2003 OWA Outstanding Staff Awards

Laura Plummer, ‘A true vision’

Plummer

Plummer also was cited for mentoring the women and men in her office far beyond their work positions—offering support as they have sought new opportunities in graduate school or employment, and in volunteer activities.

Her own volunteer work on behalf of women in the Bloomington community has been recognized by the Bloomington Herald-Times Heart and Hand Award and by the national Points of Light Foundation. She has been instrumental in helping to create new opportunities for the women living at a local transitional housing complex while they rebuild their lives and those of their children following domestic violence and abuse. In partnership with the sponsoring Middle Way House professional staff, she developed a program that gives women the confidence and the skills to prepare resumes, to write application letters for employment, to write papers and essays for school, and to learn math and computer skills. Plummer also recruits tutors, orients new volunteers and provides the vision for what the program can accomplish.

Her award cited her “deep commitment, genuine sensitivity, unusual initiative and a true vision.”

Cindy Stone, ‘Enhancing the IU family’

 

Stone

Stone was cited for her “enduring and widespread contributions to enhancing the life of women and girls on campus, in the community and in the larger IU family.”

Cindy Stone currently is coordinator of training and communication at IU Bloomington’s Physical Plant. She is also a former member of the IU Board of Trustees.

Stone was an elected member of the board from 1993-1996, during which time she worked diligently on many vital issues for women, including child care and issues related to undergraduate education. She has been credited with convincing the board to expand campus child-care facilities on all the IU campuses and with being instrumental in the $2 million investment to open a new child-care center at IUPUI.

Advocacy work did not begin or end with Stone’s tenure as an IU trustee. She was an advocate for many years in efforts to create a same-sex domestic partners benefit policy at IU, a policy which was implemented in 2001. Her work with the IU Alumni Association has included work to develop an alumni constituent group that emphasizes fund-raising and student support, and creation of several gay/lesbian/bi-sexual/transsexual women’s programs.

In addition to her employment and initiatives on various fronts to enhance the quality of life for women and families on campus, Stone has dedicated her “extra” time to the Girl Scouts. She serves as a member of the board of directors for the Tulip Trace Council and was chosen as the state’s national delegate for the Girl Scouts USA National

Convention this past fall. She also has worked with the IU Foundation Academy for Women, and helped organize the Women and Workplace Conference, among numerous other efforts.

In addition, Stone has taught part time at the Kelley School of Business and at the Bloomington campus of Ivy Tech State College, where she was a statewide finalist for outstanding teacher of the year. She has been involved as well in Women in the Arts, Bloomington Midlife Women’s Productions and the Bloomington Feminist Chorus.