Unit Spotlight
Women’ s Center
October marked 40 years since the Women’ s Center began serving the Old Dominion Community. Pat Hyer, founded the center, in 1976, as part of a movement designed for adult women considering entry or reentry into education or the workforce, often after divorce or raising their children.
Three factors helped the Women’ s Center succeed in its early years- the enthusiastic support of the University’ s new president, Alfred B. Rollins; the Faculty Women’ s Caucus, which advocated strongly on behalf of female employees, and ODU’ s Department of Women’ s Studies, also the first of its kind in Virginia.
Today, the Women’ s Center offers more than 120 programs and activities every year, including annual events such as Take Back the Night rallies and Green Dot training for bystanders who witness sexual assault. It also provides workshops aboutv topics like salary negotiation and leadership to help women advance in their careers. More than 200 women have participated in the Women’ s Institute for Leadership Development and Start SMART salary negotiation workshops. The Women’ s Center coordinates an active volunteer program that is open to everyone, including the LGBTQ community and men.
Help The Women’ s Center celebrate all year long with a host of events thanking those who helped support, lead, and continue to make this center a pivotal role to the ODU community.
4