The success of the 2004 Conference of Wisconsin Women in Higher Education Leadership [WWHEL] on October 14-15 at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire surprised even local organizers Susan Harrison and Lisa Theo. It was the largest gathering of female academic leaders in WWHEL's seven-year history.

 

The conference titled "Confluence: Celebrating Women with Vision" drew one hundred and twenty six women to register for the full conference and another several dozen who were only able to take time to present their expertise on one of the seventeen different concurrent sessions scheduled on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Home campus UW-Eau Claire had almost three dozen registered. Large groups also came from UW-Platteville, UW-La Crosse, UW-River Falls, UW- Stevens Point, UW-Stout, Chippewa Valley Technical College, Blackhawk Technical College, and Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College. Thirty one institutions were represented. WWHEL welcomes women in any position of leadership from public and private colleges and universities as well as those who aspire to take leadership positions at any level to network with others and to learn from experts how to move forward with confidence and creativity.

 

Dr. Marilyn Kern-Foxworth, CEO of Kern-Foxworth International, LLC; past president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), presented the opening plenary address which focused on media stereotypes as barriers to women's advancement into leadership positions. In honoring those who paved her way, she paid homage to her own "sheroes," including Dr. Johnetta Cole, president of several historically Black colleges, and her old friend from UW-Madison, Dr. Deborah Cureton, Campus Dean at UW-Richland and member of the WWHEL Board of Directors. Dr. Kern-Foxworth entertained the audience with strategies for changing misogynist language in nursery rhymes from models of oppression to models of triumph.

 

Dr. Virginia Valian, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Linguistics at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), gave a plenary address on Friday morning titled "Perceptions of Women: Impact on Women's Career Progress" in which she described research on gendered interactions which always privilege the dominant race, gender, and class. She demonstrated that people in leadership positions tend to select and legitimate the next generation of leaders to resemble their predecessors. She analyzed both visible and hidden gender equity problems, making it clear that the leadership playing field in academia and the world of commerce is anything but level or gender-neutral. In follow-up concurrent sessions, she offered strategies for advancement through negotiation and showcasing one's capabilities as well as ways to use one's knowledge as power to challenge an institution to become more focused on the benefits of social justice and cultural diversity.

 

The first WWHEL Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Mary Dee Wenniger, founder and editor of Women in Higher Education. Since 1992, this monthly publication has enhanced leadership opportunities for women. With an international readership, influence of WIHE extends far beyond the Wisconsin but often uses strategies and successes of Wisconsin women leaders as the model for the world. Ms Wenniger didn't let being fired from successive jobs that didn't fit her maverick style keep her from following her dream of advancing women. She inspires women with the success of WIHE by highlighting her own career path of failures. Invariably they enjoy her irreverent wit in promoting fair play and diversity in academia.

 

WWHEL also celebrated Dr. Karen Knox, President of Southwest Wisconsin Technical College, who has been appointed by the Office of Women in Higher Education of the American Council on Education in Washington, DC, to be WWHEL Presidential Sponsor. She will mentor and support the group in its networking and advancement efforts. Her own career is a model of moving from secretary to high school business education instructor to college professor to many administrative jobs on the road to her current presidency. "Every fourteen years she went back to school and got another degree," said Dr. Carol Sue Butts, Provost and Vice Chancellor at UW-Platteville and President of the WWHEL Board, in announcing Dr Knox's appointment.

 

Since 1997, Wisconsin Women in Higher Education Leadership (WWHEL) has had a mission to identify future women leaders, to provide contacts and support for women moving into leadership positions, to eliminate barriers to women's advancement, and to increase visibility of women leaders. Through affiliation with the Office of Women in Higher Education at the American Council on Education in Washington DC, WWHEL seeks to increase the number and power of women in Wisconsin higher education by providing professional development opportunities to support women administrators and by eliminating barriers to women's achievement in higher education leadership. WWHEL is sponsored by various public and private college and universities in Wisconsin.

 

WWHEL provides professional development through full-day workshops during the spring semester every year at regional locations. In 2005, Marjorie Wilbur, Executive Director of The Center to BE an inclusive spirituality center providing programs and services which invite people to explore pathways to the Sacred at the Center of their BE-ing, will offer five regional workshops titled "Tapping into Your Full Potential: A Day of Discovery and Renewal." For online information about the 2005 spring workshops (dates and locations), 2004 and 2005 fall conferences, and other WWHEL activities, please visit the website: http://www.wwhel.org.

 

Plan now to participate in the Fall 2005 WWHEL conference to be held October 20-21 at Marian College, Fond du Lac, WI with a focus on Negotiation. The WWHEL website will post a call for proposals. WWHEL exists to encourage, support and assist women moving forward into formal and informal leadership roles in higher education. WWHEL promotes women working together to support each other.