OSU Women’s Faculty Council wins diversity honor

Monday, June 22, 2020

Oklahoma State University’s Women’s Faculty Council was recently honored with INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine’s 2020 Inspiring Affinity Group Award.

The award recognizes programs that provide higher education professionals with mentoring, social networking and collaboration opportunities.

“The WFC is proud to be recognized for our work of supporting women faculty at OSU,” said Dr. Kim Loeffert, Women’s Faculty Council chair and clinical associate professor in the Michael and Anne Greenwood School of Music. “We particularly seek to draw attention to and support for our many initiatives, which include annual student research awards, annual outstanding achievement faculty awards, monthly speakers from across campus and outside the university, and advocacy topics, such as the recent Tenure Clock or Reappointment Extension for faculty.”

With its four decades of service, OSU’s Women’s Faculty Council continues to elevate the university and is one of only 38 groups across the country to earn this national recognition, which will be featured in the July/August issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. The organization works to improve the status of women at OSU by advocating for women in educational programming, award funding, research and career support.

“We serve in an advisory capacity to the administration and university community, and we provide space for those on OSU’s campus interested in raising awareness and developing action to share resources and spark movement,” Loeffert said.

The WFC supports two primary initiatives outside its monthly programming: student research awards and faculty achievement awards. Since the early 2000s, the WFC has sponsored an annual award for research projects by OSU undergraduate and graduate students.

“With generous support from OSU’s colleges and administrative offices, we have been able to award 15-30 students $500-$1,000 each,” Loeffert said. “In spring 2019, our student research awards ceremony was held alongside a faculty poster symposium, which enabled dialogue between faculty and student researchers and further illuminated the high-caliber work being done by women at OSU. In fall 2019, we awarded the inaugural recipients of the OSU Women’s Faculty Council Outstanding Achievement and Mentorship of Women Awards.”

The WFC faculty awards are presented to full-time OSU faculty members, regardless of discipline, who have made a significant contribution to research, scholarship and/or creative work and have a demonstrated record of encouragement, mentorship and advancement of women. The three awards of $1,500 each recognize those who have achieved excellence in their fields and have worked to support and elevate the careers of women.

The council’s efforts to support, motivate and inspire the scholarship of OSU’s women faculty members continues to be transformative and meaningful. Together, OSU’s eight affinity faculty and staff associations — Asian American Faculty and Staff Association, Black Faculty and Staff Association, Employee Queers and Allies League, Fellowship of Christian Faculty and Staff, Hispanic/Latino Faculty and Staff Association, Native American Faculty and Staff Association, Veterans Faculty and Staff Association, and Women’s Faculty Council — play a vital role in supporting, promoting and advancing OSU’s culture of inclusion.

MEDIA CONTACT: Mack Burke | Editorial Coordinator | 405.744.5540 | mack.burke_iv@okstate.edu