The Center for Women’s Leadership Annual Report

2012-2013

COTTEYCollege

CENTER FOR WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP

Mission of the Center for Women’s LeadershipTo provide an environment for building girls’ and women’s lives through enrichment, leadership development, and education.

Dr. Judy Robinson Rogers became the 11th president of Cottey College on July 1, 2004. She had been vice president for leadership and ethics at Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky, where her responsibilities included development and coordination of the college’s leadership pro-grams. A native of Shelbyville, Kentucky, Dr. Rog-ers has an undergraduate degree from Centre Col-lege of Kentucky, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in English from the University of North Carolina, which she attended as a Woodrow Wilson Fel-low. She helped develop a women’s studies pro-gram at Morehead State in Kentucky and later created leadership training programs for groups ranging from middle school through adults.

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A Message from the PresidentAt Cottey we assert that leaders are made and not born, that leadership is a body of knowledge and a set of skills that can be studied, taught, and practiced as a social science discipline. Cottey provides numerous opportunities for this to occur. An entering student may join the Leader-ship, Experiences, and Opportunity (LEO) program, a four-semester certification program to formalize and structure students’ leadership experiences. The learning outcomes of the LEO program seek to enable and encourage a student:

• to identify and develop a personal leadership style • to introduce students to a network of successful women leaders • to expose students to new experiences, ideas, and cultures• to develop leadership skills that are transferable to personal life, community service, and future careers/professions.

Throughout four semesters, students engage in off-campus volunteer activities, participate in on-campus organizations, complete leadership seminars and workshops, attend enrichment events, and attend or participate in diversity events. While any student may participate in activities such as those required by the program, LEO provides an integrating structure for Cottey’s curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular leadership learning opportunities.

The activities of the Center for Women’s Leadership encourage Cottey students to be role mod-els, to communicate powerfully the vision they seek to achieve, to be creative, try new ideas and challenge assumptions, to count on teamwork to achieve their goals, and to be mindful of the support needed by each team member. These activities help Cottey students to find their voices and identify their personal leadership styles.

“Leadership is a body of knowledge and a set of skills that can be studied, taught, and practiced as a social science discipline.”

CENTER FOR WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP

community to observe and interact with women who have exceptional expertise in a designated area and who have emerged as leaders and role models. A prominent leader is invited to campus to conduct formal and infor-mal sessions to discuss issues in leadership. The length of the residency has varied from a week to a few days. In fall 2012, Dr. Dorothy (Dot) Maver served as a Leader-in-Residence. Dot is an agent for peace around the world and currently serves as the president of the National Peace Academy and executive director of the River Phoenix Center for Peace Building. Dot was a guest speaker during Cottey’s annual Peace Week cele-bration. While on campus, she met with small groups of students and was a guest speaker in several classes. Dot even spoke to the Cottey Comet softball team about her Maver Method of batting that she developed as a college softball coach. Dot was fully engaged with the Cottey community during her week on campus.

Networking with women leaders is a theme throughout the programming at the Center for Women’s Leadership. To prepare students

for networking opportunities, the Networking Women Series was developed. Workshops on Creating Your Own Business Cards and the Networking Information Ses-sion gave students the information they needed to attend the final workshop (net)Work It! Five P.E.O. members from Chapter A, Minnesota, were our guests for the (net)Work It! event, where students practiced their new skill of introducing themselves, working a room, and networking with business cards.

Students also had the opportunity to practice their networking skills with other guests who were invited to campus to serve as mentors and role models to the Cottey College students.

The Leader-in-Residence Program allows the campus

“The (net)work It event was a great experience that helped me to gain better skills in communicating with people

on a business level.”

Students in 2D design shared their Peace Week art projects with Dr. Dot Maver, president of the National Peace Academy, as part of her visit as Leader-in-Residence.

ANNUAL REPORT 2012-2013

3Kate Bringardner, entrepreneur and speaking coach, served as Leader-in-Residence during the spring se-mester. While on campus, she worked one-on-one as a speaking coach for the students completing level 4 of the Leadership, Experiences, Opportunity (LEO) certifica-tion program, met with small groups of students, and spoke to classes. A highlight of her visit included a vocal workshop she facilitated for the students in Dr. Rusalyn Andrews Character Development class.

Leadership lunches highlight visiting alumnae and P.E.O.s who share their path to leadership and offer words of encouragement.

This year’s guests included Amy Kaelke, director of the Children’s Center of Southwest Missouri. Amy spoke to students about her career in social work and gave students advice about how they can make an impact on their community starting today.

Cottey alumna and millionaire mom Nancy Bogart, Class of 1988, joined students for a casual leadership lunch to talk about her career from kitchen to corporate. Nancy is CEO and owner of a national, multi-million dollar suc-cess story, Jordan Essentials bath and body.

Cottey alumna Maggie Bridger, Class of 2008, is a dance artist, writer, health activist and teaching artist. Maggie uses her blog, Crohn’s Chronicles, to share her own expe-rience as a woman living with chronic illness. Maggie talked with students about overcoming challenges.

“Meeting with Nancy Bogart I learned what kind of quali-ties a business owner must

possess in order to be success-ful. I also learned about how an effective leader can make almost anything successful if

they put their mind to it.”

Right: To fulfill her LEO level 3 requirement to introduce a speaker, Courtney James introduced guest speaker,

Kate Bringardner.

CENTER FOR WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP

In its tenth year, the Leadership, Experiences, Oppor-tunity (LEO) program continues to provide students with certification for their leadership efforts on cam-

pus. Open to all first- and second-year Cottey students, the four-level program is self-paced. Students can com-plete the levels as their schedules and interest allows.

The LEO program is co-curricular and students must complete Foundations of Leadership, WLS 102, to move beyond level 2 certification. The class is offered each semester and introduces theoretical and practical under-standing of leadership. The class is a 3-credit class and uses the text Leadership for College Students Who Want to Make a Difference written by Susan Komives, Nance Lucas, and Timothy R. McMahon. This text teaches the components of the Relational Leadership Model which describe leadership as empowering, purposeful, ethical, inclusive, and process-oriented. A favorite project in the class is a shadowing opportunity. Students observe leadership in action by shadowing women leaders in the local community and look for the relational leadership model themes.

The LEO program seeks to allow stu-dents to:

• Identify and develop their personal leadership style

• Introduce students to a network of successful women leaders who share their backgrounds, profes-sional fields, and leadership styles

• Expose students to new experi-ences, ideas, and cultures through enrichment events, diversity con-versations or events

• Develop leadership skills that are transferrable to their personal life, community service and future ca-reers/professions.

LEO students attended a dinner to recognize their accomplishments in the program.

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LEO field trips are always a highlight of the LEO program and this year was no exception. LEO students travelled to Kansas City on September 29.

While there, students got their hands dirty by volunteer-ing with Cultivate Kansas City, a locally-grown non-prof-it that helps people grow and eat good food in Kansas City neighborhoods. Students “flipped” one of the on-site hoop houses: they cleared the hoop house of weeds, ran sprinkler hose, planted potatoes, and mulched. After volunteering, students were joined by Brianne Fulton, Cottey College assistant professor of art, for a picnic lunch from The Good You, a mobile eatery supporting local farmers and purveyors, at the Sculpture Park at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Following lunch, Profes-sor Fulton gave students a guided tour of select sculp-tures in the park.

Strong Women was the theme of the spring LEO field trip. Students visited the Crystal Bridges Museum of Contemporary Art in Bella Vista, Arkansas, and partici-pated in the Strong Women tour. This docent-led tour featured artwork either created by strong women artists or had strong women featured in the art. A special piece in the collection included the original Rosie the Riveter painting by Norman Rockwell. Following the tour, stu-dents discussed the theme of strength and its correlation to concepts of leadership.

In another highlight of the 2012-13 year, Nevada High School asked LEO students to plan a fashion show to kick-off a new My Life pro-gram for 200 junior and senior girls on November 20. A committee of LEO students formed to plan the event and decided they didn’t want to plan a typical fashion show. In-stead, the committee planned a Be YOU tiful Fashion Show, encour-aging the high school students to define beauty in their own unique way. Emcee and first-year student, Shannon Kreutzer, introduced the LEO students modeling their own clothes and shared how each model defines beauty and what she likes best about her body.

“I loved the service project when we gardened in Kan-sas City because my lead-ership made a difference

and helped people.”

During the fall LEO field trip, students volunteered with Cultivate Kansas City.

CENTER FOR WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP

The Leadership, Experiences, Opportunity (LEO) Presidential Leadership Project is an optional service project done as students complete level 4

of the LEO program. The LEO Presidential Leadership Project is intended as an additional opportunity for LEO students to practice their leadership skills. Interested students must write a grant proposal including a detailed budget and project narrative to receive a small grant to fund their project. Then, students must work with a team to implement their project. Following the service project, students complete a final report describing the successes and challenges they faced, the benefits derived from the project, and the assessment they used to evalu-ate the project. Finally, they orally present their project to the campus community.

This year, nine students chose to complete the optional LEO Presidential Project.

Blaklee Sanders, with the help of the Cottey Comet bas-ketball team, hosted a basketball skills clinic for girls in 6th-8th grades.

Connie Chia collaborated with the Office of Alumnae Relations and the Magnoperian Society to create a Cot-

tey Hall of Leadership and Social Responsibility featuring Cottey alumnae and their accomplishments. Candidates were evaluated based on their leadership and meaningful contributions to women and/or to a global community.

Amanda Rewerts led a group of lifeguards and offered classes for Cottey students who are new to the water and swimming. The class helped students get more acquaint-ed with the water and learn basic swim strokes.

Sarah Neill, with the help of other Cottey students, orga-nized a Valentine’s Day party for Residents of the Nevada Regional Medical Center Moore-Few Care Center.

Annie Coleman partnered with the Nevada Middle School Girl EmPOWERment club to conduct an eti-quette presentation for 6th grade girls. With the help of other Cottey students acting as table hosts, they intro-duced the topics of table manners, introductions, and social etiquette.

Jennifer Melton worked with Cottey students to lead an awareness workshop based on what it means to be trans-gendered and the struggles that transgendered members of this society face.

Sarah Neill, Class of 2013, organized a Valentine’s Day party for residents at Moore-Few Care Center.

ANNUAL REPORT 2012-2013

7Rebecca Nielsen worked with the Global Citizens orga-nization and led a Tom’s One Day Without Shoes event to raise awareness to children’s health and education by going without shoes.

Cheyenne Whisenhunt and Susie George worked with Nevada High School staff and students to raise awareness for the environment by creating a short informational video and planting a tree on the high school campus.

§The large beautiful kitchen at the Center for Women’s Leadership has become a leadership laboratory. Offered to student organizations or suites, the Kitchen Challenge combines team-building with a cooking challenge that results in a delicious and fun meal. To succeed in the kitchen, the team not only has to get along, but they have to master key communication, organizational and team-building skills. This was the second year for the Kitchen Challenge activity. Participants said “This was a great challenge and we all worked well together.” “It was really good for team-building and creating a close-knit team to move forward with this year.”

The Cottey Career Closet has taken up residency in the southeast room on the second-floor of the Center for Women’s Leadership. The Closet was first started by Ta-tum Lindsey, Cottey Class of 2012, as her LEO Presiden-tial Project to provide professional clothing for students to borrow for interviews of conferences. Leadership as-sistant Priscilla Barrios showcased items from the Cottey Career Closet at a fashion show in Raney Dining Room. The closet has continued to grow this year and we’ve begun to lend out clothing. The closet consists of blaz-ers, slacks, skirts, dresses, blouses, and suits. The fashion show showcased a sample of these items.

Students in Social Psychology with Dr. Selena Kohel par-ticipated in the Cupcake Wars at the Center for Women’s Leadership to demonstrate mutual interdependence. Students were divided into groups and each group member was assigned an expertise in a part of the baking project. For instance, one student was the recipe expert, another was the dry ingredient expert. Although they each had their own expertise, students were challenged to be creative to find a way to share their expertise to

“The Kitchen Challenge helped create a close-knit

team to move forward with this year.”

Students modeled clothes from Cottey’s new Career Closet. These clothes are available on-loan

for students needing professional attire.

produce a shared end product. The goal is by the middle to end of the group activity, the students are working as a unified unit, instead of individuals in a group. Following the activity, students discussed the importance of having individual and group tasks, and the applications to “real life” teams to which they belong.

CENTER FOR WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP

Bryan Elementary School Art FairArt students Devon Anderson, Brittnay Mitchell, Holly Presler, Ana Maria Lopez, and Harriet Bui, under the direction of Denise Carrick-Hedges and Professor Brianne Fulton, volunteered their time and expertise to lead an art project with Bryan Elementary students at the school’s first art fair on March 5. The Cottey students planned the project made of recycled materials: crowns made of recycled newspapers decorated with die-cut shapes made from recycled paper. Brittney Mitchell wrote a poem, Recycling Royalty, to go along with the theme.

Presidential Leadership ProgramTwelve junior and senior girls were selected to par-ticipate in the Cottey-Nevada Presidential Leadership Program. The group meets in 12 after-school sessions throughout the year on the Cottey College campus. Sessions focus on team-building, communication skills, networking and social protocol, and college selection. This program is funded through community donors.

Leadership Discovery Summer Workshop:Thirteen high school students from around the country participated in the Cottey College Leadership Discov-ery Summer Workshop. Students attended sessions on leadership, diversity and spirituality, and professional presence; shadowed women leaders in the Nevada com-munity; and experienced teamwork at a challenge course.

A large service project involved a partnership with the Vernon County Senior Center for a cross-generational sharing and social. Cross-generational connections are based on sharing memories, ideas, skills, laughter, and creativity. Students learned about the Senior Center pro-grams, experienced simulation activities to understand the mobility challenges seniors face, interviewed seniors over lunch at the Senior Center, then created informa-tional demonstrations to share with the seniors. All the while, the seniors created their own demonstrations to share with the summer program students.

The seniors shared tips for pool playing, and proper treatment and folding of the American flag. The students shared scarf-tying styles, stretches for increasing mobil-ity, and a yarn craft.

High school students from the Cottey-Nevada Presidential Leadership Program worked together as a team during their field trip to Greenbush Challenge Course.

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The leadership program is made possible by the generosity and inspired vision of these donors:

KIEKHOFER WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP FUND, established in 2000 to honor the support of Dr. William and Mrs. Emily Kiekhofer, a member of DE, Oklahoma, past president of Oklahoma State Chapter, and past member of the Cottey College Board of Trustees. The earnings from this fund support programs for the Center for Women’s Leadership.

MARJORIE MITCHELL LEADERSHIP FUND, established in 2000 by her nieces, Marjorie Mitchell Rose and Toni Mitchell Koski, Class of 1945, and nephew, Tracy Mitchell, in memory of their aunt, Marjorie Mitchell, president of Cottey College from 1938 to 1949. The earnings provide leadership opportunities and experiences at Cottey College.

MARY LOUISE REMY LEADERSHIP FUND, established in 2001 to honor Mary Louise Remy’s leadership and service to Cottey College and the P.E.O. Sisterhood, by her sister, Edith Frances Greathead and her family. Mrs. Remy is past president of International Chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood and past chairman of the Cottey College Board of Trustees. The earnings of the fund are used for general operations of the Center for Women’s Leadership.

MARJORIE W. SMITH LEADERSHIP SEMINAR FUND, established in 1999 by Washington State Chapter in memory of Marjorie W. Smith, president of International Chapter of P.E.O. Sisterhood, 1979-1981, and president of Washington State Chapter, 1959-1960. The earnings from this fund are used to fund leadership seminars in conjunction with Cottey’s Center for Women’s Leadership.

ANDERSON LEADERSHIP FUND, established in 2007 by Dr. William M. Anderson and Mrs. Anna M. Anderson, to commemorate their 30th wedding anniversary and to honor Anna’s service on the Michigan State Chapter board and the Cottey College Board of Trustees. The earnings from the fund are used to provide leadership opportunities for students at Cottey College.

CLASS OF 1950 LEADERSHIP FUND, established in 2000 to commemorate their 50th class reunion. The earnings from this fund promote leadership activities for Cottey students.

CLARK STUDENT LEADERSHIP FUND, established in 1989 by Michael and Nancy Clark Hamisak in memory of her parents, Orville and Arva Clark. Dr. Orville Clark was a member of Cottey College Board of Trustees, 1969-76. The interest is used to pay for travel and other related expenses for outstanding students to attend regional or national conferences.

BARBARA ANDES LEADERSHIP ENDOWMENT, established in 2009 by Dr. Jerry P. Andes, California State Chapter, and friends in honor of Barbara’s many years of service to the P.E.O. Sisterhood and leadership on the boards of California State Chapter, Program for Continuing Education, and the International Chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood. The earnings can be used to fund any activity or need associated with leadership, including, but not limited to, programs, speakers, travel, scholarships, and equipment.

Dr. Helen Tomlinson Washburn, 10th President of Cottey College

On the occasion of Dr. Washburn’s retirement in 2004, the Center for Women’s Leadership was renamed the Helen and George Washburn Center for Women’s Leadership. We thus honor Dr.

Washburn’s vision in establishing the CWL during her presidency as well as the Washburns’ many contributions to Cottey College.

This report is a publication of WomanWord, an imprint of the Helen and George Washburn Center for Women’s Leadership at Cottey College.

For additional copies or other titles, contact: CWL, Cottey College, 1000 W. Austin, Nevada, MO, 64772

Direct email inquiries to CWL@cottey.edu Telephone: 417/667-8181, ext. 2204