Women’s Center explores friendships, work/life balance & more

Gallup’s State of the American Workplace: Employee Engagement Insights for U.S. Business Leaders report shows having a best friend at work offers social and collaborative opportunities that are integral to workplace engagement and wellbeing.

At noon, on Sept. 18 in the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies lounge and library in the basement of Tribble Hall, the Women’s Center’s “Working Women at Wake Brown Bag Lunch Series” will focus on workplace friendships.

Cynthia Gendrich, theatre professor and director of the Interdisciplinary Performance and the Liberal Arts Center (IPLACe), will lead a discussion on friendships based around the upcoming Mainstage production “These Shining Lives.” The play, which opens Sept. 19, intertwines the stories of four women, their friendships and their long-standing workplace relationships.

The Working Women lunch series, held monthly when classes are in session, is for female-identifying faculty and staff and offers an opportunity for Wake Forest colleagues to provide peer mentoring and support to one another.

In addition to the brown bag lunch discussions, the Women’s Center hosts Second Thursday at Silo at Reynolda Village, where faculty and staff meet at 5 p.m. for a monthly social hour, and T.G.I. Feminism, a fourth Friday of the month lunchtime discussion open to all members of the Wake Forest community that explores contemporary feminist issues.

“Conversations about and support for gender-related issues is an important part of creating a diverse and inclusive campus,” says Paige Meltzer, the Center’s director. “The Women’s Center offers a variety of professional and social opportunities for faculty and staff — engaging people with issues that are important to them at different stages of their lives.”

A Special Event: Carla Harris “Pearls of Wisdom”

On Sept. 30 at 6 p.m. in the Broyhill Auditorium at Farrell Hall, the Women’s Center and the Office of Multicultural Affairs are co-hosting Morgan Stanley’s dynamic businesswoman Carla Harris, named one of Fortune‘s “50 Most Powerful Black Executives in Corporate America.” Her lecture, “Pearls of Wisdom,” will offer a thoughtful, humorous reflection on bringing your whole self to work. This free lecture is part of the Center’s Learning Over a Lifetime series.

Connect with the Women’s Center

The Women’s Center offers two listserve options, a general list for those interested in Women’s Center events and one for employees with caregiving responsibilities. To become more involved, join one of the listservs, or discuss issues of concern relating to gender, please contact womenscenter@wfu.edu.

Follow Women’s Center news on Facebook and Twitter @wfuwomenscenter.