Tulsa Branch
of AAUW

News from the December/January Tulsa Voice

AAUW Action Network

Our Action Network has sent a message reflecting many of the things they (and we) are thankful for this year. To mention a few:

• Lily Ledbetter, whose tireless advocacy led to the enactment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and House passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act.
• After more than a decade of advocacy, victims of hate crimes motivated by their actual or perceived gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability will now have the protection of federal hate crimes laws.
• For the creation of the White House Council on Women and Girls, the Office of Global Women’s Issues, a position for a White House Advisor on Violence Against Women.
• For health care reform legislation that includes our priorities of gender rating and preventive care, and for committed advocates who will continue to fight for complete reproductive health coverage as well.
• For another woman’s voice in the Supreme Court.
• For the record number of women — 95 — in the 111th Congress.
• For the Nobel Foundation for honoring a record number of five women, including one AAUW member, with Nobel Prizes this year.

You can see the complete list at AAUW’s Action Network site: www.aauw.org/advocacy/issue. You can also sign up to receive timely bulletins from the Network at this site. Be informed about what AAUW is doing for women, and the part that each member can play.

New Terminology for AAUW Giving

The question has been asked, “What (if anything) did the Educational Foundation cover that is NOT covered by AAUW Funds?” Laura Stepp, Director of Development for AAUW, has an answer — the answer is, “Nothing. Everything that AAUW Educational Foundation covered, is now covered by AAUW Funds.

“If you want to restrict your gift to a specific fund or program, please let us know. For example, if you want to give to the Jessie and Wilder Ellis Fellowship, make your check payable to AAUW Funds and in the memo section, or any slip of paper, just write something like ‘Ellis Fellowship’. Or you can write the fund number if you know it. The names and numbers have not changed so you can write either. If we do not understand your intent, we will contact you to clarify.

“Or, you can visit our website and make a contribution. From the homepage www.aauw.org just click on the word ‘Donate’. From there you can select AAUW Funds for a general support contribution, or you can select a program area, such as LAF to support. We have also provided drop downs for the Fellowships and the Research & Projects Grants that still need funding before they can be awarded. So, you can select the Mary Purcell Fellowship from the list and help to complete that fund. We have also included Giving Circles and some special funds. So you can give to the Letitia Corum Memorial Fund, or the Ruth Z. Sweetser Honorary Funds.

“If you want to divide your gift among multiple funds, just type the amount you want to give to each in the box beside the name of the fund. You would not be able to pick multiple funds from within a drop down list, but I hope that this new ‘donate page’ will suit most people’s needs. Please take a look at it and let us know. “And help us spread the word that none of our programs from last year have gone away, and that gifts to AAUW Funds support all of our charitable work.”

Laura McCulty Stepp
Director of Development AAUW
www.aauw.org

Women in Transition

The Women in Transition Fall Follow Up Session was a HUGE success. We hosted 38 women on Nov. 12 at TCC-SE campus. These ladies were high energy and ready to take advantage of the great speaker line-up. Our former Honorary Chair, Wendy Thomas, kicked off the session with a workshop on "Surviving and Thriving in a Time of Change." Thanks to Wendy for her continued support!

We announced our $1000 competitive scholarship at the event and are looking forward to receiving the applications. The deadline is February 1 so we'll be working with these women over the next few months to help them polish these applications.

Thank you to the committee...your efforts are amazing!

Candace Sitzer, WIT Chair

Interest Groups

ADELANTE—READING GROUP

Adelante Book Group meets Tuesday, December 8 at 6:00 p.m. at Barnes and Noble Booksellers Southroads in the Café area, 5231 E. 41st St. We will discuss Bailey White’s latest book, “Nothing with Strings: NPR’s Beloved Holiday Stories”. This is a collection of the stories Ms. White reads on NPR each Thanksgiving. The book gives fans the opportunity to go at your own pace and more slowly absorb the images and emotions evoked by Ms. White in her narratives.

The book for January is “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. In 1993 a mountaineer, Mortenson, drifted into an impoverished Pakistan village after a failed attempt to climb K2. Moved by the inhabitants’ kindness, he promised to return and build a school. This book is the story of that promise and its extraordinary outcome. Over the next decade he built fifty-five schools — especially for girls — in the forbidding terrain that gave birth to the Taliban. As usual, meet on the second Tuesday, January 12, at Barnes & Noble.

For info call Rose Unterschuetz, 688-7128.

GOURMET CAROUSEL GROUP

The Gourmet Group will meet at Gabrille W. Jones’ home on Saturday, Dec. 19. It will be a drop-in event (or stay the whole time!) from 5:00-8:00 p.m. Please bring an appetizer, snack or dessert to share. All members are welcome!

Please RSV P to Ginny Ayling, at vayling@cox.net, or phone: 663-9736.

COMING UP! Our Chinese New Year Dinner will be Saturday, February 6, 2010, at the home of JoAnne and Jim Bottomley. If you would like to come or have questions about this super fun event, please call or e-mail Ginny Ayling (see above).

MYSTERY BOOK CLUB

We will meet Wednesday, December 2, 7 p.m., at Barnes & Noble Café on 41st St. Read any mystery by Joan Hess.

Our next meeting will be February 3. You can contact Linda Brooks, 664-9914, or lshbrooks@cox.net, for more information.

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP

Call Linda Taylor, 591-6008, if you want more information or would like to be part of this group.
 

Women in Transition

The Fall Follow Up session for WOMEN IN TRANSITION is scheduled for November 12. We’ll be at TCC-SE and are looking forward to connecting with past participants. The Follow Up is by invitation only. We advertise to all previous WIT participants and will host concurrent sessions in study skills/time management, career choices, financial aid, presenting yourself successfully and higher education alphabet soup. We will also have a session on surviving in these times of change.

Additionally women will have the opportunity to have their resumes reviewed, visit with area colleges and apply for a scholarship. If you’d like more information or want to help on the 12th, please contact me at csitzer@yahoo.com.

WIT Chair Candace Sitzer

As a side note…WIT welcomes Shirley Hays back as treasurer! We’re so glad she’s back with us!

Branch Briefs

• Deborah Burke and Dana Simon have volunteered to serve on the Nominating Committee. We still need one more board member and one member-at-large; contact President Linda Brooks if you can serve.
• The Leader Fall, 2009 issue is now available online at www.aauwoklahoma.org. (This is our state AAUW newsletter.)
• No Board meeting in December. See you on January 4, 2010.