Women in leadership share their stories at California University panel
Frances Borsodi Zajac|Herald-Standard
Members of California University’s recent Women’s Leadership panel shared their career experiences and offered advice. Talking before the start of the panel are (from left) Dr. Kristen Majocha, dean of College of Liberal Arts; Dr. Nancy Pinardi, vice president of student affairs; Geraldine M. Jones, Cal U president; Christine Kindl, vice president of communications and marketing; and Dr. Brenda Fredette, dean of Eberly College of Science and Technology. At the podium, Nancy Skobel, associate dean of student affairs and director of the Cal U Women’s Center, prepares to give a welcome.
Frances Borsodi Zajac|Herald-Standard
Geraldine Jones, president of California University, shared career advice during a recent campus Women’s Leadership Panel during Women’s History Month. “I don’t know what it means not to be able to do something,’’ said Jones. “I have two daughters. I told them the word ‘can’t’ is not a word in your vocabulary. Don’t say you can’t do something and don’t let anyone keep you from what you want to do.’’
Members of California University’s Women’s Leadership panel shared their career experiences and offered advice. They included (from left) Dr. Brenda Fredette, dean of Eberly College of Science and Technology; Dr. Kristen Majocha, dean of College of Liberal Arts; Geraldine M. Jones, Cal U president; Christine Kindl, vice president of Communications and Marketing; and Dr. Nancy Pinardi, vice president of Student Affairs.
Frances Borsodi Zajac|Herald-Standard
Frances Borsodi Zajac|Herald-Standard
Christine Kindl, left, vice president of Communications and Marketing, and Dr. Brenda Fredette, dean of Eberly College of Science and Technology, were part of the recent Women’s Leadership Panel at California University during Women’s History Month. Fredette said, “I think knowing who you are and being comfortable with who you – regardless of what other people expect you to be - is critical.’’
Frances Borsodi Zajac|Herald-Standard
Speaking before the start of the recent Women’s Leadership Panel at California University are (from left) Dr. Kristen Majocha, dean of College of Liberal Arts; Dr. Nancy Pinardi, vice president of Student Affairs; and Geraldine Jones, California University president. Pinardi noted, “I think it’s important that we help other women get to that table to be able to have discussions and be heard.’’
Frances Borsodi Zajac|Herald-Standard
Dr. Mara McClintock-Comeaux, (right) associate professor in Dept. of Social Work and director of Women’s Studies, moderated California University’s Women’s Leadership Panel, one of the campus events during Women’s History Month.
Frances Borsodi Zajac|Herald-Standard
Audience members take their seats in Eberly Hall when California University recently hosted a Women’s Leadership Panel during Women’s History Month in which campus officials shared their career experiences and offered advice.
Frances Borsodi Zajac|Herald-Standard
Dr. Kristen Majocha, dean of College of Liberal Arts; was a member of California University’s recent Women’s Leadership Panel, part of the campus events during Women’s History Month. Majocha said there are social expectations of what men and women should be: “It’s learned, and you can work to overcome those.’’
Geraldine Jones remembered her first day at California University more than four decades ago, a time when there were few women faculty and even fewer minorities.
“My very first day driving into the parking lot — I’m feeling really good,” she recalled. “A person followed me around the parking lot. He said ‘You know this is a faculty parking lot.’ I said, ‘Yes.’ ‘You know, only faculty can park in this parking lot.’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘So why are you in this parking lot?”
Jones didn’t become upset. And in a time when few women were in campus leadership positions, she sought to advance her career. Today, she is university president.
“I don’t know what it means not to be able to do something,” said Jones. “I have two daughters. I told them the word ‘can’t’ is not a word in your vocabulary. Don’t say you can’t do something, and don’t let anyone keep you from what you want to do.”
Jones shared her experiences while serving on a recent Women’s Leadership Panel at California University sponsored by the Student Affairs Diversity Committee, one of several campus events taking place during Women’s History Month.
Other panelists included Dr. Kristen Majocha, dean of the College of Liberal Arts; Dr. Nancy Pinardi, vice president of student affairs; Christine Kindl, vice president of communications and marketing; and Dr. Brenda Fredette, dean of Eberly College of Science and Technology. Dr. Mara McClintock-Comeaux, associate professor in university social work department as well as director of Women’s Studies, served as moderator while Nancy Skobel, assistant dean of student affairs and director of the Women’s Center gave a welcome.
“I am a female in the STEM field. My Ph.D. is in biochemistry, and I taught organic chemistry. At the very beginning, when I said that, people made me feel that’s not where I should be because I was a woman,” said Fredette. “It took me a while to be comfortable with the fact that’s where I am and that’s what I’m good at, and I’m unapologetic for that. I think knowing who you are and being comfortable with who you — regardless of what other people expect you to be — is critical.”
Kindl told students not to assume their career path is going to be a straight line.
“When you graduate from college, you probably have a vision of who you want to be,” she said. “If you don’t get there and don’t follow that straight-line path, you may feel that you failed and that is not the case.”
Kindl started as a teacher before moving on to a 20-year newspaper career and then to public relations at California University.
“When I had an opportunity to come to Cal U, my education career and my journalism career meshed and formed the career path I have today,” said Kindl, adding, “Prepare to be nimble and follow that path because you may end up someplace you never envisioned, and it can be a pretty great place.”
There may be barriers in that path.
Kindl said when she began work at the newspaper, women were usually assigned feature stories while men were given hard news assignments.
“I looked for moments when I could step out of my comfort zone and take on stories that were a little more challenging,” explained Kindl, noting she was able to move into an assistant city editor’s position because she said yes to challenging assignments. “It wasn’t always easy. It wasn’t always comfortable and, quite frankly, it wasn’t always successful.”
But Kindl noted, “I built the career I wanted because I made myself uncomfortable enough and challenged myself to do it.”
Fredette said when her first advisor for her doctorate told her she couldn’t have a career and a family, she found another advisor.
“The choice is yours,” Fredette reminded.
Majocha said her biggest barrier was fear of rejection and failure. When she wanted to move into administration, she asked for the opportunity but was told she wasn’t ready. So she asked them why.
“By exposing myself to that fear of getting rejected,” said Majocha, “I learned what I needed to do, I needed training. I needed experience, and I needed mentorship. And when I got that, I was able to move forward.”
Pinardi, who found moving up through the ranks difficult because of the lack of women in her area, noted, “I think it’s important that we help other women get to that table to be able to have discussions and be heard.”
Panel members said women who want leadership roles also face a problem that people expect men to be ambitious but not women.
Majocha said there are social expectations of what men and women should be: “It’s learned, and you can work to overcome those.”
“If I am working hard, and I know what I’m talking about, the intimidation people feel is something they need to work on,” Fredette said. “You treat people with respect. You’re fair and honest. You’re allowed to be confident and ambitious.”
The women spoke about mentors.
Fredette talked about a department chair, noting, “She was competent, quiet and she led by grace. She never raised her voice. She never got in an argument, but she was strong and could get a point across.”
Jones spoke about her father who took her to her first day of kindergarten and first day of college: “My father taught me about having a strong work ethic. If you give your word, mean it, do it, keep it. Also be kind but don’t let anyone take your kindness for a weakness.”
Pinardi has remained friends with a group of women for 30 years who still come together to support one another.
The women also talked about gender roles outside of work.
Kindl said, “If we want men to take an equal role in childcare, in household chores, in those things that in my childhood were considered traditionally feminine, we need to support them and not think of them as doing us a favor.”
Jones said, “You’re in that relationship together, and you have to have that balance. As a result, my girls can share things with their father because he was involved in their lives as well.”
The women also talked about being understanding of their employees.
Pinardi also said, “I think it’s important as supervisors to be very flexible and supportive with our employees whatever their needs are.”
Jones said, “Not everybody has it easy. Don’t ever get too comfortable in thinking that because things are great for you, you don’t have that understanding or appreciation of what others go through.”
Majocha advised women to be flexible with themselves. Dinners may be cereal. Housework may have to wait for the weekend.
“I really had to let go of expectations of what it meant to be a perfect mother, of what it meant to raise a family,” said Majocha. “I was able to distill what really matters, and I think we’re pretty happy.”