Valerie Olson

ARC AAUW Woodland -

AAUW (formerly the American Association of University Women) was established in 1881 to advance equity for women and girls. Today the organization is involved in advocacy, education, and research. The vision of the national, state, and branch divisions of the organization are to empower women and girls to reach their full potential.

The Woodland Branch of AAUW has approximately 25 members, and is considered a small branch. Every September/October we hold a major fundraiser at a local winery and the money is spent in accordance with the public policy priorities of the organization.

Current policies include a focus on mature women who need a helping hand to achieve a living wage, and a focus on girls to provide opportunities in fields previously dominated by males, such as a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). While these areas are not all public policy priorities, they are the two areas that our small branch is currently capable of supporting.

In keeping with our branch priorities we send four junior high-school (middle school) girls to a STEM camp for a week each summer at Sonoma State University and we have recently decided to provide a scholarship for a re-entry women with a focus on health sciences. We picked health sciences at ARC because there are many opportunities for an AS or transfer degree in health sciences at ARC. We also consider salaries and employment opportunities with an AS degree in health sciences, to be better than in many other fields.

Woodland is not a wealthy county and many of the women in our country could use a helping hand with their education, which is why we would prefer that the scholarship be awarded a Woodland resident. We are open to awarding a scholarship to residents of Woodland is half what it is in Davis and we are focused on awarding the scholarship to a student with significant financial difficulties.