MWPHE, Inc. Celebrates 30th Anniversary at Annual Conference in Lynnfield
The Massachusetts Women in Public Higher Education organization celebrated their 30th anniversary on Friday, April 13, 2012 at Spinelli’s in Lynnfield, MA. This year’s Annual Conference welcomed keynote speaker Suzanne Benoit, LCSW, SPHR of Benoit Consulting Services, who lead an active and fruitful discussion on “Toxic Behavior in the Workplace: Interaction with Toxic Employees.” Approximately 200 women joined us at the conference and engaged in large and small group discussions and activities to help identify and strategize methods to conquer this challenging topic.
Attendees were more than generous with their donations in support of this year’s chosen charity, Rosie’s Place. Several large boxes of dry and canned goods filled the hallway of Spinelli’s as our guests arrived with their contributions. During the event, attendees browsed the beautifully hand-crafted jewelry from Rosie’s Place, and were more than generous with their raffle ticket purchases in hopes of winning one of several fabulous prizes, including Xbox 360 games, technology supplies donated by Microsoft, an Amazon Kindle Fire e-reader, and a beautiful leather office chair donated by Staples. We raised over $1,200 from our raffle, which will be used to support our Student Achievement Scholarship and Professional Development awards.
Our annual Executive Board elections welcomed back the following board members for new terms: Kelly A. Galanis of Westfield State University, Dr. Pat Mercaitis of University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Carol Patterson of Holyoke Community College, and Sheryl Tardie of Quinsigamond Community College. We welcomed back from a short hiatus Kim Morgan of Westfield State University and new board member Angela Hall of Mount Wachusett Community College.
This year, we honored two individuals with our Professional Development Award, a $1,000 scholarship used to aid in the education and betterment of their professional career. Our winners were Mary O’Connor from Holyoke Community College and Sara Littlecrow-Russell from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Our Student Achievement Scholarship Awards are presented to three candidates annually. The candidates must be women enrolled at a Massachusetts institution of public higher education who have overcome significant barriers to be where they are today. These three candidates were selected from a highly qualified pool of over eighty applications, and their stories and triumphs clearly demonstrated their deserving of this $750 award. Congratulations to our winners Linsday Abcunas of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Diane McCray of Westfield State University, and Diane Clausen of North Shore Community College!
MWPHE, in celebration of their 30th anniversary, introduced our first ever Phenomenal Women Award at this year’s conference. The call for nominations for this prestigious award asked nominees to be women on our campuses who go above and beyond the call of duty, are admired and inspirational to many, and are highly regarded individuals who work tirelessly on behalf of their college community. The following thirteen individuals were nominated for this award:
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Rita Camara - Bridgewater State University
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Dr. Carol A. Cowan - Middlesex Community College
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Janice Forsstrom - North Shore Community College
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Sara L.D. Garrett - Bristol Community College
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Tomma Henckel - UMass Amherst
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Dr. Theresa Howard - Holyoke Community College
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Teresa Jones - Greenfield Community College
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Frances H. McCutcheon - Massasoit Community College
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Nanci Salvidio - Westfield State University
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Karen Tessmer - Worcester State University
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Maureen Thayer - Massasoit Community College
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Deanna Yameen - Massasoit Community College
We congratulate these nominees and our first ever Phenomenal Award winner, Ms. Sherrel Stephens of Roxbury Community College!
We thank all those who attended the 30th Anniversary of MWPHE and our Annual Conference and we hope to see you next year at Lake Pearl Luciano’s in Wrentham!
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