The NORTH COUNTRY CONNECTION
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We kick off our AAUW year with our annual Fall Membership Meeting on Tuesday, October 2 at the Unitarian Church at 3-1/2 East Main Street. Set-up begins at 5:30; a pot luck dinner at 6 pm, to be followed by a busy schedule of branch business.
The branch will provide all the paper goods, plates, table ware and beverages. Please bring a dish to pass. We're hoping for an excellent crowd, so be generous with your portions of the fantastic food you always share for our Pot Luck dinners!
We'll award our second annual AAUW Research Award to Caroline Breashears, an Associate Professor of English at St Lawrence University. Caroline will give us a brief overview of her fascinating research. Read more about it on page 4 of this newsletter!
We will also award our Biennial AAUW Agent of Change Award this year. The 2007 recipient is Allison Koch from the Tree of Life Midwifery in Canton. Learn how this woman and her life's work has made the North Country a better place! Find out more.
LAF Basket: We will have our usual LAF Basket drawing at the fall meeting. This basket's theme is Fall/Winter Car Emergency Basket or Comfort Foods! All contributions to the basket are gratefully accepted. You can contact LAF VP Becky Gerber or just bring your donations that night!
Dear Branch members,
Since this is my first note to members as President, I thought I would start with a little about me -I teach in the English and Communication department at Potsdam College and I was Programming V.P. for the branch last year. I teach mostly eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British literature (Romanticism, the Victorian novel, Jane Austen, the Gothic) and also a few courses in writing, research, and film. I'm also core faculty in our Women's and Gender Studies program and am particularly interested in women's writing and in early feminists like Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Robinson. When I'm not busy with teaching and writing, I enjoy sewing and needlework, gardening, and working on my new-old house in Norwood (new to me in 2005, built in 1890!).
I grew up in a (very) small town in central New York (Chittenango, in Madison County, about twenty miles from Syracuse) and got my B.A. at the University of Rochester and my M.A. and Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo. After that, I taught at Murray State University in Kentucky and at Winona State University in Minnesota before coming to Potsdam in 2005. I am delighted to be back in New York and in the North Country!
I'm also delighted to be in a community that supports the mission of AAUW--To "advance equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research." I draw inspiration everyday from the spirit and energy of our members, particularly that of our past and present board members, many of whom have become my good friends and mentors in the past two years. I particularly want to thank Lily Trevizan, our immediate past president, for her years of service and leadership to AAUW and for her support. I will do my best to live up to the high standards Lily set-with the help of our current board and branch members, of course!
We are already at work planning some exciting events for this year; put them on your calendars and bring a friend! We will be honoring Allison Koch with our "Agent of Change" award and also recognizing Caroline Breashears with our 2007 Research Award at our Fall Membership meeting on Oct. 2. Dr. Breashears will be sharing with us her research on the some of the unconventional women who wrote memoirs in the eighteenth century-you are sure to learn a bit about some fascinating women writers (like Harriette Wilson, the Regency-period courtesan) and the ways they wrote and got published. We are also planning an exciting District Seven conference in Saranac Lake with members from the Jefferson county branch and from our new "High Peaks" satellite branch.
All the best for a wonderful fall -
Sincerely,
The St. Lawrence County Branch awarded our annual AAUW Memorial Scholarships to two SUNY Canton graduates in June. Stacy Dailey, Chase Mills, and Emma Siaw, the Bronx, received financial awards to further their educations at four-year colleges. In addition, both were made members of AAUW and the local branch.
Ms. Daily graduated from SUNY Canton in May 2007 and will attend SUNY Potsdam's Early Education Program (Birth-2) in the fall. She is a past president of the Early Childhood Club at SUNY Canton and has worked with adults with physical disabilities. Ms. Siaw will be going to SUNY Brockport to major in nursing. She received her two year degree in nursing from SUNY Canton in May 2007.
This year's recipient of our second AAUW Research Award is Caroline Breashears, an Associate Professor of English at St Lawrence University. AAUW is pleased to continue to recognize and support the research of academic women in St. Lawrence County.
Caroline Breashears, who received her PhD from the University of Virginia, specializes in eighteenth-century British literature. She has published articles in Eighteenth-Century Fiction and Philological Quarterly and has reviewed books for Biography and The Scriblerian. She is at work on a book about unconventional women's memoirs published in Britain in the long eighteenth century. Among her academic cerdentials, she received the Boston Athenaeum/American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Joint Fellowship in 2005 and was a Jacob K. Javits Graduate Fellowship for 1992-96.
Caroline will give a brief presentation abut her research. She will focus on unconventional British women's memoirs published in the eighteenth century--a subgenre she calls the female appeal memoir. These memoirs were typically written by "fallen" women who wrote about their losses--of reputation, financial stability, home, children, career, even liberty--in order to ask for the public's sympathy or assistance in obtaining justice.
One her subjects is Harriette Wilson, a reigning courtesan of Regency England, who had "a nifty little blackmail scheme going when she started publishing her memoirs in installments. . . ." To find out the rest of the Harriette's story, attend our Fall Branch membership meeting! Bring a guest.
We will be focusing on new members, leadership development, and turning ideas into action at our District 7 Fall Conference this year. Held on Saturday, Nov. 10 in Saranac Lake, the day's events will feature Eileen Hartmann, the AAUW-NYS Membership Vice President!
As you know, we have many new AAUW members thanks to the active outreach in the "High Peaks" region of Saranac Lake as well as here at "home" in St. Lawrence County. District 7 comprises the four northern-most counties of New York: Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Franklin and Clinton. Grounding our new members (and refreshing all other members) in the basics of AAUW, working on leadership skills and issues, and helping the new High Peaks Satellite to go from ideas to action will be the focus of the day. Everyone will take away valuable information and skills from the day.
Save the date. We'll have final details on location, hours and lunch prices soon.
Allison Koch is our AAUW 2007 Agent of Change. Allison opened the doors for women in health care by being the first midwife to start a holistic, female-centered, OB/GYN practice in St. Lawrence County. She is the owner of Tree of Life Midwifery and Women's Health in Canton and is one of a limited number of midwives in New York State to be able to practice independently rather than being hired by a physician or a hospital.
Allison makes available personalized, women-centered health care in St. Lawrence County, and many clients travel long distances to see her to experience the midwifery model of care. This includes not only birthing options (she is the only practitioner to do water births and offer hypnobirth training in the County), but also regular and alternative care for routine exams, menopause issues, family planning, counseling, and more for women of all ages. She is one of the major care providers for low income (Medicaid and the MOMs program) pregnant women in the county. She and one other midwife now assist women to deliver one-third of all babies born at Canton-Potsdam Hospital.
Through her work, Allison has created an environment where new Certified Nurse Midwives will be more readily accepted to practice in St. Lawrence County. She pioneered the process and opened the doors to future practicing CNMs.
Professionally, she is the Northern regional representative on the Board of Directors of the New York State Association of Licensed Midwives and has hosted a number of meetings for midwives from the area. She is a member of the American College of Nurse Midwives and the North Country Prenatal/Perinatal Council.
Congratulations to our new officers. At our June annual meeting, the follow women were elected to leadership positions in the branch. Thanks to all of our out-going officers and a warm welcome to the new!
President: Lisa Wilson; Educational Fund VP: Lyn Burkett; Program VP: Sue Bellor; Legal Advocacy Fund VP: Becky Gerber; Membership VP: Anne Malone; Treasurer: Celena Haase; and Secretary: Trudy Stacy.
With the fall 2007 election fast approaching, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), the Business and Professional Women (BPW) and North Country Matters, the video public affairs journal operated by Dan Dullea at Clarkson University, are working together to organize a series of televised candidate forums to educate voters.
Tuesday, Oct 23: There is a 1.5 hour forum for the five candidates for the two seats for Potsdam Village Trustees in Clarkson's B.H. Snell Room 213 from 7 to 8:30 pm. The event will be broadcast live on WCKN, Time Warner Channel 30. There will be a live studio audience and the questions will be asked by a panel of local media as well as questions from the audience.
Wednesday, Oct 24: We have scheduled a one-hour forum for the three mayoral candidates for Potsdam that will run from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. It will be followed by a one-hour forum for the two candidates for St. Lawrence County Sherriff, Kevin Wells (R) and Gus Burns (D). Both will take place in Clarkson's B.H. Snell Room 213 following the same format as the Tuesday event.
In addition to the live broadcast that evening on WCKN, Channel 30, the event will be rebroadcast on a varied schedule several more times between the evening of the forum and Election Day, Nov. 6.
AAUW is happy to collaborate with BPW and North Country Matters to bring this information to voters.
October 6-7, nine women will join the 217 already inducted into the Hall in Seneca Falls, NY, the first national membership organization recognizing and celebrating the accomplishments of great American women. Events are open to the public.
A long-time branch member and a former branch president in 1982, Mrs. Ottilie Hirt Rollins, 91, Potsdam, passed away on Friday, September 14, at her residence on Bay Street in Potsdam. Mrs. Rollins is survived by her two sons, Alfred Hirt Rollins of Potsdam, and Christopher John Rollins of Upper Marlboro, MD; and two grandchildren, Caitlin Rollins of Philadelphia, PA, and Mark Rollins of Lexington, MA. Mrs. Rollins was born on November 18, 1915, in Vienna, Austria, to Alfred and Christina Hirt. In 1935 she came to the United States to be an instructor in German. Mrs. Rollins was a retired Director of the Library and Educational Resources Center at Clarkson University. Her husband of 56 years, John Pletcher Rollins, died in 2001. Mrs. Rolllins led an active and athletic life, and was an active folk dancer. She was the long time president of the Northern New York Folk Dancers. She especially enjoyed hiking and skiing, particularly in the Adirondacks and the Rockies. Memorial contributions can be made in her memory to WPBS Television in Watertown, NY or to the charity of one's choice.
Biennial priorities for federal action are chosen according to the criteria of viability, critical need, strong member support, and potential for distinctive AAUW contribution or leadership.
Sweeping changes to AAUW's organizational structure were approved on Sunday, July 1 at the National Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. Passed by a unanimous vote, the dramatic changes will move the organization forward.
The largest alteration is structural in nature-AAUW and the AAUW Educational Foundation will combine most their assets and programs to work effectively around a single mission. There will be one board of directors for this new conglomeration. Between now and 2009, a transitional board of directors will oversee the changeover. AAUW will be better positioned to proceed in a sustainable and successful way.
In other changes, online balloting was approved realizing a "one member, one vote" system for future elections. Maximum terms for elected officials, new procedures for filling vacancies, a new audit committee and restructured nominating committee also comprised the bylaw changes. Finally, all references to the International Federation of University Women have been struck from the bylaws except for the acknowledgement of international reciprocity.
Delegates approved the 2007-2009 Public Policy Program and passed two resolutions at the AAUW National Convention on Monday, July 2. The first resolution reaffirms AAUW's support of the ratification of The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The second directs the Association Membership Committee to examine extending student affiliate status to graduate students.
The American Association of University Women advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education and research. AAUW will be a powerful advocate and visible leader in equity and education through research, philanthropy, and measurable change in critical areas impacting the lives of women and girls.
In principle and practice AAUW values and seeks a diverse membership. There shall be no barriers to full participation in this organization on the basis of gender, race, creed, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or class.
The AAUW Educational Foundation provides funds to advance education, research, and self-development for women and to foster equity and positive societal change.
The AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund provides funding and a support system for women seeking judicial redress for sex discrimination.