For the second straight year, Stony Brook University has been selected for the American Association of University Women‘s (AAUW) Elect Her: Campus Women Win initiative, which aims to close the long-standing political leadership gender gap by empowering and training women to run for office at all levels. The centerpiece of the initiative is Elect Her: Campus Women Win, in which AAUW, with the nonprofit organization Running Start, trains college women to run for campus elective office.
Stony Brook’s training is scheduled for March 1, 2013. Up to 100 undergraduate students will be selected for the training. This year’s keynote speaker is newly elected Queens Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, who ran for office and won at age 26.
“It’s an honor to be chosen again for this important training,” said Dean of Students Jerrold L. Stein. “Last year’s training was a huge success. Giving more young women the valuable experience of running for and serving on student government is a win-win for the University.”
Elect Her was launched by AAUW in 2010 to expand the pipeline of women running for elective office. Women hold just 17 percent of the seats in Congress and 24 percent of seats in state legislatures.
“There is a clear connection between service in student government and future political service,” said Undergraduate Student Government President Anna Lubitz, a junior and the student liaison to the program. “It’s our hope that this training has a lasting effect here at the University and beyond.”
In addition to garnering the support of the Dean of Students and the AAUW nationally, organizers at Stony Brook have enlisted the allegiance of faculty and staff members from across the University, including Chief Deputy to the President Tonjanita Johnson, Associate Dean of the School of Journalism Marcy McGinnis, Associate Dean of Students for Multicultural Affairs Cheryl Chambers and the Smithtown Chapter of AAUW.
To register, click here.
Add comment