The Women’s Commission recently honored several women at its annual awards ceremony. Honored, from left to right, are: Kristen Kelso, Edie Posselt, Susan Franzosa and May-Wein Thein. (Courtesy photo.)

Women’s Commission honors work supporting equity, inclusion

By Sylvia Foster, Women’s Commission

Several women were honored for their work on equity and inclusion at the 20th Annual Women’s Commission Awards Ceremony April 22.
“It’s important to acknowledge how hard everyone has worked and is still working on women’s issues of equity and respect,” said Aline Kuntz, chair of the Women’s Commission and associate professor political science.

May-Win Thein, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, was awarded for promoting the status of women through her advisory work with the Society of Women Engineers. As the only woman in her department, Thein has helped motivate women to achieve full potential in engineering careers, demonstrated the value of diversity, and expanded the image of the engineering profession.

SWEs annual outreach activity, “Reach for the Stars,” offers young girls a day of learning about women in engineering. One of Thein’s students said, “You don’t want to let her down because you know how hard she works for you.”

The student award winner was Kristen Kelso, who has been active in the Society of Women Engineers. She is co-founder and executive chair of the new Robo Chicks Union, established to inspire girls to value studies in engineering and science. Her work off campus includes being a mentor at Girls, Inc. As one of six females in a class of 49 males, she is actively working to recruit women to her department.

Susan Franzosa, professor of education and coordinator of the Women’s Studies Program, was honored with the Joyce Gibbs Award. Created in 1997, the award honors Joyce James Gibbs, who served as a senior administrative assistant to the Women’s Commission from 1991 to 1997. Franzosa has made a difference in UNH women’s lives through her scholarship and service for issues of equity and inclusion for women. She is a long-time member of the Diversity Committee and is the co-author of the Guidelines to Non-Sexist Language.

In the past year, she has hosted receptions for new faculty, discussions on women’s scholarship, women’s writing groups, and a promotion and tenure workshop. She is leaving UNH to become a faculty member at the University of Washington in the fall.
Edie Posselt, a counselor in the UNH Counseling Center, received the Stephanie Thomas Award, which honors the work of the former registrar who lived a life of strong advocacy for staff on the UNH campus. Posselt has helped show how to value women on campus by meeting with students in distress (most often women).

She has worked at the UNH Counseling Center for more than a decade, and has helped women with eating disorders and victims of sexual assault. She has listened to women who have simply lost heart or lost their way, helping them to re-discover strength or find it for the first time. Her quiet, hard work has helped many heal themselves and stay strong.

Faculty members Mary Banach, Gale Carey and Kate Hanson were recognized for their advocacy in promoting the newly instituted family leave policy for faculty.

The keynote speaker was Regina Barecca, professor of English literature and feminist theory at the University of Connecticut, who discussed learning to love one’s own laughter in order to help one make sense of the world. She explained that often her students initially believe that feminism means not being able to laugh out loud. She helps them to realize that feminism is about what women do and the choices they can make.

Laughing is important, Barecca said because “we have to laugh out loud for those voices that haven’t been heard.”