Catherine Dufour

As a part of our ongoing mission to improve the Commission for Women, appointed members were surveyed in order to determine some of the motivating factors for members' involvement, as well as the factorscontributing to persistence in the CFW. Here are Catherine Dufour's responses.

What motivated you to join the CFW?
I attended my first Commission meetings in 2007 and was struck by the people involved and by the issues that the group was trying to address. I not only wanted to be a part of that work, but realized the opportunity to work alongside of and learn from many talented women and men here at Penn State.

What do you enjoy most about the CFW?
I most enjoy the people with whom I get to work - their commitment to advancing the status of women at Penn State is phenomenal. They are talented, intelligent, passionate people who contribute greatly to the University.

Which of the CFW’s goals are you most passionate about and would like to take a more active role in?
Some of the CFW’s goals that I am interested in are workplace and classroom climate; recruitment, advancement, and retention; professional development and recognition; and salary equity.

Catherine Dufour is the Associate Director, Corporate & Foundation Relations at Penn State University and a former Wage Equity Co-chair person for the CFW.

Jenn Stewart

As a part of our ongoing mission to improve the Commission for Women, appointed members were surveyed in order to determine some of the motivating factors for members' involvement, as well as the factors contributing to persistence in the CFW. Here are Jenn Stewart’s responses



What motivated you to join the CFW?
I joined the CFW because I enjoy supporting new and existing opportunities which are available for women.

What do you enjoy most about the CFW?
What I enjoy most about the Commission for Women is great networking. Great networking opportunity can contribute towards making Penn State an even better place for women in the workforce and can personally grow and learn from other leaders within the commission.

Which of the CFW’s goals are you most passionate about and would like to take a more active role in?
Currently serve on the Advancement Committee. Am very passionate about this particular topic and working on new initiatives to further expand opportunities for staff and faculty to grow and succeed within. I am also interested in providing a medium for staff and faculty to explore new/different career opportunities and/or interests in a particular education track.

Additional Thoughts?
I am honored to serve on the committee and participate in such a well deserved and acknowledged initiative. Great group of committee members and affiliates!

Jenn Stewart is the Privacy Coordinator at The Pennsylvania State University. She is also actively involved with the Commission for Women Committee at Penn State where she serves as an Executive Committee Member-at-Large.

David Passmore

As a part of our ongoing mission to improve the Commission for Women, appointed members were surveyed in order to determine some of the motivating factors for members' involvement, as well as the factors contributing to persistence in the CFW. Here are David Passmore's responses

What motivated you to join the CFW?
Rose Baker, next year's co-chair with Cathy Dufour, got me interested and involved in the work of the Commission's Assessment Committee. I came to understand the role that the Commission has in improving the status of Penn State women and how these improvements make life better for all Penn State employees. I applied to become an affiliated member of the Commission, and, then, I became a member of the Commission’s Assessment Committee (which I currently co–chair with Lysa Holland) as well as the Wage Equity Committee. I am happy that I have an opportunity to continue that work as an appointed member of the Commission

What do you enjoy most about the CFW?
The Commission is effective. It draws together people from diverse backgrounds and jobs at the University to accomplish projects and to produce events. I admire the Commission's work on family leave and on focusing attention on improving breastfeeding/breastpumping opportunities for women at Penn State. These policies and activities strongly affect the well-being of women at Penn State and their family units. In addition, paying attention to these policies and opportunities ends up improving the diversity and quality of the workforce supplied to Penn State. More than most University committees, The Penn State Commission for Women gets things done.

Which of the CFW’s goals are you most passionate about and would like to take a more active role in?
Helping the Penn State community and communities that surround each of its campuses to become more aware of the status of women at Penn State.

David Passmore is a Professor of Education in the Workforce Education and Development academic program, Department of Learning and Performance Systems, College of Education. He is also the Director of the Institute for Research in Training & Development.

Sandra Marcella

As a part of our ongoing mission to improve the Commission for Women, appointed members were surveyed in order to determine some of the motivating factors for members' involvement, as well as the factors contributing to persistence in the CFW. Here are Sandra Marcella’s responses.

What motivated you to join the CFW?
I joined the CFW because I believe in women's groups that work to advance the equality of women.

What do you enjoy most about the CFW?
I appreciate the research on the status of women at PSU that the CFW has put forth.

Which of the CFW’s goals are you most passionate about and would like to take a more active role in?
I would like to take a more active role in the CFW in general, however, it seems that the majority of the activities occur at Main Campus and they are during the work day. For female graduate students like myself who work full time and attend classes at night or online at a satellite campus, its somewhat difficult to fully participate.

Additional Thoughts?
I would truly love to see the CFW focus a bit more on female students and the difficulties they face in their programs at their various campuses. The CFW has great mentoring programs for PSU employees, but I would love to see something similar expanded to female students. I would also like to see the CFW promote Women's History Month activities at all campuses every March.

Sandra Marcella is an appointed member of the Commission for Women and a graduate student at The Pennsylvania State University pursuing a Masters in Public Administration.

Karin Foley

As a part of our ongoing mission to improve the Commission
for Women, appointed members were surveyed in order to determine some of the motivating factors for members' involvement, as well as the factors
contributing to persistence in the CFW. Here are Karin Foley's responses.

What motivated you to join the CFW?
I initially joined out of a sense of obligation to give back. As a female administrator, I thought it was time to do something for the women of PSU.

What do you enjoy most about the CFW?
What I enjoy most about the Commission is meeting new people and learning about new people

Which of the CFW’s goals are you most passionate about and would like to take a more active role in?
Some of the goals and initiatives I am most passionate about include the prevention of sexual assaults, maternity benefits for grad students and post docs, and mentoring for pre-tenure female faculty.

Karin Foley is the Associate Dean for Administration for the Eberly College of Science and a Past Chair in the Commission for Women.

Meghan Hayes

As a part of our ongoing mission to improve the Commission for Women, appointed members were surveyed in order to determine some of the motivating factors for members' involvement, as well as the factors contributing to persistence in the CFW. Here are Meghan Hayes' responses.

What motivated you to join the CFW?
I was motivated to join the CFW by the opportunities to meet women across the University, to get involved in championing women's issues at PSU, and to add a dimension of service and volunteerism to my portfolio of work at PSU

What do you enjoy most about the CFW?
What I enjoy most about the Commission for Women is the camaraderie. I also take pride in the feeling of accomplishment when we get new policies or impactful studies out.

Which of the CFW’s goals are you most passionate about and would like to take a more active role in?
I am very interested in the issue of work life balance for working women.

Meghan Hayes is an appointed member to the CFW.

Mary Stansfield

As a part of our ongoing efforts to improve the Commission for Women, appointed members were surveyed in order to determine some of the motivating factors of members' involvement, as well as the factors contributing to persistence in the CFW. Here are Mary Stansfield's responses.



What motivated you to join the CFW?
I joined the CFW as a tool for networking, to broaden my focus and interaction with women's issues, which are a huge concern to and for me, and to attempt to make some kind of change for women in today's society.

What do you enjoy most about the CFW?
I enjoy meeting all the women from across campus and at the branch campuses. I enjoy learning about all the issues we as women face and how we are approaching those concerns and the ways that we are making a difference. I enjoy meeting the different speakers that attend our meetings, as they offer so much information that otherwise many of us would not know, thus allowing me to share some of that information for communication purposes.

Which of the CFW's goals are you most passionate about and would like to take a more active role in?
The committee I have been on. I started with wages and equity, but that has changed now to the Advancement Subcommittee.

Additional Thoughts?
I think we need to engage undergraduate women more effectively since they will be entering the workforce and facing many of the issues that women at the University face.

Mary Stansfield is a Ph.D. Candidate in Tourism Management and a member of the CFW Mentoring Committee.