PSU Recognizes Four Women of Greatness

Four bouquets lay in a line in Heritage Commons at Plymouth State University on Thurs., Mar. 29, waiting to be given to the four recipients of the Powerful Outstanding Women's Advocate Awards (POWA). The ceremony started at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, and the room was full with excited and supportive friends, family members and faculty.

Four awards were distributed; two Powerful Outstanding Women's Advocate Award for students went to English major Becky Cressy and painting major Callie Garp. Another was a POWA award for a community member, which went to Tina, whose last name is not being released publicly, and the last was the Theo Kalikow Award, which went to Dr. Cathie LeBlanc. 

The audience was graced with the presence of Dr. Martha Vicinus, who is a feminist activist and a professor at the University of Michigan. Her speech was entitled "We Boys Have to Stick Together on This One" and followed her journey to funding Women's Studies and her life as a feminist in the 1970's.

Although she was proud of how far women had come in the past thirty years, she said, "Women are here to stay in higher education, but their voices need to be raised."

Vicinus was funny and witty, allowing the celebratory feelings to resonate with the audience. Her speech was a perfect transition into President Sara Jayne Steen's welcome address and the distribution of awards.

The importance of the award ceremony was to recognize those who have done outstanding things for women in their education and community. Cressy accepted the first award while Steen mentioned many of Cressy's accomplishments, including being involved with all gender organizations on campus, and including gender equality issues in non-traditional organizations such as Sigma Tau Delta, the English honor society. She also actively updates a Women's Studies blog. Next was Garp, whose acceptance speech was touching, and described her road to feminist activism and thanked teachers and colleagues for letting her experiment and explore her passion through her art. 

The third award given, this one for a community member, was given to Tina. Tina is an advocate for Voices Against Violence in Plymouth, and "handles some of the most difficult and brutal domestic violence cases involving young children" said Steen. Tina's drive, commitment, and perseverance nominated her for the award. She, along with the other recipients, thanked those around her who helped her reach success. 

The recipient of the Theo Kalikow Award was Dr. Cathie LeBlanc, who is head of the Communications Department at PSU. In her acceptance speech, she modestly explained how despite her most recent years "doing the paperwork" for feminist activism, she worked on the front line to promote women's rights. Her nonstop commitment to the field nominated her for this award.

At the end of her speech, she read a poem by the late Adrienne Rich, "Dreams Before Waking," which touched everyone in the crowd and left an impression of empowerment that was unmistakable.