Center for Women’s & Gender Studies

We would like to plan a get-together of student parents for the weekend after school starts or another time that works for a large enough group of people. We’re thinking of meeting at the Phil’s Ice House/Amy’s Ice Cream on Burnet or on Lamar. What I’d like from all of you is a response with two things: which day/time works for you and which location works for you. (Other locations/places suggestions are welcome, for this or future get-togethers.)

This is intended as a purely social event to meet other parents who are students at UT, share coping strategies, commiserate, brag, chase the little ones, share babysitter info, or just relax with others.

Date/time possibilities – please let me know ANY you and your children and significant other (if applicable) could attend:
Monday, Jan 17 (day before school starts): 11am – 1pm OR 3pm – 5pm OR 5pm – 7pm
Friday, Jan 21: 4pm – 6pm
Saturday, Jan 22: 11am – 1pm OR 3pm – 5pm OR 5pm – 7pm
Sunday, Jan 23: 3pm – 5pm OR 5pm – 7pm

Location – what is most convenient for your family:
The Burnet location or S. Lamar location, and/or do you have a suggestion for this or future social meetings

Email any questions to: thaelle@gmail.com

The letters will be posted anonymously on a blog in a section dedicated to the female experience of unexpected pregnancy from a personal and individual approach. Women of all ages, races, religious and cultural affiliations are encouraged to participate.
Aspects one should consider:
The social, economic, and educational pressures of the pregnancy
Personal views about abortion and how those might have conflicted or affirmed your final decision as to how to go through with the pregnancy
Outside of your personal views, how did the social or religious morals you were surrounded by affect your personal view and/or decision to consider or go through with an abortion
The role of one’s family and/or environment throughout the pregnancy
Did you choose to continue on with the pregnancy, have an abortion, or turn to adoption? How difficult did you find your decision and how did you arrive at it? Were there any lasting effects, positive or negative, of your decision? How do you deal with those, if they exist.
One’s own ability to access contraception and healthy sexuality counseling before the pregnancy, and the ability to access adequate information about abortion, adoption, and/or motherhood counseling after the pregnancy
Sharing your own experience may be an intregal part of familiarizing the general population with your struggle, but how in your opinion could society help other women currently in your position better cope with or handle their own struggle?
Lastly, please consider all of these factors when you decide to write your story, but this tentative outline is not all upon which one can expound; in addition, please feel free to elaborate on each of the factors or add as you wish, so as to make it a letter that tells your story. Your personal story, however painful or joyful it may be, is of extreme importance to this project. This project is not interested in pursuing political or moral dogmas; rather, each woman’s personal struggle with an unexpected pregnancy is the main focus of this project.
Please, tell your story!
Please submit all letters or questions to the following email address:
anicolehernandez@gmail.com

The Center for Health and Social Policy Proudly Presents:
Texas’ Parenting and Paternity Awareness Program: Is It Effective?

Please join us as CHASP Professor Cynthia Osborne talks about the effectiveness of the Parenting and Paternity Awareness (p.a.p.a.) Curriculum, which informs students about the rights and responsibilities of parenting.

When: October 25, 2010
12:15-2:15

Where: Bass Lecture Hall, LBJ School of Public Affairs
2315 Red River St.
Sid Richardson Hall, Unit 3
The University of Texas at Austin
Please RSVP via email to robin.pearson@austin.utexas.edu

Next Month: On November 3 CHASP and the Population Research Center will co-host Dr. Toni Miles, Professor, University of Louisville, to discuss changes in health care law and its impact on disparities.

FLAG wants to remind you that we meet the 2nd Tuesday of every month for parents dealing with someone who has come out to them or GLBTQ who are coming out to their families.  Everyone is welcome to attend out meetings. PFLAG promotes the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons, their families and friends through: support, to cope with an adverse society; education, to enlighten an ill-informed public; and advocacy, to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights. Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identity, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity. For more information about PLFAG please visit… http://www.pflag-austin.org/or Facebook: PFLAG Austin

Are you a student parent? Want to meet other parents just like you? Come join Longhorns with Little Horns, a new student led group on campus that’s working to improve the lives of student parents. For more information, contact anne@mail.utexas.edu .

Are you a student parent? Want to meet other parents just like you? Come join Longhorns with Little Horns, a new student led group on campus that’s working to improve the lives of student parents. For more information, contact anne@mail.utexas.edu .

By Mary Ann Mason
Barack Obama, in the month before his election, promised an audience of members of the Association for Women in Science and the Society of Women Engineers that he would do more to enforce Title IX, which prevents sexual discrimination in educational programs and activities receiving federal funds. He also vowed to significantly increase the number of women in science and technology.

On the 37th anniversary of Title IX, the Obama administration recommitted to women’s advancement in the sciences when Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Valerie Jarrett, a White House senior adviser, issued a statement that said the law was integral “to encourage women to pursue their aspirations in fields in which they have been historically underrepresented, such as science and technology.”

More here: http://chronicle.com/article/Title-IX-Includes-Maternal/49159/

The Gender and Sexuality Center is starting a new initiative to provide some resources for student parents on campus. Anne Gaskill has helped begin a monthly meet-up for student parents called Longhorns with Little Horns where current and expecting parents can exchange information and tips on balancing family and academic life. On the horizon for this initiative are also Longhorn Mothers Offering Mentoring (M.O.M.) program, which would pair expectant mothers with student mothers who have successfully made the jump from students to Student-Parents, and the Childcare Assistance for Longhorn Mothers (C.A.L.M.) fund, which would provide childcare tuition assistance of at least $100/month for at least one student in the 2010-2011 Academic Year. If interested in making a donation to this initiative, please contact Anne Gaskill at anne@mail.utexas.edu.