AAUW NJ President's Message
 
Spring 2019
Roughly seventy members and guests, including ten student members, attended the AAUW NJ Annual Meeting, April 7 – 8, at Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. AAUW CEO, Kim Churches presented the keynote address on AAUW’s strategic focus on women’s economic security, and she stayed throughout the meeting to discuss with us, both formally and informally, the changes and initiatives that are happening on the national level. Program Chair, Keturah Harris arranged for two wonderful and inspiring panels of women in public office, who shared their experiences of running and winning. Our 2019 Woman as Agent of Change, Jeanine LaRue, shared some of her life’s story with us – her dedication to public service is awe inspiring.

On Monday, over breakfast, the branch presidents focused on what works to recruit new members to board positions, while the rest networked with the college students to see how AAUW branches can support these younger members. Then we shared updates on the many projects AAUW NJ members are involved in to support our mission. Kim Churches presented how we can promote pay equity by getting everyone we know to do the AAUW Work Smart Online workshop (see below). It was great to get to know members from throughout the state – many requested more frequent face-to-face meetings.

To learn more about what went on, and to see photos and videos of many parts of the meeting, go to the AAUW NJ website: https://aauw-nj.aauw.net/events/past/#Meeting2019

Many thanks to Keturah Harris for all her hard work to make the program happen, including recruiting the panelists, developing discussion questions, and connecting us with Ms. LaRue. Thanks to the following members for giving of their time and talents: Ann Marchesani and Gail Davis helped with setup and registration; Jane Niemeyer organized the basket raffle and coordinated our audio/visual presentations with the help of students from Stockton University. Special thanks to Shevi Salberg who consistently goes beyond her Webmaster designation to support the registration and communication needs of AAUW NJ!
NOTES FROM NATIONAL

* Committees at the national level have been consolidated. If you are interested in serving on a committee go to: https://www.aauw.org/who-we-are/leadership-and-staff/committeestask-forces/ to learn more. For 2019-2021 the online committee application period closes on Friday, May 3, 2019.

* AAUW National Election 2019 : Online voting is now open and will close on May 14 at 6:00 p.m. ET. Members were sent an email on or about April 1,from: Kim Churches, AAUW   [email protected] that contains the member number and a unique pin number that is needed to vote. (If you have questions, contact email: [email protected]  or 800.326.2289). Election choices include selection of directors and approving/disapproving the Public Policy Priorities for 2019 – 21.

* The AAUW board has decided there will be no in-person national convention or major convening in 2020, due to the significant financial losses from previous conventions.

* National is planning a series of online events starting in January with, “A 2020 Vision for Equity” that will bring together a panel with leaders from politics, business and beyond to share their insights about the progress made in women’s equity and the future of our movement.
“ 100k for Equal Pay” goal for August 2019

Whether you’re negotiating your own salary or learning more about negotiation to share with your community, Work Smart Online is for you  — and for anyone you know who wants to step up their negotiation skills. The program, which is similar to $tart $mart, generalizes to any type of negotiation.

AAUW Work Smart Online is a free online salary negotiation workshop, designed to empower women with the skills and tools they need to negotiate for fair pay. Participants learn how to research competitive salaries; articulate their skills, qualifications and experience; and ask for — and get — the pay they deserve.

At our AAUW NJ Annual Meeting, we learned that AAUW’s grant from Coca Cola that allows us to provide this workshop for free is dependent upon it’s being used by as many people as possible, so please sign up today, then share the course with your community!

Any email address can be used to register, expect to spend 20 - 30 minutes to create an account and get started. Once the account is set up, you can go through the modules at your own pace, and in any order. For more information or to get started go to: https://salary.aauw.org/work-smart/

Space is still available, so sign up soon to avoid missing out on this great opportunity to visit the home of the women’s suffrage movement with fellow AAUW NJ members on September 19 – 20, 2019. For more information Go to: https://aauw-nj.aauw.net/events/#Trip  

Be sure to check out our AAUW NJ website and Facebook page often for opportunities to learn, enjoy, and support fellow AAUW members’ efforts to advance equity for women. Join the closed LinkedIn Group , as well.

Take a look at our Special Project Pages, and our National Pages, which can help you navigate many topics of particular interest to our State members.
AAUW NJ BOARD AND COMMITTEES

If you are interested in helping develop future AAUW NJ programs, or in working to help grow the connection between AAUW and our New Jersey Colleges and Universities, please contact Karen Brown. For more information on the various AAUW NJ board positions, see the  Board webpage.
STEM PROJECT SUPPORT NEEDED

AAUW NJ Tech Trek Camp at Stockton University is well on its way to becoming a reality for this July 21 - 27, thanks to the non-stop dedication of leaders Ann Marchesani, Gail Davis, and Claudine Keenan. Many branch members stepped up to interview over a hundred worthy candidates. We hope that the nomination and interview process was an enriching experience for all. While we wish we could accept all the applicants to Tech Trek, the truth is that we still need funding to support the sixty students that we accepted.  
 
Tech Trek at Stockton University is a project of AAUW NJ. National AAUW specifies guidelines and requirements for the camp, but does not provide funding. Our New Jersey Tech Trek is funded by our members, branches, and by any grants that members are able to raise from corporate sponsors. While volunteers fill many essential camp roles, services such as campus housing, meals in the dining halls, and transportation for field trips are all things that have to be paid for, at a cost of roughly $1500 per camper.
 
Tech Trek Camp also relies on many volunteers to make camp an intensely enriching, and fun, experience for the middle school girls who we have every reason to hope will be future leaders in their fields. Attending camp as a volunteer allows you to share in this experience - several types of volunteers are needed from one-day logistical help, to overnight dorm monitors.
 
* For more information about AAUW NJ Tech Trek Camp   volunteer positions go to:   https://techtrek-nj.aauw.net/volunteer/
 
* If you have any connection to a potential corporate sponsor that would like to encourage more young women to follow their dream into a STEM career, please contact the Tech Trek leaders who will be happy to share the grant application information and help with making a grant application.
 
* To support AAAUW NJ Tech Trek as a branch or an individual please go to:  https://aauw-nj.aauw.net/projects/tech-trek/
Karen Brown, President
AAUW of New Jersey

908-685-3695

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