Women's Centers Committee

The Women's Centers Committee is the first joint committee of the Greater Cincinnati Consortium of Colleges and Universities (GCCCU) and the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education (SOCHE). The committee gathers to network, share resources and best practices, and support each other in their campus and community efforts; in 2010, the Committee started publishing issue briefs.

Issues Brief

Issue briefs are designed to provide background for topics related to women’s centers and their work; share the recommendations and/or discussions of the Committee; and discuss best practices for policy or practice. The audiences for the GCCCU/SOCHE Women’s Centers Committee issue briefs include our institutions, peer committees of SOCHE and GCCCU, the Ohio Board of Regents, the citizens of Ohio, and women’s centers across the nation, among others. Issue brief topics emerge from the quarterly meetings of the Committee.

Issue Brief No. 01: Ohio Women’s Centers: Statement of Philosophy (2010)

Issue Brief No. 02: Ohio Women’s Centers’ Reflections on Evaluation & Assessment (2011)

Resources

National Women's Studies Association (NWSA)
NWSA, a national professional membership organization, has a mission to “lead the field of women’s studies in educational and social transformation.” NWSA structure places women's studies and women's center professionals on equal footing. Women's studies professionals are members of the Program Administration & Development (PAD) Committee; women's center professionals are members of the Women's Centers Committee (WCC). The WCC gained official committee status in 2005, and has Co-Chairs and an Advisory Council. The Web site has many relevant resources, including the NWSA Guide to Campus Women's Centers, a searchable database about U.S. women’s centers.

National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA)
NASPA is the leading voice for student affairs administration, policy and practice and affirms the commitment of student affairs to educating the whole student and integrating student life and learning. NASPA members are committed to serving college students by embracing the core values of diversity, learning, integrity, service, fellowship and the spirit of inquiry. NASPA has 24 knowledge communities, one of which is Women in Student Affairs (WISA). WISA focuses on the specific needs of women in higher education and helps to support and promote the interests and concerns of women at all levels within student affairs.

Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS)
CAS has been the pre-eminent force for promoting standards in student affairs, student services, and student development programs since its inception in 1979. For the ultimate purpose of fostering and enhancing student learning, development, and achievement and in general to promote good citizenship, CAS continues to create and deliver a dynamic and credible Book of Professional Standards and Guidelines and Self-Assessment Guides that are designed to lead to a host of quality-controlled programs and services. With the help of women's center professionals from the NWSA Women's Centers Committee, CAS recently updated its standards for "Women Student Programs and Services."

Women's centers located under Student Affairs are more likely to be held to these standards. Regardless of where your women's center is located, the standards provide helpful information for creating, improving, and measuring women's center success. The CAS guidelines can be downloaded from NWSA.

Women's Resource and Action Centers List
WRAC-L is a national listserve and discussion forum for sharing of resources related to women's centers. The list is open to the staff and affiliates of women's centers, whether community-based or associated with schools, colleges or universities. Over 250 professionals participate in the listserv; the archives are public documents. Volume is 10-20 messages per week.

ACE Ohio Women’s Network
The ACE Ohio Women’s Network is a state chapter of the American Council on Education/Office of Women in Higher Education and is composed of women administrators, faculty, and staff from colleges and universities across the state who are dedicated to the professional advancement of women. Through representatives, conferences, workshops, and other resources, the Network is committed to improving the status of women on its campuses and throughout higher education. In doing so, the Network support the mission of the Office of Women in Higher Education (OWHE) and the American Council on Education.

The ACE Ohio Women’s Network is composed of institutional representatives who represent and serve as advocates for the interests of women's leadership development and advancement in higher education at her institution. Each institution in Ohio is asked to identify a woman administrator who will serve as an institutional representative. The Executive Board steers the organization.