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Women's Center Will Focus on Gender Gaps

Caroline Potter
WFU Women's Center director Paige Meltzer (right) is working with student Amy Shackelford (left) to help improve wellness and body image for students on campus.

A new women's center at Wake Forest University will focus on issues facing students on campus and in the community.

Wake Forest University launched the new women's center on campus in January. The women's center at Wake Forest University grew out of decades on conversation by university officials and staff to expand diversity and inclusion on campus. 

“The women's center is here to connect women to each other and to programs and resources available. Its also to to raise awareness about women's issues and gender on campus, to think critically about how gender is important to the holistic development of the individual, personally, socially, professionally, academically,” said Paige Meltzer, director of the center.  

Meltzer, who comes to Wake Forest from Harvard, is a women's historian by training. She says she wants to focus on several issues including family leave policies and equal pay for women in the workplace.

“Women's issues aren't just for women. They are broadly about gender equity, so for example, when we discuss parental leave, that's something that has positive impacts for men on campus as well,” said Meltzer.

The center is currently housed a small lounge area on the first floor of Reynolda Hall. Meltzer says she's been busy meeting with faculty, staff and students across campus to discuss their concerns.

“There is always room for improvement. I'm interested in thinking more about family leave policies, something that I have a policy background in. I really want to be working with students to think about what their post graduate options are. We have an amazing office of personal and career development center here and I think there is a lot of opportunity for growth,” said Meltzer.

Last year, Amy Shackelford, a junior at Wake Forest majoring in Communication and Women's and Gender studies joined an organization on campus called Gender Equality Allies. She says the center will play a big role for students on campus.

“It's speaks volumes about the values of the university. We felt like our organization, Gender Equality Allies was the only medium to talk about specifically body image on campus, and so now there is an entire office on campus devoted to talking about these issues, which is a huge step on the campus,” says Shackelford.

Meltzer says she also plans to work with community organizations to continue the discussion on women's issues outside of campus.

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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