Utah celebrates International Women's Day
17.03.2016
Utah Valley University students and faculty commemorated International Women’s Day for the first time by hosting several events during the week of 1-8 March 2016. UVU’s Women’s Success Center started celebrations by presenting the Rainmaker Award to Barbara Barrington Jones on 1 March for her work to empower women globally. Barrington Jones is an author, speaker and image consultant, who aims to make a difference in the lives of women. She is CEO and founder of the Barbara Barrington Jones Family Foundation.
On 7 March 2016, the gathering hosted by Utah International Mountain Forum (UIMF), a coalition of student clubs at UVU, started as a roundtable of students. Participants Darian Hackney, Mary Cisneros, Kiersten Dumas and Megan Raines shared their research on gender issues and contributions to the International Women of the Mountains Conference (WOMC), held under the umbrella of the Mountain Partnership (MP), at UVU on 7-9 October 2015.
Following the student roundtable, Peggy Pasin, Coordinator of the UVU Women's Success Center, spoke about how the Center enables women to reach their full potential in both the workplace and academia.
As part of the gathering, Dean Torsak and Kiersten Dumas, student organizers of the WOMC, then presented certificates of appreciation of the MP to all contributors of the conference. Torsak, WOMC Executive Secretary, said: “We are proud to be UVU students and be able to engage with such a great initiatives focusing on women issues and sustainable mountain development on local, regional and international levels.”
As a highlight of the event, Alex Azmi, Director and Executive Producer, presented his award-winning documentary To Climb a Gold Mountain about the lives of Chinese women – immigrants in Los Angeles during the 19th and 20th centuries. This was second screening of the documentary in Utah, following its successful presentation in August 2015 during a fundraising event for the WOMC in Salt Lake City.
On 8 March, UVU hosted a special ceremony honouring Leslie DeeAnn Mower, member of the UVU National Presidential Advisory Board, co-founder of Neways, entrepreneur and author. Dr Pierre Padiukov, Vice-Rector of International University of Kyrgyzstan (IUK), presented Mower with an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from IUK for her outstanding contribution to the promotion of women globally and support to the partnership between mountainous Utah and Kyrgyzstan, as well as between UVU and IUK.
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News by Dr Baktybek Abdrisaev of Utah Valley University
Photo: UVU/Amy Barnett
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