Who We Are

Message from the President

President’s Message

August 2010

Women Graduates-USA was welcomed as the only new affiliate to the International Federation of University Women during the 30th Conference of IFUW in Mexico this month.  It was my pleasure to represent our organization at the opening session as we were recognized as well as our members being invited to a reception hosted by the IFUW Board and President, Louise Croot.

Every where you looked, Women Graduates-USA was actively represented.  There were 27 members in attendance as well as 3 concurrent members.  We had the largest number of participants of any country except for Mexico.  A special congratulations to Louise McLeod of PA who was elected to the Status of Women Committee and to Bonnie Lincoln of FL who was appointed to the Special Projects committee.  We also take great pride in welcoming our newest concurrent member, Marianne Haslegrave, who was elected President of IFUW.  Marianne is a US citizen and pointed out that she traveled to Mexico City on her American passport.  She is a former AAUW New York, state president but is a current member of the British Federation of University Women. 

Great comments where heard about the seminars and workshops our members presented.  Seminar participants included, Dr. Jacqueline Shahzadi - The Role of Online Education for the Advancement of Women, Shaila Rao Mistry - Perspectives of Women in Business and Entrepreneurs, and Camille McDonald-Poloski – Trafficking of Human Beings from the United States Perspective.  Workshop presentations included Gender Equality in Sports:  Are we there yet?, by Kathleen Laurila – USA and Dr. Shirley Gillet – New Zealand; Academic English for Refugee/Immigrant Women, Kathy Mumford – Australia and Nicole Nelson – USA; and Use of the Internet and Social Networking as a Tool for sustaining NFA’s – Louise McLeod and Florine Swanson, USA and Rosette Adera of Rwanda. 

In addition two members were recognized that were unable to attend.  Jin Zhou’s poster on Empowering Women was on display as the 5th place winner.  And Alicia Baucom, a member of the FUW Education Advocacy Task Force, was recognized for her outstanding input in the development of the manual that was distributed at the conference.

Other members stepped up in leadership roles including Shaila Mistry as convener of the IFUW Next Generation group – 41-60 years of age.  Ronni Nivala served as convener of one of the seminars as well as time keeper at two of the business sessions and as the election coordinator.  Nicole Nelson served as a vote counter during business sessions and an active participant in the Young Members Group – 20-40 years of age. Carolyn Cowgill served as a rapporteur for two workshops. Claire Stein, our intrepid parliamentarian, served as procedural advisor to two business sessions.

Thank you to everyone who participated throughout the Conference.  We may be the newest member, but our roots go back to the beginning of IFUW. 

For those of you who were unable to attend, we missed you and wished you could have attended.  Mark your calendar now for 2013 in Istanbul, Turkey. 

Florine Swanson

WG-USA at IFUW 2010

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