Former Women’s Center Director Christi Hurt recently left her position at the center to take over as the assistant vice chancellor and chief of staff of student affairs.
“I was not looking to leave the women’s center, but I saw the job offer as a way to bring gender equity issues on campus to a bigger platform,” Hurt said. “We don’t want gender to be a barrier to success.”
Until a new director is found, Hurt will be working at both the women’s center and the vice chancellor’s office. A search committee is now accepting applicants for the center’s director position.
Shelley Gist, Clare Counihan and Cassidy Johnson — the three other members of the women’s center staff — began working either this summer or at the start of the academic year, and now all hold newly-created positions.
Gist, the center’s new program coordinator, said her job focuses on working with students and organizing outreach.
“We’re doing a lot of events on campus during October for ‘RVAM,’ Relationship Violence Awareness Month,” Gist said.
She added that she works with center volunteers and graduate students doing research, and that reaching out to graduate students is one of her focuses for this year.
“Graduate students have sometimes slipped through the cracks, and we’re really trying to reach out to them this year and let them know that we’re here for them, too, and that we know they face some different issues,” Gist said.
