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More than 250 attendees at UMass Lowell’s Center for Women and Work celebration sat up a little straighter when U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas spoke. “I not only stand on the shoulders of female members of Congress, like Edith Nourse Rogers,” said Tsongas, “I stand on each of your shoulders as well.”
She praised the “everyday advocates for working women” who were honored with her at the center’s 10th anniversary event.
In addition to Tsongas, 11 UMass Lowell employees were recognized: Donna Allen, Lenore Azaroff, Oneida Blagg, Anne Ciaraldi, Elizabeth Fortin, Mary Kramer, Pauline Ladebauche, Martha Mayo, Julie Nash, Yana Shapiro and Donna Spellissy.
Merrimack Valley honorees also include Greater Lowell Technical High School students Halee Bacik and Alyssa Raymond; Carole Cowan, president of Middlesex Community College; Linda Brantley, former executive director of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women; union activist Cynthia DeCastro of Dracut; Stacie Hargis, aide to Tsongas; anti-crime and political activist Annia Lembert of Lawrence; Joan Parker, worker safety director in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office; women in science advocate Tiffini Pearson; Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers caseworker Maristela Tosato; and two groups – Women Inspiring Success and Employment and the Women Working Wonders Fund.
Chancellor Marty Meehan noted the impact the opening speaker, former Lt. Gov. Evelyn Murphy, had on his own family. His wife, Ellen Murphy Meehan, had read Murphy’s book, “Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men – And What to Do About It,” during a family vacation and made some changes when they returned. “She went in and resigned her job, and started her own business. Evelyn, I thank you for that,” he said.
Meehan lauded the event’s honorees for their “tenacity and commitment,” and praised the center for being “entrepreneurial.” The event raised about $40,000, which will generate matching funds that will support community partnerships and student involvement in research and training at the center, directed by Prof. Meg Bond. Bond and Prof. Kristin Esterberg, chair of the event committee, were also recognized.
The Center for Women and Work’s mission is to advance knowledge about the relationship between gender and work through research; enhance understanding of this relationship through education and training; and challenge inequalities, particularly through institutional change.
Visit UMass Lowell's photo gallery for more photos of the event.
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