In 2014, AAUW Maryland honored Janet Wert Crampton, a truly dedicated lifetime supporter of AAUW.    She has been a member of the AAUW Maryland Kensington-Rockville Branch for more than 40 years.  she received her bachelor’s degree in geology from Indiana University Bloomington, and her master’s degree from Mount Holyoke College.  She served as a junior high school science and math teacher, member of boards and commissions such as the Montgomery County Commission for Women and the Montgomery County Board of Education, Title IX Advisory Committee, consultant on women’s equity issues and high school science materials, and home caregiver.  Janet fulfilled her goal of funding an AAUW American Fellowship in geoscience in 2007.

Dian Belanger’s Introductory Remarks at the 2014 Women  of Distinction Ceremony

Hello everyone and thank you for joining us tonight.  I am Dian Belanger, longtime avid member and leader of the American Association of University Women. I hope you will leave this National Conference for College Women Student Leaders as committed as I am to supporting, serving, and leading in AAUW, this extraordinary organization that has, f

For 133 years, promoted higher education, equity, justice, and opportunity for women like you, women like all of us.

AAUW Maryland is proud to sponsor tonight’s highlight event—the Women of Distinction awards ceremony—fittingly here at the University of Maryland. We are delighted to have raised these funds in honor of Janet Wert Crampton, faithful member, tireless leader, and generous friend of AAUW. I am so happy to introduce her to you.

Janet Crampton is a geologist by profession and passion. We celebrated her 80^th birthday in January. She had major surgery in February. Maybe three weeks later, she was back on the road doing her first of three (that I know of) geology field trips this Spring.

Janet is a writer and editor of exacting standards and consummate skill. She coordinated, co-wrote, and edited a seven-book series on Understanding our Environment for the National Science Teachers Association. She built a network for reporting and publicizing volcanic fireball [shooting star] activity for the Smithsonian Institution. She edited national publications of the American Geophysical Union.

She is a leader and activist of conviction and commitment, having served as president of both AAUW Maryland and our Rockville Branch. She has advised the Montgomery County schools on Title IX, gender equity, and sexual harassment.

Janet is a giver. She has recently donated more precious rock specimens than all of us together could lift to the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, to enhance classroom learning. She is donating her huge and unique collection of art to the Montgomery College art department, not only for display but also for teaching. She has singlehandedly endowed an AAUW American Fellowship earmarked for a woman studying earth sciences.

There is only one Janet Crampton, and I, among many others, have treasured her friendship for more than four decades. I can’t wait to hear what she has to say to you.

Janet Crampton’s speech at the 20214 Women of Distinction Ceremony

Good evening, Leaders.

We AAUW Maryland members are thrilled to underwrite tonight’s event.

You  are in the university’s Center for Campus Life, named for Adele Hagner Stamp, the first and long-time University of Maryland Dean of Women and a major AAUW member.

The 2014 National Conference of College Women Student Leaders marks your arrival at the next level in your Life as Leader.

How can you live Life as Leader? Three rules, said the famous politician a while back in her luncheon speech for AAUW Day in our capitol, Annapolis. Three rules:

• RULE ONE, do not work up hill.
• RULE TWO, do not build hills.
•  RULE THREE, get help.

Tonight it’s RULE THREE in action. Help is all around — friends and colleagues, new friends and new colleagues, experts, whole organizations here helping you at your new Life as Leader Level.

Pay attention to experts. They explain all sorts of things. Be prepared to ask questions — your preparatory homework IS getting help — then ask for answers (answers are help).

NCCWSL events are field trips to the next part of your Life as Leader. Expect the unexpected, watch and learn. Sun or rain on your journey? Let a hat help. Need visibility? Try orange. And your boots [dangle boots] will help you struggle through thickets of leadership — all these items are tools that help you. You also must have a large AAUW bag to hold your stuff.

Tonight, a new field trip is provided by AAUW Maryland and guided by Maria-Luiza Popescu, one of AAUW’s nine Student Advisory Council members, here from University of Texas Dallas where she studies public policy and political economy for a doctoral degree.

And, lucky you, this trip leaves not at 7:30 tomorrow morning, but right now, to take us to the biggest helping of help yet, the lives of the 2014 Women of Distinction.

Maria-Luiza, lead on!

Photos by Joyce Graf