Admitting women to the University in 1970 was a monumental step for a school that had been predominately male since its opening in 1825. To help ease the transition that was to follow, many remarkable women stepped up to create an environment where female students could successfully receive an education, while feeling comfortable with their new surroundings.
With women claiming spots on the attendance lists, more demand for female professors became a hot topic.
"There were a little over 2,000 students and faculty [who] signed a petition for the hire of more women faculty at the University in 1978," said Sharon Davie, director of the Women's Center.
Again, one year later, the zest for an increase in attention to women's issues at the University resurfaced. In 1979, the Women's Studies Program, currently referred to as Studies in Women and Gender, was begun under Davie's direction.
These steps were the catalyst for activities that have paved the way for women at the University for the last 30 years.
In 1988, 2,800 men and women at the University signed a petition demanding a center for the purpose of addressing women's issues, Davie said.
This request was granted, and in 1989, the Women's Center was established.
Davie said the growth and development of the Women's Center promoted a more confident atmosphere for women at the University.
This growth included more women on the faculty, an increase in the female student population and an improvement in safety conditions.
In April 1988, a presidential task force was established to study issues affecting women and giving further consideration to issues that continued to plague women at the University.
"The presidential task force did a survey finding that the climate for women needed, still, to be better overall," Davie said.
Although the number of women faculty had increased, it was not up to the standards set by the task force.
The survey showed a substantial number of positions on the faculty should be designated for women.
Administrators at the University responded to this request and placed women in a number of positions including teaching faculty and administration, but years later, there was another call demanding more rights and privileges for women at the University.
According to a report published by members of the task force, the force did not stop with representation for women issues, but also conducted studies pertaining to compensation of women and minority faculty, professional development, support programs directed at meeting women's needs, sexual harassment and women faculty members' benefits, such as parental leave.
The task force concluded the University needed to develop and implement a system to alleviate all significant gender-based faculty salary inequalities. Professional development provided for training new faculty. The task force also suggested expanding the Women's Studies program and creating a program for studies in women and gender.
This segment of the task force's studies also provided for a completely University-funded and fully-staffed Women's Center, the report said.
With a task force in place making positive advances for women at the University, Davie implemented programs to create confidence in women's issues, the report stated.
"I worked with a number of students to create a women's arts festival on-Grounds before there was a women's center or women's studies in 1978," Davie said.
"The turnout was great, students were hungry. At that point, there wasn't much being taught about women," she said. "It was successful and exciting, you can create change in the environment around you."
The present-day Women's Center, which is located in The Corner Building at 14th Street and University Avenue is a thriving center of programs designed primarily by women.
One such program is the Young Women Leaders Program co-directed by Kim Roberts. This program not only strengthens undergraduate women at the University but reaches out to middle-school girls "to give girls critical thinking skills" to help prepare them for futures in colleges, said Amy Campbell, director of Programming at the Women's Center.
"Competence, connection, and autonomy" is the motto Kim Roberts has designated for the program.
The program lasts nine weeks and "the girls in the program are much more confident after the program. That's the best reminder of what we've done," Campbell said.
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