2009- 2010 Women's Center Staff
Director of the Women's Center
Erin is responsible for providing leadership, day-to-day direction, and long-range planning for the Center. She works closely with students, administration, and faculty to plan, develop and execute the Center’s programs and services. Erin works to create a campus environment that is a welcoming and safe space for persons of all races, religions, cultures, sexual orientations and genders to gather and share/explore difficult personal, community, and societal issues. Erin’s favorite aspect of working in the Center is being surrounded by strong, passionate women who are working to create change both locally and globally. Accompanying students as they empower themselves to become change agents is truly life-giving for Erin.
Graduate Assistant
Welcome to the Women’s Center website! I am Breyn Hibbs and am currently working as the Graduate Assistant (GA) for the Women’s Center. I graduated from USD with a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy in May 2009 and will be graduating from USD’s School of Peace Studies with a master of arts in Peace and Justice studies in December 2010. My involvement in the Women’s Center began while I was an undergraduate serving as a leader in student organizations and a student representative on University-wide committees. The opportunity to serve as a senior facilitator for the EMPOWER Women’s Leadership Retreat in Spring 2009 is what solidified my decision to pursue the GA position in the Center. My love for the Women’s Center and my job has its roots in my passion for learning and educating others about gender-related issues, diversity and inclusion, and social justice. I am both grateful and humbled to be serving the University community in this capacity. I look forward to hopefully meeting you sometime this year!
Volunteer Coordinator
Jessica Chapman is the Women’s Center Volunteer Coordinator. Her job is to get all of you involved on campus and within the greater San Diego community. If anyone is interested in volunteering for the varied programs that the Women’s Center participates in or creating a new one, she is your “go-to” woman. This is her first year at the Women’s Center. She became interested in this position after seeing the amazing on campus activities the Women’s Center put on last year. She is very passionate about gender related issues, cultural diversity and inclusion of minorities within the community at large. In the past she has volunteered in breast cancer awareness fundraising and worked with disadvantaged girls through a program called “Girls on the Run.” Additionally, she was a daycare leader and program organizer for a local community center in Kent County Maryland, where she got hands on experience working with young women and single mothers. Jessica looks forward to seeing you and awaits your e-mails. Be sure to stop by the office with your ideas for programs or if you would like to participate in any volunteer work affiliated with the Women’s Center.
Marketing
My name is Kristina Gourley. I am a freshman this year at USD. I became involved with the women's center because I saw it as a great opportunity to surround myself with empowering, bright young women who are all working towards a common goal! By becoming a leader on campus, I hope to educate myself about gender related issues in order to put a stop to them. This year I will be doing the marketing for the Women's Center in hopes to spread the word about upcoming programs and events and to make sure that the Women's Center is well known around the USD campus and community!
Director of Programming
As the Director of Programming, I oversee the logistical planning of events hosted by the Women's Center. Also I work with our staff to further develop programs so that they may have a greater effect on the student body. I work to make sure our programs not only promote gender equality on campus, but that they also promote gender equality at the local and national level.
I got involved with the center when I was writing a story on the Women's Center Open House for The Vista. During my brief visit to the center, I was able to talk with some staff and was surprised about how I identified with the goals of the center. I jumped feet first into the position with a small amount of knowledge about feminism and gender equality, but over the past three years, my knowledge and passion has grown for the Center. My notion of feminism has greatly evolved and now I proudly call myself a feminist.
I love the creative part of my job, but also enjoy doing research about how we can enhance our programs to empower the student body. Since studying abroad, I have a greater knowledge about women's issue at the global level so I like trying to connect our center to other global women's organizations. Finally, I enjoy coming to work each day and being surrounded by strong female leaders...women rock!
General Staff
Spenser Leverett
I became involved at the Women's Center through participation and attendance to different WC events and volunteer meetings over the past couple of years. The WC also co-sponsored some events I planned last year through Students for Life concerning Domestic Violence. I wanted to become more involved in the WC this year because I feel that the work the center does is so important and useful for women on our campus. I feel passionate about many of the issues we address here and am looking forward to helping facilitate programs and events on campus. I hope to raise awareness about gender-related issues and also about the mission of USD's Women's Center. I also have faith that the work we do will empower women to speak out and have a voice any time they feel marginalized.
Student Programmer
I am a programmer at the Center, and I help raise campus-wide awareness on issues disproportionately impacting women by developing, creating, or planning monthly educational events. Some events I create on my own with the help of women center volunteers or staff, but others are annual events. Annual events that I have been in charge of are the “Women of Impact Luncheon” held every December, and “the Vagina Monologues,” an off-campus event held every February for V-Day. Other events I have been a part of involve body image awareness and women’s history month. My favorite part about working at the Center is learning about and discussing issues that aren’t brought up in the classroom on a daily basis. It’s great going to class and learning for my degree, but it’s even better to come to work or Women's Center events to learn about different viewpoints of issues developing everyday involving diverse gender issues. Our Center and events offer information and innovative ways to make a difference on and off campus to affect issues like wage disparity, body image, sexual assault, domestic violence, and many more. I never realized how these topics are so prevalent in everyday life until I began working here!
Director of Issues and
Web Coordinator
As Director of Issues, Georgina engages with members of the campus community to determine which issues surrounding gender are most important and interesting to those in the USD community. She also brings back the information to share with the staff at the Women's Center. Georgina also updates and edits the Women's Center website. She first became involved with the Women's Center after she signed up to work as a volunteer. She met some awesome people while working at Rosalie's House and decided to become more involved. Her favorite part of working at the Center is having the chance to interact with many different groups and students on campus. She's also grateful that her work with the Center has given her the opportunity to meet really awesome people, develop leadership and teamwork skills, and allows her to work with HTML. Georgina would love it if you would let her know if there is an issue surrounding gender that you would like to discuss or educate the USD community about. Drop her a line at the Issue Inbox!
Office Manager
I became involved in the Women's Center my sophmore year. One of my good friends worked there the previous semester and I decided to apply after hanging out in the Center. I orginally joined as a Programmer, working on Pamper Me Day, V-Day Nooner, Sexual Assault Awareness Week, as well as a few others. This year, I am the Office Manager and will be working on coordinating with our staff.