Five professors at Western Carolina University discussed important issues facing women and shared personal stories at a questions panel on March 26.
A screening of Makers: Women Who Make America and questions panel consisting of WCU professors Lynn Burkett, Catherine Carter, Elizabeth Heffelfinger, Allison Thorp and Laura Wright ended a Tuesday series of presentations for Women’s History Month.
Thorp, with the Music department, collaborated with the English department to put on a series of three presentations throughout the month of March, officially designated as Women’s History Month. On each day, they screened one episode of a documentary series called Makers: Women Who Make America. The third and last episode, titled Charting a New Course, documented the women’s movement from the 1980s to the present and the future of feminism, talking about important issues like workplace harassment, objectification and pay disparity along the way.
Makers: Women Who Make America is a three-episode documentary series commissioned by PBS in 2013. Each of the three episodes describes the rise and accomplishments of the women’s movement, featuring interviews with successful women like talk show host Ellen Degeneres, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and construction tycoon Linda Alvarado.
After the documentary screening, Thorp was joined on stage by four other professors from WCU: Burkett, Carter, Heffelfinger and Wright.
In the hour-long panel, the five professors discussed issues women face in the workplace, shared their personal stories and gave advice to future professionals.
The panel of WCU faculty, discussing women’s issues. Pictured left to right: Allison Thorp, Laura Wright, Catherine Carter, Lyn Burkett, and Elizabeth Heffelfinger. Photo by Tyler Davis
The professors received a positive reception from the audience, with one attendee saying “I would have never even considered salary negotiation as a thing we even had to do before today.”
Another attendee appreciated their discussion on finding a support group, noting “[a support group] really makes you feel like you have a place and you’re heard, and that’s something you don’t really get a lot of the time… I think this is a great event.”
Thorp said that her colleagues and she organized the series “as a way to promote awareness” of Women’s History Month. Thorp said “it seemed like good timing”, given recent developments like the #MeToo movement.
Thorp is WCU’s Director of Choral Activities and an Assistant Professor of Music. She conducts the Concert Choir, which has performed at Carnegie Hall and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, as well as the University Chorus.
For more than 30 years Women’s History Month has been celebrated each March. According to the official website, the month is meant to celebrate “the vital role of women in American History.” It began on March 7, 1982, when the president declared that week Women’s History Week. Five years later, in 1987, Congress designated March as Women’s History Month.
