By:  Markonette Richardson and Susan Wierman, Co-Vice Presidents for Programs

Mark your calendar for Saturday, April 30, for the 2016 AAUW Maryland State Convention at the Howard Community College in Columbia. This year’s theme is “Inspiring Access to Success.”
Organizers are asking that each branch bring a poster or other display to inspire discussion about a successful project or other idea to share with other branches.

The planning team is excited to let members know that Catherine Hill will be sharing information about AAUW’s report “Solving the Equation,” AAUW’s guide to corporate best practices and recommendations for promoting gender diversity in the engineering and computing fields. Catherine Hill is the vice president for research at AAUW. Before coming to AAUW, Hill was a study director at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and an assistant professor in planning and public policy at the University of Virginia. She has a bachelor and master’s degree from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in policy development from Rutgers University.

The convention will follow closely on the heels of the 2016 session of the MD General Assembly, and the ever-popular Anita Rosen has agreed to plan and coordinate a public policy session entitled “2016 Public Policy in Maryland: What worked? What’s next?”

The planning team is also looking forward to hearing from AAUW Board member Anthony Hill, the first male elected to the AAUW Board. Anthony Hill serves as a liaison to the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force. He earned a bachelor’s degree from George Washington University and holds master’s and doctoral degrees in social work from Howard University. Anthony is a licensed clinical social worker and associate professor in the Department of Social Work at Delaware State University.

The meeting will begin at 8:45 on Saturday, April 30, and end by mid-afternoon. Members are encouraged to consider staying overnight on the 29th to extend the available time for networking with other AAUW Maryland leaders. Members should plan to wear something red, in keeping with the suggestion to wear red on Equal Pay Day April 12, 2016, to call attention to the disparity between salaries paid to men and women.

The Planning Committee looks forward to seeing this gathering of like-minded women in April!