Contact: Leah Barbour
Photo by: Beth Wynn
More than 550 women gathered at Mississippi State on Thursday and Friday [March 6 and 7] to participate in the university's 2014 Women of Color Summit, "Changing Lives: Destination Success."
"We had ladies from all regions of the United States to attend: California to Washington, D.C.," said NaToya Hill, recruitment, retention and program specialist for the Office of Inclusive Excellence. "We had to close registration approximately three weeks before the actual summit, and I believe we had representation from each county in Mississippi."
With more than 10 sessions held in Colvard Student Union and better than 20 speakers, women at the summit explored a variety of topics, all of which related to the importance of empowering themselves as leaders and graduating from an institution of higher learning.
RoSusan D. Bartee, professor and program coordinator of leadership and counselor education at the University of Mississippi, focused on leadership. Whether in classrooms, workplace or homes, leadership can expand the numbers of better educated women of color who are economically competitive with their peers, she said.
"As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others," she said. "Be awakened to the light and the genius that is in each of you."
Bartee said each of the attendees already posseses the integrity, dignity and courage necessary to achieve success either in classrooms or in workplaces.
Pearl Pennington, director of student affairs for Institutions of Higher Learning, the governing body of Mississippi public colleges and universities, discussed data trends related to degree completion, as well as the numbers of women in administrative and faculty positions.
Pennington examined the statistics related to women of color's postsecondary success and emphasized the importance of working hard, even in the face of adversity.
"We're still not reaching the goals that we need to reach for women of color," she said. "We're enrolling in record numbers; we're just not graduating. You can only improve the condition of education if you engage in education."
Like all the other speakers, Pennington emphasized that women of color should be proud of their heritage and reach out to others, no matter what their gender or color of their skin. As leaders who recognize their own value, women of color can make the changes necessary to increase their college graduation rates and entrepreneurial opportunities.
For more information about MSU, visit http://msstate.edu.