Utah Valley University, in partnership with the Division of Academic Affairs, announced Thursday the creation of the Women’s Success Center on campus.

The new program is designed to help female faculty, staff, students and members of the community conduct and present research and recruit and retain more women as UVU faculty, students, staff and advocates.

An associated endowed fellowship is named after Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, a professor of psychology at Brigham Young University and director of the BYU Women’s Research Institute.

“The purpose of the Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill Endowed Faculty Fellowship is to provide resources to you to read, write, study, research and contribute. I congratulate the Women’s Success Center and their encouragement of women to engage in scholarly pursuits,” Ballif-Spanvill said.

In her remarks, Ballif-Spanvill said there is too little academic work published by women. She likened the work of one to a snowflake: Alone it is fragile – but when combined with millions of others, it becomes a powerful blizzard. “Can you imagine what advances could be made if all women realized their potential?”

“The Research Institute at the Women’s Success Center leverages a strategic collaboration between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs, using strengths of both entities to create a powerful instrument for change. The Research Institute creates a hub of scholarly work by and about women, designed to be the tide that raises all ships,” said Tara Ivie, director of the WSC. “This is a multidisciplinary, collaborative platform to elevate women’s voices across academia, industry and the community. This collaborative approach elevates the status of women in multiple spheres as we work toward equity for all people regardless of identity.”

The program name, the Research Institute at the Women’s Success Center, was formally approved by the UVU Board of Trustees on Aug. 18, allowing the preparation of the institute, which began in January, to be complete. The program is already running, with projects in place under the leadership of an academic director and faculty fellows, but will continue to expand in upcoming semesters.

Cherilyn Worthen, an associate professor of choral music education at UVU, is the first recipient of the research funding. As the conductor of the Women’s Chorus, the university said, she is creating a student experience that is centered around original work by female composers and poets that honors historical female role models. It will be presented to the campus community next spring.

“When creative projects and art come in line with scholarly research, I think really beautiful things can result, so this is a really exciting opportunity,” Worthen said, adding that the support from the newly formed institute is very meaningful to her. “We don’t have a lot of money for even operating budgets on campus. This will give us the opportunity to feature our students and our faculty and allow us to engage in the community.”

Inspiration and motivation for the program stemmed from a lack of student retention and employment among women at UVU. According to the university, the partnership between WSC, Academic Affairs and the community will allow research to be conducted by faculty and staff and provide opportunities for students to collaborate on research projects and make strategic connections within the community to implement project and research initiatives.

Aside from recruiting and retaining more women as faculty and staff members, the Research Institute at the Women’s Success Center will also provide support to underrepresented students, strengthen engaged learning and community involvement opportunities and help increase the presence of women as thought leaders in Utah.

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