Eight women in the local community were invited to a lunch-in held by the Women in Leadership Certificate Program (WLCP), where they discussed the program’s future as its courses become available to non-matriculated students.
On November 19, Franklin Pierce University professors teaching within the program, administrative faculty, and community women met to explore what types of issues women would be most interested in seeing as a part of the certificate’s curriculum. Last year, the WLCP went through the curriculum committee and was approved to offer classes to non-matriculated students starting in 2010.
“Our goal is to offer the Women in Leadership Certificate Program to non-matriculated students. Right now the certificate can only be obtained by students that are [at Franklin Pierce] who are getting another degree. This would allow [people] to get just the certificate,” said Donna Decker, director of the WLCP.
The WLCP hopes to have intergenerational classrooms, where 18 to 22 year olds will have the opportunity to interact and learn from women who have experienced gender related issues in the work place. The WLCP believes in addressing gender inequality and the importance of building strong, confident leaders.
During the lunch-in advice was given on how women can advance their skills and knowledge of networking, negotiation, and balance of professional and personal lives. Kim Mooney, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs, called the forum “a unique opportunity to reach out to women leaders in the community.”
“It was the perfect bringing together of town and gown; getting advice from leaders on what upcoming leaders need to do to be leaders,” said Decker.
The lunch-in also helped WLCP professors learn about the personal experiences of community leaders. "It shows that women in the community are interested in what we are doing here on campus, which is really great. As the faculty members who are teaching these subjects, we want to make sure that our classroom instruction is relevant and meaningful in the real world, and these types of relationships with working professionals can help us to do just that," said Andrea Bergstrom, Mass Communication professor.
The Introduction to Women’s Studies course being offered next fall will meet once a week from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., a time that the WLCP professors feel will better accommodate full-time working women.
The WLCP is in its seventh year at the university as a 13 credit program. For more information contact Donna Decker at Deckerd@franklinpierce.edu.
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