During the first weeks of the Fall 2008 semester, OWA hosted its first Open House on the lawns of Memorial Hall, in which its "Empowerment Project" was introduced to the university community. Dean Yvette Alex-Assensoh shared the goal of the “Empowerment Project” with an audience of over a hundred students, faculty and staff members. The goal of the “Empowerment Project” is to empower women and the broader university community by facilitating gender equity, personal safety, and positive social change on campus and beyond.

The festive event provided an opportunity for faculty, students and staff to interact with two prominent IU leaders: Provost and Executive Vice-President Karen Hanson extended a warm and hearty welcome to our guests; IU Trustee Sue Talbot gave heartwarming and inspiring remarks about the ways in which women are to empower themselves and others.

Representatives from over twenty university and community organizations participated in the Open House; the Sexual Assault Crisis Center, the City of Bloomington Commission on the Status of Women, the American Association for University Professors, the Asian Culture Center, Latino Cultural Center, just to name a few. The representatives provided valuable information to participants, who mixed and mingled while they enjoyed hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, and other refreshments.

The Fall 2010 Open House, scheduled for September 23th, 2010, please contact OWA at owa@indiana.edu.

Photos, from top: IU First Lady Laurie Burns McRobbie greets former IU Chancellor Kenneth Gros Louis, OWAfest guests mingle outside Memorial hall, IU Trustee Sue Talbot speaks to the OWAfest attendees, Guests visit empowerment tables, Professor Maren Pink talks with a student guest, IU Staff Linda McCammon, Office for Women's Affairs and Kristi Brand, Gender Studies, enjoy the afternoon; Provost Karen Hanson welcomes attendees; Trustee Sue Talbot discusses "10 Ways to be an Empowered Woman"; Studnets talk at while gathering empowering resources; IU Staff Marsha Franklin, Political Science, and Patricia Crouch, Psychological and Brain Sciences; Professor Beverly Stoeltje, Anthropology; Trustee Sue Talbot talks with OWA Graduate Assistant Le Anh Long; Networking at the OWA Open House