Amy Levine, director of the UCSF Center for Gender Equity, has been appointed to the Women's Leadership Board at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
"Harvard's invitation to join their board is a rewarding recognition of years of the influential, groundbreaking work that we have accomplished at the Center for Gender Equity," Levine says.
The international group of women confers with senior faculty and the dean, providing advice and counsel on women's initiatives and issues related to women and leadership. This group offers perspectives on the activities and plans of the Kennedy School of Government, and is responsible for advising the dean on new and important initiatives in women's leadership in politics and policy.
The board includes some 100 women leaders working to: develop and empower women worldwide to ensure they are sufficiently represented at all levels; support and recognize women as leaders; increase the visibility, participation and influence of women within the Kennedy School and Harvard; and encourage and support public policy positions that have a critical impact on women worldwide.
A longtime UCSF leader, Levine was the first winner in the staff category of the Chancellor's Award for the Advancement of Women in 1994. Most recently, she collaborated with lead author Barbara Gerbert on the retrospective report title "Slow Steps to Change: A History of the UCSF Chancellor's Advisory Committee on the Status of Women and Strategies for Increased Impact" in fall 2004.
In 1998, Levine received the Women Who Make a Difference Award from the San Francisco chapter of the Commission on the Status of Women for her service in the areas of employment and academic, economic and social advancement of women.
Levine, who has a master's degree in counseling psychology and a doctorate in education, started her career at UCSF in 1979. She was the first coordinator of UCSF's Rape Prevention Education Program, which started in the UCSF Police Department.
In the early 1980s, the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on the Status of Women began discussions on creating a women's center, and in 1984 the Women's Resource Center opened its doors. The rape prevention program remained in the police department for one more year before formally joining the Women's Resource Center in 1985.
The center evolved, broadening its scope and changing its tactics, and was renamed the Center for Gender Equity to be more inclusive. It now includes resources for the campus's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) members, and is concentrating its advocacy efforts on health, leadership and public policy issues.
Today, the Center for Gender Equity is more directly targeting different audiences on campus and is sponsoring fewer, but higher-quality programs for those groups. For example, the center has held successful conferences on paths to academic leadership for senior women managers; launched a mentoring program for administrative staff and is developing professional development and networking programs for women of color.
In all of its manifestations over the years, Levine notes, the UCSF center has focused on people traditionally marginalized in society, and works to empower women, especially those of color, to achieve their personal and professional best.
The Kennedy School of Government attracts more than 3,500 individuals from more than 70 countries to its graduate and executive programs each year. The school works to shape current and future leaders, influencing their attitudes toward women and leadership - and its applied research shapes policy outcomes ranging from wage inequality to homeland security. The Kennedy School has served as the founding academic home for the Council of Women World Leaders, a group of women presidents and heads of state committed to increasing the number, effectiveness and visibility of women who lead at the highest levels in their countries.
Source: Lisa Cisneros
Links:
John F. Kennedy School of Government
