Program on the Status and Education of Women (PSEW)

40th Anniversary Celebration: 1971-2011

The year 2011 marks the 40th Anniversary of AAC&U’s Program on the Status and Education of Women, the oldest office of women in a higher education association. In its history, PSEW has had only two directors: Bernice Sandler (1971-1991) and Caryn McTighe Musil (who became director in 1992). On Campus with Women, now edited by Kathryn Peltier Campbell, has been published continuously since 1971. To honor four decades of leadership in advocating greater equality for women in higher education, the year-long PSEW celebration is called Beyond Limits.  

If 1971-2011 represents victories achieved in eliminating many barriers, 2011-2051 should represent eliminating all the others. Doing so will require men and women alike to invest anew in shaping conditions that tap the talents and leadership of women and girls across colors, classes, and cultures. Societies flourish when women and girls flourish.

Beyond Limits Registry: Tell us what you are doing on and through your campus to erase the barriers to women’s and girls’ full equality.

• Submit and share your story
• Read stories others have shared

Beyond Limits Fund: Make a donation to the Beyond Limits Fund so PSEW can continue to champion women’s equality in higher education and provide resources to the field in the coming decades.

Beyond Limits Brochure: PSEW has released a brochure highlighting milestones reached over the past forty years for women in higher education, across the United States, and throughout the world. To download the brochure, click here.

About PSEW:

For four decades, PSEW has provided support to women faculty, administrators, and students in higher education through its programs and publications. PSEW's current priorities include improving curricula and campus climates, promoting women's leadership, and disseminating new research on women and gender. Many PSEW networks, publications, and resources are available to anyone interested in the status of women in higher education, regardless of AAC&U membership status. To learn more about PSEW's history, visit the special anniversary issue of On Campus with Women.

PSEW Networks:

• Campus Women Lead, a grassroots network dedicated to improving campus climates and the status of women in higher education
  
• A moderated listserv maintained in conjunction with Campus Women Lead

PSEW Publications:

• On Campus with Women, a free online newsletter
• A Measure of Equity: Women's Progress in Higher Education, a monograph on women's current status in the academy
  
• A series of papers on Women of Color in the Academy
• A series of papers on the Chilly Climate for Women (free download):
  • The Classroom Climate: A Chilly One for Women? (1982)
  • Academic Mentoring for Women Students and Faculty: A New Look at an Old Way to Get Ahead (1983)
  • Selected Activities Using "The Classroom Climate: A Chilly One for Women?" (1984)
  • Out of the Classroom: A Chilly Campus Climate for Women? (1984)
  • Rx for Success: Improving the Climate for Women in Medical Schools and Teaching Hospitals (1990)
  • Teaching Faculty Members to Be Better Teachers (1992)
  • Success and Survival Strategies for Women Faculty Members (1992)

PSEW Resources:

• Women's Leadership Project for Inclusive Excellence workshops, organized by Campus Women Lead
  
• Women and Scientific Literacy: Building Two-Way Streets, a curriculum and faculty development project supported by the National Science Foundation

Project Staff:

Caryn McTighe Musil, Project Director
musil@aacu.org

Kathryn Peltier Campbell, Editor
campbell@aacu.org