Alt 1

By S.A. Reid, Contributing Writer, Emory Campus Life

The history of the Center for Women at Emory is the story of a remarkable journey that has shattered barriers and embraced opportunities since the late 1980s.

1989

  • President’s Commission on the Status of Women releases report that calls for increased promotion and hiring of women for staff and faculty positions and for a comprehensive leave policy that includes paid parental leave.

1990

  • Emory Wheel publishes news reports on alleged campus sexual assaults, prompting students to demand a better environment for women who study and work on campus.
  • Then President James T. Laney creates Special Task Force on Security and Responsibility to address security and ethnic diversity issues.
  • Special Task Force on Security and Responsibility issues report that calls for creation of a resource center to address the special concerns of women on campus.
  • Commission on the Status of Women gets go-ahead to begin developing a women’s center.
  • CHOICES, an undergraduate student group, presents 672 petition signatures to pressure the university to speed up the center’s development process.

1991

  • Commission on the Status of Women and an advisory committee hold special retreat, led by Maria Luisa “Papusa” Moline, director of the Women’s Resource and Action Center at the University of Iowa, to help develop the center’s mission and focus.

1992

  • CWE opens in a temporary trailer with Ali P. Crown as its first director and a staff of recent Emory graduates.

2004

  •   CWE moves to newly renovated space on the third floor of Cox Hall and adds an assistant director to its staff.

2008

  • Dona Yarbrough, head of the LGBT Center at Tufts University, replaces retiring Crown as new CWE director.

2009

  • CWE begins to reach diverse pockets of students representing international women, women of color, and queer women.

2012

  • CWE launches first-ever Male Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: Critical Issues and Concepts course.

2013

  • In partnership with the OP-ED Project, CWE launches Public Voice Faculty Fellowship Program to train faculty women, people of color, and/or members of the LGBT community produce opinion pieces to help diversify voices in the media.

2014

  • CWE now reports to Campus Life instead of the Office of the Provost and begins transition from serving faculty, staff, and students to being student-centered.

2015

  • Danielle Steele becomes CWE interim director, replacing Yarbrough, who moves to senior director and senior assistant dean for Learning and Innovation for Campus Life.

2017

  • CWE begins celebration of its 25th anniversary during special 100 Years of Women of Excellence Awards Ceremony.
  • Channel Craft Tanner moves from assistant director to director, replacing interim director Danielle Steele.
  • CWE achieves 25-year milestone.