VT Stories Oral History with Mallory Foutch and Anna LoMascolo, March 19, 2018 (Ms2016-015)

Emily Walters: I hope you guys are doing well. Thank you so much for the

rescheduling. I guess we can start by maybe your personal history with Virginia

Tech, so what brought you here, how long you've been here, why you chose

Virginia Tech, and Mallory we can start with you.

Mallory Foutch: Sure. So I came to the Virginia Tech community in June of 2016,

so not quite at two years yet. This was my first full-time position straight out

of graduate school, so I went to college for four years and then I went to

graduate school and studied higher education for two years, and then I was like

okay well, I guess it's time to get a job. So put a pause on going to school for

a minute and go to work. When I was in college and when I was in graduate school

I became just a very excited and outspoken and passionate feminist I 00:01:00think. So I

was really involved in a lot of social justice work in college and then

continued that into grad school. But grad school was where I specifically

started to channel that into the work that I was doing, and so started to really

try to see where work around women and equity and feminism could show up in my

different positions on campus. And so that really inspired when I began job

searching, so in early 2016 started looking at jobs, knew I was going to be

graduating, so I just started to figure that out.

The position at the Women's Center offered a really unique opportunity for an

entry-level professional into working in higher ed administration. You got to

work with students. You get to develop programming. You get to work with faculty

and staff. You get to work in a dynamic office that isn't on every campus, and

so I had never worked on a campus before that had a space that was just devoted

to the issues that our office focuses on. Typically it's like 00:02:00eight to 15 issues

and it's called like the Gender Center or something like that, and it covers so

many things, and sometimes that doesn't allow specificity right, and you feel

like you are trying to do everything. And so I was drawn to working here because

we focus on issues that are specific and that are culturally relevant I think.

They impact how our communities work. And I was really drawn to that and to the

idea of doing work around culture change, right. So it's not just like a

one-off. It's like you show up and you are engaged in the work and even though

it can be difficult, you can figure out what your role can be, and I think that

was really exciting for me. And after meeting the staff and like getting to know

the community a little bit I was pretty drawn to the position. And so being able

to come here and start working and get really engaged on campus has been really

the life of me here for the 00:03:00past year and a half I think.

And being involved at the Women's Center and being able to bring those

connections and build that out into the rest of campus I think is the type of

feminism that I like for the Women's Center to be about, right. It's about

community building and it's about coalition building, and it's about solidarity.

And it's about how our issues affect the issues of your community and how we can

work and build those out together. And I think it's really an inspiring place to

work. With given current events and given a lot of things that are going on in

the world right now I think a lot of folks are looking to the Women's Center to

lead conversations, but then also they are also like, "How can we help the

Women's Center?" which I think is a cool opportunity that we're in right now. So

that's a little bit about how I ended up here.

Emily: Anna.

Anna LoMascolo: And before I start let me just say how glad we are that we ended

up with Mallory, because 00:04:00it never felt like a guarantee until she signed the

contract. She put thought into it. She's made a big difference being here, so

we're grateful. So my story is very different from Mallory's. So I like to say

that my family is woven into the fabric of Virginia Tech. And I say that because

my great-grandfather, Angelo LoMascolo, who immigrated from Sicily was Virginia

Tech's first tailor way back in the day when we were all-male all-military. And

in fact, today I have rare opportunities when some of the older alum at the

University come back to engage with them and they remember him very fondly, so

that's a great connection for me. And actually there was a little white house

named the LoMascolo House when I was growing up, and I actually lived in that

house for three months, which I don't think we were supposed to, but we did. And

one of the cool things 00:05:00in that history is that the LoMascolo House was next to

the Price House, which became the second home of the Women's Center, so I like

that sense of connectedness.

But I come from a long line of Hokies. My dad got two degrees here. My mom got

two degrees here and my sister got two degrees here. I got two degrees here, so

we go way back. I did grow up here in Blacksburg, went to Virginia Tech as an

undergraduate, got my degree in communication studies. I left Blacksburg, went

to New York City, lived in California, thought I would not come back and I did.

So I came back to pursue a PhD in sociology, and I have a degree in that program

with a certificate in gender studies, women's and gender studies.

But my major building was McBride Hall. That's where sociology is house, and so

at that time the little white house, Price House, was the home of the Women's

Center. So as a gender sociologist walking in and out of McBride on a regular

basis I saw that little white house that said 00:06:00Women's Center on it, and was

always curious about what they do.

So one day I just walked in and said, "Hi, I'm curious about what you there,"

and there was a volunteer coordinator at the time, Penny, who I struck up a

friendship with. And I just started doing little volunteer things for the

Women's Center. I wasn't even really that active or involved, but I really fell

in love with the staff. I fell in love with the mission of the center. I fell in

love with the feeling that I got when I was in the Women's Center. So you know,

I came to Virginia Tech for school, but I ended up finding kind of a home away

from home in the Women's Center. And then, I don't know, somewhere halfway

through my graduate program I ended up applying for a job here and I got it, so

I've been at the Women's Center since 2004. So multiple roles. I've been a

student. I've been a member of the community and on the staff of the Women's

Center for a long 00:07:00 time.

Emily: I do definitely want to talk about the Women's Center a little bit, but

before that I want to ask, and this might tie into the Women's Center, if in

your time here what was your first memory or what was your favorite memory or

any difficult moments that you faced? The women that we're interviewing, we're

interested in women's history here at Virginia Tech, so only being here a year

and a half you might not have as many stories, but just anything that you may

have faced or interesting moments, things like that.

Mallory: I don't know. I think it's interesting that we're in women's month

again, so I think of this time last year -- ooh, there was a lot going on, and I

think we can say the same thing for now, right, like that's still a common

thing. Like ooh, there's a lot going on. Ha-ha, like that's new water cooler

talk. But when I 00:08:00think of a really kind of like flashpoint moment or something

that really kind of calls to like why the work here matters, and like makes me

think like that was super Women's Center, was last year when we were organizing

one of the main events for Women's Month which is called like Take Back the

Night, so like a student group organizes that. But in the build-up to that, so

it's typically in late March, but in the build-up to that there had been just a

slew of crime alerts and things going out, and so there was just a high

awareness around issues of gender-based violence at that time and lots of folks

reaching out to the office. Being like how can we help? Lots of people like we

need to do more, lots of calls for campus to do X Y and Z by lots of different

folks, folks inside the community, folks outside the community. And so there was

just all this energy kind of funneling into this one evening that typically

stands like a rally where people gather and talk and 00:09:00share stories, and kind of

just build awareness and solidarity.

It was raining that day, so it was kind of like cruddy outside, so it's

typically supposed to be outside and then you March, but it ended up being

inside. So we had to move it into the graduate life center auditorium, which I

think is capacity around like 580 or 600, and so many people showed up. There

were almost 800 people there. People that were sitting in the aisles. I was

sitting right in front of the stage like on the floor in a much smaller space

than my body can hold, and I was like this is wild, but it was so powerful. I

feel like I will always think of that night when I think of the Women's Center,

because the issues that we work on have an ability to make people care, and they

have an ability to like make people show up, and they have an ability to move a

community to action, right. So there were just so many calls for people to 00:10:00 say

something or speak or release a statement or do X Y and Z. And I think it made a

lot of people uncomfortable, but then it also made a lot of people be like maybe

we need to rethink some things. And I think that is such a moment where it comes

from power from students pushing up and pushing against, and it also calls for

people who work here to recognize that students have a lot of voice and a lot of

car and a lot of passion. And when we congratulate them for caring about things

but then we don't show them a route to like do something with their passion,

that's like maybe we need to rethink that, right. And I just think it was such a

cool moment and such a way to capture a women's month that while we were

planning we were just kind of at a loss. Like how do we even pick a theme for

right now? How do we capture a moment that is women's month 2017? Like what is

2017 even?

And so, I felt like it was just so 00:11:00quintessential of the moment that was

happening in a way to capture a lot of the anger, a lot of the passion, a lot of

the energy, but also funneling that into how can this result in something that

is positive, right? And so I feel like sometimes we get really anxious when

people or students are angry, and I think what we need to do is focus on how do

we channel that into something that is productive? A lot of times I feel like

that is sometimes what I do here. [Laughs] And thinking about how do we take all

these issues that sometimes suck and channel that energy into being productive

through routes of advocacy or routes of social change or routes of culture shift

or anything like that. And so in my short time at Virginia Tech I will always

remember Take Back the Night 2017. It's just like I guess this is how we do

things here. It was a lot. [Laughs]

Emily: 00:12:00I just spoke with Susan Anderson who I think is the faculty advisor for

the group that organizes that, and she said last year was really powerful as

well, just because of everything that's going on.

Anna: So for me lots and lots of highs and lows over time, but one of the things

that I think about when I think about the work of Women's Center, and this is

something that Sharon Davy who was the long-time director of the Women's Center

at UVA said in a book that she wrote that at Women's Centers we on the one hand

bind wounds and on the other hand we turn our faces to the sun and we celebrate.

And so I always try to be mindful in every day of the work that there's really

hard really frustrating aspects of the work, and then there's so many rewards.

So to start with the binding the wounds and the things that have been difficult

and painful for me when I look over time, because I've been here forever, for 14

years, I think about those few times that there have been 00:13:00very high profile

incidences of interpersonal violence that have resulted in the death of members

of our community. And you know, that's extremely difficult. We deal in the

practice of supporting people on a daily basis who are dealing with violence and

the threat of violence. But those moments where it escalates and it results in

loss of life and the amount of pain that that inflicts on the community and the

confusion that that inflicts, and sort of the space that the Women's Center

occupies in that to be a source of support and a source of trying to help people

cope and understand and have resources and have access and that kind of thing,

those have been really difficult times. But what emerges from that is a renewed

sense of commitment to the conversation, a new sense of awareness that this

really still exists in significant ways, and you know, 00:14:00exists in significant

ways on a university campus. And it is something that we need to really continue

to be committed to and work towards and find ways to grieve together and heal

together and kind of review that commitment and move forward.

Mallory just talked about last year's Take Back the Night, and I think about the

way that Take Back the Night in those years where that has happened how that

became a space of speaking out and remembering and honoring and renewing that

commitment, so it's powerful. Those have been some tough times, and as a Women's

Center we have been uniquely positioned to respond in certain ways and to

support and that's a real gift for us I think. When I think about turning our

faces to the sun there's been lots of moments where I felt like the institution

was advancing in significant ways around women's and gender issues.

And one of 00:15:00those, I had the joy of being the first graduate assistant on the

Virginia Tech ADVANCE grant back when we received National Science Foundation

funds to have an ADVANCE program here. And it was that moment where we got money

from the National Science Foundation that was about transforming the institution

not fixing women, right. Because so much of the time it's about what should

women be doing different. But this takes a look at the culture and the structure

of the institution and says what kind of changes need to be made on that front

to advance women, and of course advance specifically focused on STEM areas, so

Science Technology Engineering and Math. We continue to have the ADVANCE program

post-grant and those activities include everyone now, but during the life of the

grant it was very focused on those STEM areas.

But you know you fast-forward these years later and we have four or five 00:16:00 women

deans. We have significantly more representation of women in the faculty ranks

in those areas, and there were so many work/life policies put into place that

support women that help them have more successful academic careers. So when I

think of celebration that's one of the hallmark moments, and to have been part

of that when it was getting off the ground and then I transitioned from ADVANCE

into the Women's Center. The Women's Center of course the director at the time

was part of the grant-writing process to bring ADVANCE to Virginia Tech. So just

to be part of that mix, to see that get underway and to see the changes that

rolled out, and again, under that umbrella of let's look at the institution and

things that need to change about the institution to advance women, not that sort

of focus on what do women need to do differently. Because you know when you work

at a Women's Center and you engage in this work, I feel like we are always

consistently redirecting the conversation, whether it's advancing 00:17:00women in

faculty careers, or if it's talking about women who are victims and survivors or

violence, it's looking at the social responsibility. Looking at the culture.

Looking at the structures in place. Not looking at the individual and saying

what should you be doing differently to prevent things happening to you. So

shifting that focus. We need to stop focusing on individuals and groups of

people and really push looking more broadly at structures and culture.

Emily: Yeah. Kind of two questions. We were talking about like a moment and I

feel like now is definitely a moment where we are at least societally we are

looking more at the culture and what we're doing wrong rather than looking at

the individual. I want to ask you about if you've seen changes or more support

because of the MeToo movement or the TimesUp movement or the Oscars or at the

Academy Awards they wore all 00:18:00 black.

And then also what kind of changes. You just spoke about the ADVANCE grant, but

any other changes that may have happened that you were happy to see and what

changes you would still like to see happen, so problems or issues that need to

be resolved here on campus that you see here and need to be addressed in the future.

Mallory: We've already had a couple of different discussions, programs, things

like that for Women's Month specifically that are about MeToo. They are about

how that layers onto or shows up in academic spaces where sometimes even though

a lot of the pieces around Title 9 or equal opportunity or just like federal

law, like everybody has to learn those things right, when you join the

community, but they may be some of the things that you quickly forget. And so

there's a big kind of I think push to re-educate people and 00:19:00re-empower them

around like what are your rights? What are the things that shouldn't be

happening to you? How do you access and use voice? How do you have power or are

you disempowered, and what are those structures of power and hierarchy and

access that people may have at the institution or people don't have. And so I

think that there has been a heightened, and I mean I have only been here, and I

think there has always been a call to the Women's Center to be able to respond

to cultural movements.

But I've only worked here since I feel like there is gender and there is

violence and there is conversations around sexual assault in the news at a very

frequent basis. That is the only time I have ever worked here and so it always

feels saturated. I feel saturated when I'm at work. I feel saturated when I'm

out of work. I feel saturated when I'm in public and it's just such an 00:20:00interesting moment to feel such a hyperpresence, and I think that that has

allowed us to view the issue as not the shortcomings of individuals or the

single bad actors or the bad apple. We're looking at the tree now and I think

that is the cool piece of it. And I would say that at the universities that I

have been made aware of and been allowed to be a part of is just the increased

want to be involved in this office has just been such an over-rush in the time

that I've been here. Like we've had more applications for student interns, for

students wanted to get involved. I'm answering emails from students almost daily

about how can I get involved? What is my role? How do I claim access to being a

part of this?

And I feel like this moment is telling people that it is no longer good enough

to just care about 00:21:00things. How are you acting? How are you no longer just saying

well I'm not a bad person. Like these are the things I care about. I support

these things, etc. This moment is asking us, but what are we doing to change the

way that we act. How are your conversations changing? Who are you showing up for

physically? What are you no longer letting fly in a meeting? Where are you

speaking up? Where are you checking your friends? Where are you showing up as a

bystander? And I think a lot of these moments are showing up, and I do a lot of

bystander education with the office, and I think so much of this is showing up

as people are seeing connections to national movements that you sometimes don't

feel a part of, to people are seeing how that literally is bystander

intervention. People are literally seeing how that is gender-based violence

prevention. People are seeing how that literally is a conversation that I have

with a 00:22:00friend where we discuss that one creepy moment that we both had like that

is #MeToo. You know what I mean? And I think that there is just such a cool

moment where people see themselves so reflected in national movements that are

led by like really powerful people, right, but I think it's also the really

powerful people are looking at the people who have no power and saying what are

we doing for them? And I think historically it's maybe not been a ton, and so

that's why I think something like Time's Up is really cool and important, like

they are raising all this money and giving legal opportunities and access to

people who work in service shops or folks who work in staff positions and things

like that. Like it's just so important.

And I think that it ties back to what Anna was saying. It ties back to all of

these things that I think Women's Centers have probably always been saying, that

if we're asking questions about the individual aspects of an 00:23:00event we're not

even getting it. We're not getting it, right. It's about structure, it's about

culture, and it's about power. And so when I talk to students and I say

gender-based violence at its core is about power. They are like, hmm, I don't

know if I understand that. That seems very abstract. It seems like it's about

two people. It can be about the interaction of two people, but it's really about

power. And so how are we able to engage in that conversation, and I think when

people are seeing it played out nationally it does cause some people to draw

back, to withdraw. Like this is just too much. I'm inundated, etc. But I think

on the whole it's actually drawing more people into the conversation. When you

are inundated by it you are like well, might as well pay attention and learn

something from this, right?

And so I've also seen much more male engagement in the issues as of late of men

who literally just want to show up and 00:24:00learn things. I also think this is a time

where we can have grace and empathy with each other around what we do know, what

we don't know, what we've historically shown up to, what we haven't shown up to.

And I think that the more that we can put hands out to pull people in to

conversations and culture change rather than shame people or blame people for

what they historically have not been a part of, I think that's how we continue

to move forward in a time of MeToo that honestly doesn't seem like it's ending

anytime soon.

Emily: Yeah.

Anna: That was such a good response I don't actually have a whole lot to add,

but I will say that MeToo just feels like such the perfect example of the whole

feminist adage of the personal's political right. So the thing that we

individually feel and deal with and recover from and heal from we suddenly

understand and the context of this happens to so many more people than not. And

that is sad, 00:25:00but it also is incredibly powerful to be part of community, whether

that's localized community or feeling like you are like Mallory said connected

to this larger movement.

And I will say that I've had more family and friends curious this year about

what I do. I mean I've spent most of my professional career, I think everybody

thinks I'm a women's studies professor and they really don't ask me what I do

because they are like, "She's a college professor. She teaches students," and I

really don't do any of that. I don't teach. I am not located in that academic

department. But there's been so much more curiosity around what I do because of

the awareness that people are gaining. And this is stuff they've never even

thought about, right. And so that to me is wonderful.

A couple of threads I wanted to pick up on that Mallory brought up is that

saturation issue. And I am keenly aware that while from an awareness perspective

I'm so excited about MeToo and 00:26:00Time's Up, because we're having a national

conversation that needs to happen. That said, I think about people who are

impacted and traumatized by violence. I'm thinking about our clients and I'm

thinking about members of our community that never get a break anymore, right.

So they are living it and they are dealing with it and it's the noise of their

lives. It's the backdrop of their lives. Where can you go? Where can you turn on

the radio or the television or go to the coffee room or water cooler and it's

not a topic of conversation? So I am sensitive to the benefits and drawbacks of

that saturation point. That said, I do hope that it continues to keep its

traction so we continue to talk about it and it doesn't fade out with the newest

chaos of the day.

The other thing that I'm keenly 00:27:00aware of as well is that it is a privilege to be

able to say MeToo. There is a comfort I think that many of us feel to

Facebook#MeToo and to basically identify ourselves as yes, I have faced this. I

have experienced this. And being reminded that there is a lot of people for whom

it would be really risky to make that claim, and an awareness that there are

folks who aren't at a place yet for themselves where they can make that claim.

Again, I'm excited by MeToo and I am grateful for the connection and local being

connected to national and this sense of community. I'm always aware as well of

those who can't quite claim that yet for whatever reason and that's okay.

Emily: So do you think -- so everybody talks about like Hokie nation and how

strong our community is, especially 00:28:00after April 16th, so I'm wondering if you

feel that it's especially strong maybe here just the people reaching out, just

saying how can I help, do you think that's part of the Hokie community nation,

like just how it is? Because I know when I reach out about jobs it's all about

the Hokies that you know there and they are like, "Yes, we like hiring Hokies."

I'm wondering if you feel like it is helpful to have a community like that, like

a strength like that, and do you think that it is happening elsewhere and how we

can maybe permeate elsewhere if they don't have this kind of strong community?

Mallory: I think that, let me think, so one of my first I would say experiences

with the idea of the Hokie nation, so being someone who is newer to the

community, was one of the first times I was talking with students who 00:29:00 identified

as activists on campus, saying we are not a part of the Hokie nation. Like we

don't identify with that idea. We want to, and we think that the work that we're

doing around pushing awareness of gender-based violence or issues of racism on

campus and things like that, they are like that's the Hokie nation that we want

to see and be a part of, and that's why we care so much, right? And so I think a

lot of the students that I work with and community members that I work with are

working on advocacy and are working in caucuses who are doing a lot of kind of

lobbying really to get people to care about the issues that really pertain to

peoples' identities and ability to feel safe and supported, and like they can

advance at the institution. I see that as being a part of the Hokie Nation, but

also wanting the Hokie Nation to progress. But I will say that I have felt

differently at different times. 00:30:00I mean I think that since I've started here I've probably been to like eight

rallies or protests or things like that, and those are moments when I see an

emerging of something like the Hokie nation with kind of the outer community to

see. Like what are the connections between our thoughts on current issues or

events or like what's happening in the world or anything like that. And I do see

an idea of the Hokie Nation when people are reaching out and say we want to get

involved. We want to serve. We want to do those things, because for a lot of the

students I work with the idea of Ut Prosim is helping the institution get better

and advance and include more people, and think more about people who haven't

always been thought about in the conversation. Or who weren't thought about when

this building was built, or weren't thought about when there were only stairs to

get somewhere versus a ramp or something like that. Like those are 00:31:00the people

that I think of when I think of the Hokie Nation, is people wanting this

community to get better, and they see themselves as accountable to the

institution improving and getting better for more people.

When I love a place I want to hold it accountable. I see that as the purest form

of like love, is like I am accountable to you. I want you to get better, but I

also need you to help me believe that can happen. And I see that the idea of

kind of progression or advancement for a lot of folks is the individual

commitment to either Ut Prosim or the Hokie Nation or whatever your idea of the

Virginia Tech community is, so that's an individual commitment. But then I also

see it as a lot of people joining to look at it deeper than that. So what is the

commitment from the institution 00:32:00back to you to commit to these new ideas or

programs or strategies around diversity inclusion or advancement for women or

advancement for people of color, or recruitment of more minority students or

things like that.

So I think those would be my general thoughts around the Hokie Nation. I think I

have been here at a time where more students are starting to mobilize than maybe

have previously. But I think that from my understanding and the people that I

work with a lot Virginia Tech has always been a community that cares deeply

about its people and wants to do right by those people and wants to make them

feel like they are valued in their community. And so those things that we can

unite around when we want to unite around something it's typically in a very

large fashion, like a lot of people will show up. And so I think what we're

doing right now is widening that, like 00:33:00what are the things that we care about

and value as an institution that makes people want to show up and care and be

present in that. Yeah, I would say those are my thoughts.

Anna: Yeah, those are some really good points. You know whenever you take a

workshop or a training in conflict resolution they always talk about the

benefits of conflict and how we think of conflict as a bad thing, but really

it's a very productive thing. So I think the accountability piece, the part of

being a member of the Hokie Nation is constructive criticism. It is pointing out

opportunities to get better and it is holding us accountable so that's really

important. I'm a little more warm and fuzzy about Hokie Nation stuff and I think

that's part of my -- I feel so much part of Virginia Tech in so many ways. And

I've had so many experiences in my personal life where I've been out in the

world and the 00:34:00only other people in the room were Hokies. It was just strange. I

got my first internship when I was in college at HBO Downtown Productions in New

York City, because I interviewed with a guy who had just spent the weekend in

Blacksburg because his sister was going to Virginia Tech.

I was in Coastal Sonoma in California and we were in a sandwich shop and we were

in a town with a population of 19. The town population said 19. I don't even

know why they had a sandwich shop, but we were in there with two other people

and they were biking from Alaska to San Diego and they were from Virginia Tech.

I'm like when did that happen? I went to Stonehenge. They were Hokies. So it's

just we're everywhere and I love that sense of global, literally global community.

And I do think there's something special about Virginia Tech. I do think there's

something special about this identity of Hokie Nation and I do think there's

something deeply special about Ut 00:35:00Prosim. I think the way that manifests itself

for me from a Women's Center perspective is that we are a relatively small staff

with a really big mission with really big goals and objectives. We can't

accomplish them. We can't meet them as an inn of 9, we can't. And so our work

and the accomplishments that we can celebrate and the difference and impact that

I feel that we make is only because of relationships and commitment across

campus and kind of throughout the community. So to me that's Hokie Nation. To me

that's Ut Prosim in many ways, right. It's like we have this amazing corps of

Virginia Tech ambassadors for Women's Center work, which is just an incredible

thing. So you know, I will forever say my number one favorite thing about this

job in this place is the people that we get to do the work 00:36:00with, and they are

many and they come from all different corners of the campus and community.

And to me that's special, because I tell you, when you go to regional Women's

Center meetings and national Women's Center meetings you learn that that is not

the norm. It is not typical. It's not normal or typical or average for the

Women's Center to work closely with law enforcement. It is not typical or

average for the Women's Center to work closely with Title 9 officers or judicial

officers, or so many of the folks that we work with in support of our mission,

in support of our students, in support of our clients. And so to be able to say

that it's a special thing, and I think a lot of that is connected to that sense

Hokie Nation, to that sense of service. It's such a collaborative spirit. It's

intangible, but absolutely alive and important, and I just don't think we could

do what we do 00:37:00without it.

Emily: And so could you speak a little bit about what each of you do at the

Women's Center and then maybe favorite moments that you've had with your job or

your favorite aspects or things like that, just Women's Center specific?

Mallory: Sure. Well I serve as a program coordinator on our programming team

within the office. So my position specifically looks to engage in programming

and event management, so doing a couple of different series that we have

historically done, so a couple of lecture series, some smaller conferences, a

couple of kind of workshop series around salary negotiation or different kind of

issues that directly impact women. I also coordinate what's called Women's

Month, which is a month-long celebration each March 00:38:00where we look to folks

around the Blacksburg and Virginia Tech communities to organize and host events

or plan exhibits or do any type of thing that has to do with women to their

specific community. And then we really try to highlight and get folks to go to a

lot of these events, to kind of pick up on that celebratory piece thing Anna was

talking about earlier. I think there is always an aspect of Women's Month that

is about kind of like the cultural shift or like what's the work to be done. But

then there's also just a good portion of let's just gather and celebrate, or

like let's gather and talk about things, or let's gather and support the work

and the research or the advocacy or anything that each of us are doing on

campus. And I think I'm really pleased by the amount of programs that come from

all different areas of campus. And I think it's also a cool moment for a lot of

different offices that I work with for them to be like, "Oh we never 00:39:00 even

thought to partner with the Women's Center. This is cool." I'm like, "Yeah,

we're here. Hit me up." This is what I like doing. I love building

collaboration, like I thrive.

And so I think Women's Month, and then just like my general programming vision

in general is just how are the tables that we are allowed to sit at, that is

such a responsibility, right, if we are programming or collaborating with

people. I think I see it as a duty to make sure that gendered aspects or

feminism or anything like that is showing up in those partnerships. I work with

a lot of students in the office and outside of the office. I help a bit with

gender-based violence prevention, so in doing bystander intervention. I help

with our campaign called It's On us that is from a nationally-recognized

movement that asks colleges and universities to think about how they are

educating people about consent. 00:40:00And then I just help with things here and there.

One of the biggest things we're working on right now is getting things ready to

go, so a year from now the Women's Center will be celebrating our 25th

Anniversary on campus, and so that's a huge programmatic undertaking. And it's

also a huge opportunity for community building and relationship building and

inviting folks in who are inspired by the moment that we're in to say, "Hey, you

can be an ally of the Women's Center too." Like you can show up for us and we

can also show up for you.

And so I consider a huge part of my work for the Women's Center as a program

coordinator to really just build relationships and get to know people and show

up for them, and then figure out what are the end roads and the connections that

our offices can have that maybe haven't historically been built-out, and so

let's put in the time to do that. And I think it just opens us up to knowing

more people, to more people knowing 00:41:00who we are, and to be ever-expanding in the

idea of like what our work is, right. And so I think that our call right now is

to know that the work of gender-based violence prevention or the work of

feminism or the work of equity and access and things like that, we can come at

it through just a gendered lens, but how is the work at the Women's Center to

also be thinking about race and ethnicity, to be thinking about class, to be

thinking about ability status, to be thinking about sexual orientation. Like how

are we also needing to include all of these other identifies in the ability to

be effective in our work? And I think that's another challenge that I put to

myself in serving as a program coordinator for the office.

Anna: So my current role is co-director and I work closely with Mallory on the

programming and outreach side. My 00:42:00co-director, my other co-director oversees the

counseling and advocacy work.

This is my fourth position at the Women's Center since I've been here, so I

started out in a grant-funded position that did education and outreach around

gender-based violence, and I also worked more closely with clients in that role.

And then my most previous few roles have been on this programming and outreach side.

Some of the highlights for me, so Mallory said we're getting ready to celebrate

our 25th Anniversary. I've been around for the 10th and 16th and the 20th, and

those anniversaries have been real highlights, because they are an opportunity

for us to celebrate what we've done, to really highlight who we are and our

mission and our impact on the campus and to be in community with other people.

So those have been some real highlights. I think back to the 10th Anniversary, I

think the two big epicenters of that celebration was a 00:43:00gala. And then there was

a concert in Burruss Hall by Sweet Honey and the Rock. And at that time I didn't

really know much about Sweet Honey and the Rock because I wanted to participate

in the celebration and I didn't sit down the whole time. Burruss Hall was

packed. Sweet Honey and the Rock was fabulous. They are an A Capella group and

they are just amazing.

And that was one of those moments where at the end the then vice president of

Multicultural Affairs told our director after that show, "Wow, we really didn't

know just how much we needed this." So it was again, it was just one of those

moments where you don't even necessarily plan for that kind of impact or see it

coming, but where you're just in community with to her people celebrating, and

it was very cathartic for folks I think. And so to be part of those anniversary

celebrations and to uplift the work and to recognize the accomplishments and

successes of women on campus have been 00:44:00real highlights.

We have a program here at the Women's Center that pairs Virginia Tech women as

mentors with middle school girls at Blacksburg Middle School, it's called Aware.

And that has been a highlight for me to watch that program develop and grow over

time. Every April we bring all the aware girls to Virginia Tech for what's

called College Day, and so they get to engage in all sorts of activities that

college students would do, right. So they get to go to Squires and maybe bowl.

They get to go see some sort of demonstration, whether it's robotics or science

or what have you, go visit a residence hall, eat in a dining hall, scavenger

hunt around campus. And so they are really kind of moving through campus as if

they were students. And I got to a couple of years ago kind of follow them

around for a day, and that was such a highlight, because there are a lot of kids

who don't seem themselves at college. And just the act of bringing them here and

demystifying it and having them see how kind of 00:45:00neat it is and different, it

feels like it really makes a difference.

And we hear from parents every year, especially our coordinator of that program,

Jessie [00:45:07 Molsner], hears from parents every year about the difference it

makes in their child's life. And it is such a great opportunity for Virginia

Tech women to serve in that mentoring role, to be someone that those kids can

talk to and learn from and look up to, so it's really exciting.

And then I guess the other highlight I would talk about is last year at the

Advancing Diversity Workshop I cofacilitated a presentation with Mary Beth

Dunkenberger who was then the women's community representative to the Commission

on Equal Opportunity and Diversity. And we kind of just did a needs assessment

session as a breakout at the Advancing Diversity Conference, and that session

culminated that day in the genesis of the Women's Alliance and Caucus at

Virginia Tech, 00:46:00which has been a really active involved vocal group of

representatives for women across the board at Virginia Tech -- graduate

students, staff, teaching faculty, AP faculty, research faculty. So I'm so proud

of that. I'm so proud to have a voice, that women have a voice in governance,

that they have a voice at the table and that sort of just came out of an hour

and a half conversation where we were talking about what does Virginia Tech need

to be doing differently and that that was able to emerge.

Through that alliance I'm also now working more at the institutional level to

talk about women's and gender issues and the way women in different employment

classifications are being impacted at the University. So it seems like a real

opportunity to make some headway and to make some positive change.

So in my day-to-day, unfortunately, the more I get 00:47:00involved in those sort of

institutional level endeavors the less opportunity I have to do a lot of on the

ground programming. But it's all important work and it's all a way to make sure

that we continue to have women's and gender issues at the table in discussions

at multiple levels. And I feel like as long as we continue to do that we are

meeting our mission and we are doing the work of the Women's Center.

Emily: We spoke a little bit about changes that you've seen. Are there any that

you would like to see either here at the Women's Center, not like bad changes,

but just the progress that you would like to see made here at the University?

Mallory: I think about the Women's Center and meetings that I've been in

recently. So Anna mentioned that we have good 00:48:00relationships with other folks

that are tasked with doing response work around gender-based violence and things

like that around the institution. And the one thing I know about all of the

people that do this work is that they are all so overstretched. Like there is

just an inundation of people who need services right now. They are in this

moment where you are just saturated by people coming forward and people seeking

justice and people wanting their story to be heard, that is happening here too.

Sometimes they think that we can look at social movements at present and wow,

it's all of these celebrities who are coming forward or it's all of these things

and what-not. But no, that happens in your community too. That's happening on

college campuses everywhere. All of the communities that I've ever been a part

of I talk with people who still work there, and they say, "Our caseloads 00:49:00are so

wild right now. We just have so many people that we need to serve, whether it's

through kind of a Title 9 or gender-based violence response avenue, whether it's

through just a counseling services avenue, whether it's through these other

avenues of people who need support at an institution. There is such a need and

there is so little people, resources, energy to meet that."

I think one of the biggest changes right now is around -- that I would like to

see is just around how we resource and value the people that do this response

work, because they need help too. They need more money. They need more people.

They need more access to restorative and self-care opportunities. And I think

that at this moment, like I was in a meeting the other day and it was like we

are about to go meet with this group of people who have power 00:50:00at the

institution. What should we tell them that they need? And we all kind of sat

there for a second and I don't think anyone was going to say anything, and I was

like well, I feel like if I don't use this moment to advocate for people who are

tired and always stretched and always really stressed out by the work. The

direct service work is really taxing. I was like if I don't use this moment to

advocate for them or at least say something that would be bad on me. That

wouldn't be doing my job. And so I was like, well, I think that we need to have

more conversations around adding more positions, adding more lines for people to

do this work, adding more resources to people to be able to do this work. And so

that is a culture change that is getting people to review budgets.

I think one of the most common lines that I hear thrown around in higher ed is

that your budget is your mission statement. Like your budget is reflective of

what you value, and I would love to just 00:51:00see if we want to be able to retweet

and post about all of these issues that are like we are committed to ending X Y

and Z, or we are committed to people getting the help they need.

Sometimes I think that there is a palpable disconnect between bodies who say

something like that and the people who are actually doing the work. They are

like, "Okay then well we would love to see it too." [Chuckles] I don't know, I

am one for radical honesty in moments like this. I just think that if we're not

able to be honest about the people who do the work sometimes not feeling that

support, I think that that's something that I would love to see in terms of as a

right moment for change, right. I think that in this moment where we are just

feeling it from a lot of angles that allows us to also have multiple angles of

analysis. 00:52:00It is not the fault of one person or one office or one institution or

one thing for why a lot of these issues are coming to a head right now. And so

when we can see a multi-faceted kind of issue we can then also give ourselves

space for a multi-faceted solution. And so it comes from a lot of people caring

in a lot of new ways, and so I think that would be one of the big changes that I

would love to see right now.

I would also just love to see a change in how people think that they can be

involved with the office. It's not the work of just women to make sure that

these issues are worked on. I think sometimes the name of our office allows

people to excuse themselves from being involved, so working at the Women's

Center that can be a barrier of exclusion. I think a change right now is for

more people to 00:53:00be able to see themselves in our work, and I think that's

something that we all are working on every single day, is who are we having

conversations with and who are we inviting in to be a part of this work and to

be a part of these movements. And I think those are movements that need to be

inclusive and inviting of people who have been involved and who haven't been

involved and who have the vocabulary and who have never read the book, whatever

book that is. There are multiple books, right. It is a time where we are so well

positioned for people who have been doing work forever and it's their lives'

work, and for people who are saying hmm, seems like for many reasons, it could

be privilege, it could be lack of understanding, it could be just blatantly not

caring, for them to say hmm, maybe I should be involved or maybe I should care,

maybe I should show up to that meeting, or maybe I should know about what the

Women's Center is 00:54:00 doing.

And I think that is a really cool avenue for change if we are willing to be

patient and have grace and be kind, and you know, have those moments with people

where we are holding them accountable for maybe hey, historically you haven't

really been involved in that way, so do better, but then also like do better

with us, right. Like we can do better if we are doing better together. And so I

think that is a moment and a change that the University I feel like in some ways

is also seeing. We are starting to see the work of advancing people at the

school and supporting people at the school that haven't always been invited to

the school from the beginning. We are starting to see that as everyone's work,

where I think historically it's been here is the office who does this, and they

are just a small group of four people on a campus of 35,000, right. Now we're

starting to see that, it's like oh no, I have a role in that. I see myself in

that, and I think that is a 00:55:00change. And that's not something that I can sit down

and do tomorrow, right, so that's why the change is hard and the end is not

clear. But, I think that's the change that matters the most to how people are a

part of this community and a part of Hokie Nation or a part of the Women's

Center Community of allies, or just a part of a moment.

Anna: Those are very good points, and the first point that I would make that

sort of relates to the last thing that Mallory was talking about was also the

Women's Center being seen as a space that's accessible and welcoming broadly. So

again, the name Women's Center, we continue to believe that given Virginia

Tech's history, given Virginia Tech's demographic, given our STEM focus, given a

lot of things about our campus structure and culture, there continues to be 00:56:00certainly a need for a space for women as a group, right, to receive services,

to explore issues, to look at issues of equity and leadership and wellness and

all that kind of thing. So that said, we also understand that the issues that we

deal with and the people that we serve, the issues for the people that we serve

don't just impact women, right. So it's a matter of, I don't know what we need

to do, we talk about this a lot these days. We need to think about our outreach

and our engagement differently, because we want to make sure that folks who need

our services and folks who want to engage in our issues and our programs feel

like this is a space where they can do it. So thinking intentionally about what

changes we need to make as a staff and what things we need to do differently in

our outreach and collaboration and the way we do our programming and 00:57:00 services,

to make sure we as a Women's Center are inclusive.

The other thing is one of the fundamental concepts in the book, whatever the

book is right Mallory?

Mallory: [Laughs] I don't know the title.

Anna: One of the fundamental concepts in that book you were talking about is

intersectionality, that we understand that woman is not a monolithic thing. We

get that not everybody feels connected because of this identity they share as

woman, right. So we have different life experiences based on how being a woman

intersects with all sorts of other things, our race, our religion, our

socio-economic status, sexual orientation, it goes on and on. So one of the

things that Mallory has contributed to in such significant ways and we have had

programming folks historically that have contributed in significant ways is

those partnerships with other groups that help to really complicate the

conversations we're having around women's issues, right. So I want 00:58:00us to

continue to develop those. You know conceptually theoretically we are really

good at intersectional thinking. We are really good at having intersectional

conversations. And as those manifest in the way we do our services, as those

manifest in the way we approach our programming, to continue to strive to

demonstrate that we understand that, and to do a better job I think of

connecting with people and resonating with whatever we're talking about,

resonating with where they come at that issue, if they even come at that issue.

So to continue to understand that you know, yes, we all may identify as women,

not that everybody who comes here or works here does, but we may share that

identity, but we also have a lot of differences, so how do we complicate our

conversations. How do we complicate our understanding of peoples' lived

experiences and their needs? Again, as I circle back, to ensure that 00:59:00this does

become and remain a space where people feel like they can access what we have to

offer that's really really important to us. And I think we have a responsibility

to continue to think about it, to continue to work at it, to continue to seek

counsel and advice about it. It's an aspiration and we're not there yet, and I'm

proud that we continue to strive in that direction.

Emily: I think those are all the questions that I have. Do you have anything

else that you would like to add or talk about?

Anna: Well, I would like to just lift up again that Spring of 2019 is the

Women's Center 25th Anniversary, and that feels like a really special milestone

of a quarter of a century of the Women's Center at Virginia Tech. And you know

the Women's Center was founded by a group of mostly faculty and administrator

women, and I think some graduate students. 01:00:00They were called the Coordinating Council on Women's Concerns. It was chaired by

Ann Kilkelly, an emerita theater professor who we miss seeing day to day. But

you know, I wonder when they founded the Women's Center 25 years ago if they

wouldn't -- I wonder how they would have envisioned 25 years out. I wonder if

they had been in an interview and you had said what do you hope for the future

if they would have imagined us having a staff of 9, us having grant funds, us

having institutional support, us having developed a network of relationships and

partnerships. And so it feels like a moment to pause and recognize our

foremothers and to celebrate our accomplishments, and then to start that hard

work of thinking about the next 25 years. And that feels like a community

conversation, so we look forward to engaging others and imagining what that

might be.

Emily: Well thank you so much.