Women on campus now have a direct line to female faculty and staff through the new Curate Newsletter.
Curate is a monthly digital newsletter created by women faculty for female students.
The inspiration for the newsletter came from Rebekah Dell, associate dean of women, and her desire to support female resident advisors.
“This has actually been something I’ve wanted to do for several years,” Dell said. “My goal was a newsletter for the RAs as a way of enriching women’s lives who are giving so much to their peers. Something has to be pouring into you as you are pouring out into others or you tend to have less to give.”
The women behind the project are faculty and staff from Career Services, the Student Activities Office, the Call Center, the Athletic Department, Health Services, the Deans’ office, and Admissions.
“Our goal is that the newsletter always be written by adult women in the community,” Dell said.
She added that a long-term goal for the newsletter is to include female faculty from other departments at the college, as well faculty wives and businesswomen within the community.
Dell also praised the work of Ashlyn Neveau, director of student activities.
“Ashlyn is the muscle behind all of this. We brainstormed together. She really is the one who should get all the credit for the boots-on-the-ground development” she said.
Neveau expressed how excited she is about the new project.
“It’s something that when I was a student I would have loved getting,” she said. “I’m hoping it can be that for current students.”
Neveau said her team tailors Curate to each particular month it comes out, making the newsletter as relevant as possible.
“Our goal is that it does suit all women, freshman through senior,” she said. “We are trying to share our thoughts through stories in a way that is broad enough so that anyone can relate to them.”
The idea for Curate emerged through a conversation between Neveau and Dell.
“It started from an organic conversation when we were thinking, ‘how do we create women’s programming,’” Dell said. “That was our big goal for this year which ties in with two other initiatives that we have, so it creates an overarching women’s program.”
The newsletter’s first issue came out on Sept. 8. Senior Erin Carrol said she enjoyed reading through the sections.
“I wish they’d had it the whole time I’ve been here,” Carrol said. “It’s nice to have something to keep me grounded and thinking about the important things.”
In addition to the newsletter, the team has additional plans to host exciting events throughout the semester. Dell said there is a three-tier plan for the first year. The first tier is the Curate newsletter. The second tier involves a series of mixers called “Connect,” where Curate contributors meet with various groups of women across campus including athletes, off-campus students, and members of the Greek system.
Dell noted that while freshmen get a lot of face time with members of faculty and staff, the mixers are a way for upperclassmen women to maintain the connections they made in their first years at the college.
The third tier is “Celebrate,” which will be a women’s summit.
“On Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020, we reserved the entire Dow Center for a one-day women’s event which will include breakout sessions based on various topics,” Dell said. “You will be able to pick three out of the 10 you want to attend, and we will have a keynote speaker over lunch.”
The main benefit to Curate is that readers can engage with the contributors in real life.
“We want students to see that we’re human, that we’re women,” Dell said. “There will always be an interesting balance between authority and humanity. Our goal is that if we show a little bit more of who we are, and our stories and passions, then that might give a young lady something to connect with us over.”