CWIL Conference 2007

Women as Intercultural Leaders:
Collaboration at the Crossroads

April 26-28, 2007

An interdisciplinary conference exploring the intersections of international and multicultural education, leadership development, and women's studies

Since 2001, the Center for Women's InterCultural Leadership (CWIL) at Saint Mary's College, has been promoting trans formative intercultural engagement to foster the intercultural competence critical for the next generation of women leaders. This interactive conference will bring together theorists, scholars, professionals, educators, community activists, practitioners, and students. Participants will have opportunities for networking, sharing best practices, and joining a national conversation about cutting-edge work on:

thinking in new ways about women's leadership and promoting women as change agents
internationalizing and interculturalizing the curriculum and co-curriculum
building collaborative relationships between colleges and communities across disciplines

This interactive CWIL conference succeeded beyond our highest hopes in bringing together a very diverse group of theorists, scholars, professionals, educators, community activists, practitioners, alumnae, and students to network, share best practices, and present cutting-edge work on women’s intercultural leadership.

We had 261 registered participants, 117 of whom presented in some way.

They came from 8 countries outside of the US (Australia, Canada, China, Argentina, Zambia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Brazil), and

24 U.S. states outside of Indiana (Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, DC).

139 came from Indiana, including a good number of community women from under-represented groups.

Conference Highlights include:

The well-received keynote speech on The Role of Women in World Peace by Shirin Ebadi, Iranian human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was attended by around 700 despite a downpour, including quite a few Farsi speakers.

Ran Away, a dance performance. This community project of the Ishar Multicultural Women's Health Centre in Perth Australia powerfully depicted the tragedy, hope, and courage of refugee women's journeys. Performed by 16 migrant women using striking dance forms, Ran Away portrayed the raw emotion and turmoil at the heart of the refugee issue.

An opening plenary with welcomes on behalf of Saint Mary’s, the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, the city of South Bend, and the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi Nation followed by a brief video about CWIL, and the staff showcasing the successes of the Center.

A closing plenary panel with members of the CWIL international advisory board, and followed by an active question and answer period. It was moderated by Caryn McTighe Musil, Senior Vice President at the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and including Marlene Johnson, CEO of NAFSA: the Association of International Educators; Evelyn Hu DeHart, Director of the Center for Study of Race and Ethnicity at Brown University; Johnnella Butler, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Spelman College; and Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas.

Over 30 varied concurrent sessions in six time slots, plus roundtables and poster sessions. One special invited concurrent session on African-American Women Trailblazers in Post-War America: Saint Mary’s women and the Pepsi-Cola model. This panel featured an alumna who is an editor at the Wall Street Journal and has written a new book about the integration of Pepsico; Juanita Bay, the first African-American graduate of Saint Mary’s in 1952; Kim Hodges, our current student body president who has conducted research on the integration of Saint Mary’s; and Ujvala Rajadyaksha, a business professor (and former CWIL Fellow) who teaches gender and race in management.

A special exhibition titled Seeing Difference: Photographs by Wolfgang Schmidt.

CWIL-generated art displayed throughout the conference areas.

An interfaith prayer service, and centering options of yoga, meditation, and walking in a labyrinth during breaks

Networking opportunities over mealtimes and in the exhibitor area

Immediate Impacts

Many participants remarked on the distinctive usefulness of focusing on the intersections of international and multicultural education, leadership development, and women's studies, and the refreshing diversity of the participants. We have received several invitations to present our work at other campuses, and much interest in when “the next conference” will be.

On the evaluations we have received so far, 97% rated the overall quality of the conference as “Outstanding” or “Very Good”.

Participants commented on highlights:

~"Excellent! I attended/ presented at 4-7 leadership conferences both nationally and internationally - this was the absolute best on so many levels."

~"The diversity of the participants was a wonderful highlight and to learn about CWIL's work and how we might replicate some of these ideas in other contexts was great…The conference themes were so in tune with my own academic and personal interests that research became a pleasure and not a chore. A million thank yous for creating a space for women's intercultural leaders to push themselves past our self-imposed limits and a context where we can nurture each other's growth."

~"Learning about CWIL's program and approach in more detail. I've been working on a leadership program at my own institution and they have been very reluctant to address/deal with diversity and intercultural difference especially as it relates to power/privilege. Your model is so strong and successful. It's obvious from listening to all the women who have been involved in CWIL. I want that for my student/community/institution. Have you thought about traveling workshops for staff and faculty from other institutions? The CWIL model should be taught so others can learn from you and then adapt to their local community/ institutional contexts. Publish on this work please. I want to go on a Catalyst trip to learn how you do this amazing work!"

One of the many thank you notes we received, this one from a businesswoman parent of a Saint Mary’s student, said:

"Elaine and Bonnie,

I want to thank you for putting together a well organized leadership conference that brought women together to share information, open dialogues and stimulate thought. I was thrilled to be a part of the overall exchange and took away learnings to further develop my own leadership style, practical applications for my organization and aspirations for its future.
I was also pleased to see so many Saint Mary’s faculty, staff and students partake in the conference. My daughter Chelsea indicated that “this is the type of event that Saint Mary’s should be shouting from the mountain tops as it speaks to who we are and what we’re all about.”….she’ll be a future CWIL fellow. Thank you again for inviting me to participate."
Dawn