Commission for Women Luncheon

I attended the Commission for Women Banquet today. I've been to, I think, 4 of these over the years (which were formerly dinners - this was a radical format change for the CFW) and have always taken something away from one of the award recipient's speeches each time I've been. In fact, a comment made by someone at the very first banquet I attended is a driver for Theme 3. Twenty people from ITS attended at our tables, and at least one other ITS-er was there at another table. Here's what I was able to jot down while listening.

Sharon Corl - Technical Service
Sharon sang a song to celebrate her recognition - it was pretty cool. Sounds hokey I know, but it really worked. The crowd loved it. It was clear she just had to sing to celebrate the moment.

Kathryn Lanoue - Faculty (Hershey)
She is a self described "compulsive risk taker" - it was thrilling to see that rewarded in such a setting.

Jennifer Allshouse - Staff Nonexempt (Harrisburg)
Jennifer was gracious in her recognition of others, both in her success as a police officer and their dedication to their work. She used her time wisely to stump for the cause of combating sexual assault, something she obviously pours her life into. The statistics she shared were mind boggling. 1 out of every 3 women is raped, for example. Hits home when I think about the number of women in my house.
It was apparent that it was more important to keep working to the cause than receive the award, and she did so with honor.

Jayashree Sonti - Staff exempt
Jay is the advisor for the Association for India's Development. What I liked most about her words is that she said that she was "given a chance to succeed." Who in ITS needs such a chance to fully realize their potential and maximize their impact at Penn State?

Judith Todd - Administrator
The first woman department chair in the College Of Engineering is proud to be an engineer and proud to be in Engineering Science and Mechanics (I was too!). I've seen a lot of girls enter 9th grade being excited about math and science, only to have some forces take them into other directions. These aren't always bad directions mind you, but in some cases they are. Having role models like this is important to me.

Shereen Abdel Kader - Graduate Student
Shereen honored the recognition by using it as motivator for improved work, a very humble way to approach receiving such an award. Her work is around recognizing and rewarding creativity, sounds like we should invite her to lunch one day soon.

Olivia Hamilton - Undergraduate student
An undergraduate student and single mom at Abington, she has established and runs Third Wave, an organization that supports and promotes women's issues at Abington. Olivia also recognized that the honor represents the works of others and she highlighted the issues of single moms and their challenges in the work place and in education.

Catharina Cunning - Rosemary Schraer Mentoring Award
Catharina is from the University Fellowships office. As a Churchill fan, I liked her reference to: "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." From her nominator's remarks, it is clear that Catharina lives that quote.

The luncheon represented the value of all of Penn State and the strength of the people that make Penn State what it is.