in the entertainment industry and beyond, and the women who are speaking up.

It was moving, brought tears to my eyes, had me fist-pumping, and cheering her on (I encourage you to watch it here). I wish I would have had the chance to see how others felt in person rather than on Facebook and tumblr, especially with so many mixed feelings surrounding the activism at the Golden Globes. Not only could we have discussed this epic speech, but we could also unpack the public’s call for a presidential run and what that really means. Should Oprah run? Some say HELL YEAH, others think she’s just another billionaire and we should support other Black women who are already in politics, while others are saying no more to celebrity presidents. There’s a lot more to unpack here in terms of politics, who we support, and how the institution (both Hollywood and politics) may be changing.

Discussions about how we feel in the present as well as how we move forward in the future about this moments in time are important to have and that’s why the Women’s Center will be bringing you these Pop Culture Pop Up moments.

To stay informed about when Pop-Ups will happen make sure to follow us on myUMBC, Facebook and Twitter. Also follow us on Snapchat (@womencenterumbc) where we will be posting more about daily happenings in the Women’s Center.

If there’s something that comes up over the next semester you want to talk about, be sure to let the Women’s Center staff know (you can also use the hashtag #WCPopUp). It just may become the next Pop Culture Pop-Up! 

For more on the Blackout:

On why it’s about more than a dress

On what it means for designers

For more on Times Up:

On the Time’s Up Movement

On how #METOO and Time’s Up relate

For more on Oprah’s Speech:

On Black women being the “clean up” crew for America- and why that’s a problem

On the “missed point” of the speech

Moms and parents who plan on using the Women's Center lactation room throughout the spring semester are encouraged to reserve their preferred reservation times. 

All parents who reserve times will be added to the lactation room google calendar and a group email list in order to support communication and best navigate multiple people using the space. 

Reservations are not required but are highly recommend for parents who plan on using the lactation room on a regular basis throughout the spring semester.

For questions and concerns, stop by the Women's Center during our hours of operation, give us a ring at 410-455-2714, or send us an email at womenscenter@umbc.edu.  Parents are also encouraged to join the myUMBC Moms + Parents group.