The conference was conducted as a part of an effort to support gender equity and to promote diversity among Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) colleges. The conference was meant to connect TCSG women with GAWHE for networking and for women to have the opportunity to engage in professional development opportunities.
The conference was also designed to connect with ACE’s Women’s Network and broaden the awareness of ACE’s “Moving the Needle” Initiative, which was created to promote gender equity and diversity in higher education.
“A research brief published by Higher Education Resource Services (HERS), Susan Madsen (2015), posts that higher education institutions have the ‘potential for greater thriving’ when an emphasis is placed on gender inclusivity and gender parity,” said Kim Lee, Executive Vice President and Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness at Albany Tech and Organizer of the conference.
Lee agreed that, as a lifetime educator herself serving at an executive level for more than a decade, Madsen’s position is relative to embracing diversity in the higher education leadership realm.
“Mergers, decreased public funding, legislative involvement in curriculum decisions, campus safety, increasing public demand for accountability, mounting student debt and appropriately serving a growing number of academically unprepared students, are all realities facing institutions of higher education today,” said Lee. “These complex challenges require leadership acumen that is influential, nimble, proficient and responsive to the dynamic interests of the broader social, academic, political and economic community.”
TCSG Commissioner, Gretchen Corbin, applauded the Albany Tech family for being the host for the conference and providing development opportunities for TCSG colleagues and others.
“We are honored by the support and guidance to conduct this conference Albany Tech has received from the leadership of ACE’s Inclusive Excellence Group and from the leadership of GAWHE,” said Corbin. “Both of these organizations have a long-standing and reputable history of supporting women in higher education.”
Conference attendee Janet Hayes, ATC’s director of accounting, said the two-day event opened her eyes to helping other women.
“The most important thing I learned was to look back and see who helped mentor me,” Hayes said. “Now I want to see who I can help bring along and get them to where they want to be.”
