OWHE Blog
Professionalism through the Lens of a Mexican-American Woman: Not Meeting the (White) Standards of Professionalism Mar 15 2020
In 2018, I received the following feedback: “How you interact with *Tony in the office could be seen as unprofessional to folks who don’t understand your relationship. Sometimes it just comes off as really intense and aggressive. What if the Provost walked in and observed that interaction?”
Receiving constructive feedback from a supervisor can feel like a jab at one’s ego. What if your supervisor is a White woman who doesn’t seem to understand that your “professionalism” is going to look differently based on the identities you hold? Microaggressions are common obstacles that women and/or people of color face while working at predominantly White institutions.
Learning to see my whiteness: reflections of my growth as Chair of the Board for OWHE Feb 18 2020
But our future survival is predicated upon our ability to relate within equality. As women, we must root out internalized patterns of oppression within ourselves if we are to move beyond the most superficial aspects of social change. Now we must recognize differences among women who are our equals, neither inferior nor superior, and devise ways to use each others' difference to enrich our visions and our joint struggles.
--Audre Lorde, 1980, “Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference”,
Maximize Your Conference Experiences Jan 5 2020
My first OWHE Conference was last year. I left the conference with an expanded network of other professionals in higher education and a set of new strategies to take back to work. The OWHE Conference offers a variety of sessions, activities, and personal growth experiences.
Learning a Different Kind of Self-Care Dec 8 2019
Looking for jobs is exhausting and hard on a person’s ego. Having been out of my desired career field for five years, in 2016, I jumped at the opportunity to get back into Higher Education.
From 2011 to 2015, I had been stuck without a clear path out of my situation. I was working as a Teacher’s Assistant at a private elementary school, serving in a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade combined classroom. I was selling myself short, keeping myself back from being my best, telling myself that “this is not what I am trained to do”, “I don’t know what I am doing”, and “I need to stay out of the way”. This attitude served no one including the class teacher, students, my family and my self-esteem.
Q&A with Dr. Mary Ellen Dello Stritto Nov 10 2019
Mary Ellen Dello Stritto, PhD is the Assistant Director of Research for Oregon State University Ecampus, where she is involved in the design and implementation of research studies on online education. She manages and oversees the statistical analysis for the research unit. She also directs the Research Fellows Program for faculty and edits a yearly white paper series. Her background is in psychology with a specialization in quantitative methodologies, survey design, and statistical analysis.
Tell us a little about the journey that led you to your current role in higher education.
Inspiration and Lessons Learned Oct 1 2019
Q&A with the OWHE Board
Who inspires you and why?
Tricia Brand, Director of Engagement: Too many family, friends, students, creators, leaders and public figures to count, but I’ll share my most recent inspirational person. Lena Waithe is a screenwriter, actor, and producer with a phenomenal set of projects she has supported, created and received critical acclaim for. What inspires me most about Lena is her remarkable ability to tell stories and to make space for womxn, BIPOC and QPOC in film, television and all forms of media. She has a new project called “Artists You Should Know”, where she is using her platform as a celebrity to introduce emerging creatives to bigger audiences. She demonstrates such wisdom, humility, enthusiasm, confidence and boundless energy. This woman is a force!
A Transition Journey - Moving Towards Myself Sep 5 2019
Gender identity and expression are two of the fastest growing conversations in the field of higher education in recent years. They are hot-button issues in both national politics and in our local institutions, the outcomes of which affect how we relate to our students and our fellow staff. While many people have no thought to their gender at all, a growing number of people in Oregon and in the world at large struggle with these questions and thoughts on a daily basis.