March 12, 2004 - Today's Other News Items

Center Honored for "Making A Difference"

The National Council for Research on Women (NCRW) will honor the University of Oregon's Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS) as an organizational winner of its annual "Women Who Make a Difference" award. CSWS Director Sandra Morgen will accept the award at a ceremony in New York City on March 11.

NCRW's award recognizes outstanding women leaders and organizations working in a variety of disciplines for their unique ability to project their visions for a better world onto local, national, and global landscapes. In a letter to Morgen, NCRW President Linda Basch noted that CSWS is being recognized for its "outstanding work linking research, theory, and policy and the profound impact it has had on the community, and in particular the Northwest region."

One research activity that led to this award is a broadly disseminated study on the impact of welfare reform policy in Oregon and its limitations in reducing poverty or economic hardship for low-income families. CSWS used the results of the study to produce policy briefs and expert testimony that led to passage of legislation that allows some welfare recipients to fulfill mandated work requirements through higher education.

Other research by CSWS recognized by this award includes:

• Working with advocates for low-income women
• Producing Policy Matters, a series that brings CSWS research and expertise to bear on public policy concerns--to date focusing on family policy, welfare, and medical abortion

CSWS is one of the nation's oldest university women's research centers, marking its 30th anniversary in 2003. It supports four major research initiatives: Women in the Northwest, the Feminist Humanities Project, the Research Project on Women's Health, and a series of Research Interest Groups (RIGS). In addition, the CSWS mission of generating, supporting, and disseminating research on women's lives involves funding faculty and graduate student research (more than $1.5 million awarded since 1973); sponsoring conferences, speakers, and symposia; and supporting the university's teaching mission, especially in collaboration with the Women's and Gender Studies Program.

The other 2004 NCRW honorees are:

• Mamphela Ramphele, managing director of the World Bank;
• Dina Dublon, executive vice president and chief financial officer of J.P. Morgan Chase;
• Ingrid Saunders Jones, senior vice president of corporate external affairs, The Coca-Cola Company, and chairperson, The Coca-Cola Foundation; and
• Wellesley Centers for Women in Wellesley, Mass.
• International Center for Research on Women