I’m so glad March is here. The last day of this month I celebrate another 365 days around the sun. The meeting on March 1 was what I’ve wanted to do since I became a member of AAUW. The speaker used some of her time for each woman to say something about herself. I believe we can become even stronger and grow our relationships by learning more about one another. Our branch has phenomenal women who have and had phenomenal careers. I would like to take a few moments each meeting for each woman to make one nice comment about the woman sitting next to her as we learn more about one another. 



Now is the time for us to find more similarities than differences. I feel the turmoil in this country is divisive by design. We in AAUW must hold tight to the common thread that reminds us of humanity. In our own dealings we must be ever mindful of the significance of Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and the impact and influence we have to continue in grace and humility. Remember to Just Breathe and Keep Smiling. 

Claudia L. Walker, Ed.D.

President

AAUW San Antonio

2024-2025 Branch Leaders

Executive Committee

President

Claudia L. Walker, Ed.D.      

President Elect

Vacant  

Vice President Membership

Debbi Sochia                        

Vice President Programs

Martha Steele             

Secretary

Debbi Sochia    

Treasurer

Kathy Dicke

Parliamentarian

Vacant

Standing Committees

Public Policy

Pat Sanford

Finance/Budget

Kathy Dicke

Scholarships/NCCWSL/CU

Jeanette Pierce

AAUW Funds

Vacant

DEI

Dre Andrepoint

STEM

Vacant

Governance

Jeanette Pierce

Appointed Positions

Membership Outreach

Claudia L. Walker, Ed.D.

Community Coordinator

Claudia L. Walker, Ed.D.

Reservations

Martha Steele

Publicity

Michelle Burk

Historian

Rachel Skelley

Communications

Malinda Gaul

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN

SAN ANTONIO

ANNUAL MEETING

APRIL 5, 2025

The April meeting is the culmination of our fundraising efforts, when we have the opportunity to meet our scholarship winners! Scholarship winners will be announced, and those who are able to attend will be introduced and given the opportunity to speak. It is inspiring to hear about the accomplishments and aspirations of these women, and it is also fun to meet their guests, their biggest supporters. Last year one of our winners brought her elementary school-age daughter, another brought two very proud parents, and a third brought her husband.

We hope to have a good turnout for this event, to show our support for these achievers. We have a lovely banquet room and a nice meal planned. 

RSVP to Martha Steele, steelemar@gmail.com by March 27, 2025.

Location

Pompeii Italian Grill

16109 Nacogdoches Rd.

San Antonio, TX 78247

11:30 A.M. - 1:30 P.M.

Cost: $32

Entree choices:

1)    Chicken Parmesan and pasta with marinara sauce

2)    Grilled chicken with buttered pasta

3)    Lasagna plate

Vegetarian options:

4)    Pasta Primavera

5)    Eggplant Parmesan with pasta

Gluten-Free:

6)    Pasta dishes with gluten-free pasta: +$5.00

All entrees come with home-baked bread and garlic-basil infused olive oil. Beverage choice of tea, soft drink or coffee.

Prices include gratuity and contribution toward the cost of the banquet room.

DESSERT

Sheet cake designed especially for AAUW

and our scholarship winners

PAYMENT OPTIONS

Pay at the door or pay in advance using Zelle, and send to aauwsa@gmail.com.

Again–the deadline to RSVP is March 27.

Women’s History Month at March Meeting

Title IX of the 1972 Education Act Amendment was the subject of the speech by Betsy Pasley, author of From the Sidelines to the Headlines: The Legacy of Women’s Sports at Trinity University.  In documenting the growth of women’s sports at her alma mater, Trinity University, she made a broader study of the law and its impact at the time.

Betsy Pasley, a wife, mother and grandmother, retired from the corporate world and gradually took up the mantle of amateur historian. As a former student athlete, she was asked to help document the growth of women’s sports at Trinity which, unsurprisingly, was not included in the official record.

At the time, women’s applications to graduate and professional schools were routinely denied or limited based on historical prejudices. While the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin, it did not prohibit discrimination based on sex. In 1970, Edith Green, chair of the House Special Subcommittee on Education and one of 11 women members of the U.S. Congress at this time, called hearings to investigate obstacles to educational opportunities for women. After the hearing, Green created the proposal for Title IX.

Many considered Title IX a stopgap until the Equal Rights Amendment, then making its way through ratification by the states, would become part of the U.S. Constitution. As we know, opposition forces, whose public face was Phyllis Schafly, head of STOP ERA, stalled the ERA with only three states left to sign.

When Title IX was passed, the concept of equality in financial support of both men’s and women’s sports was hailed as disastrous for all college athletics. Senator John Tower of Texas proposed an exemption for men’s revenue-generating sports, backed by the NCAA. It was countered by Senator Jacob Javits’s amendment that altered the language to say “reasonable provisions” should be made for intercollegiate athletics.

Today, the impact of Title IX is evident in every corner of US society. In her conclusion, Ms. Pasley spoke of the current backlash against DEI with the observation that pendulum swings in one one direction often lead to a violent swing in the other direction, instead of settling in the middle.

My observation is that the reaction to Title IX, that it would ruin college sports for all, is now being replayed on a broader scale. It is the zero-sum concept that equality means less for those who are already dominant. But time and again we have seen that more opportunity for more people leads to more growth for society as a whole.

Martha Steele

AAUW San Antonio

Program VP

Betsy Pasley

Our March speaker was selected to participate in the Olympic Torch Relay leading up to the 1984 Olympics.

The AAUW San Antonio Nominating Committee of Suzanne Benson, Cheryl Fuller, Malinda Gaul, Laurie Reinhart, and Pat Sanford announced the

slate of officers for election at the April meeting.

President – Claudia Walker

President Elect – Martha Steele

VP Programs – Martha Steele

VP Membership – Debbi Sochia

Secretary – Debbi Sochia

Treasurer – Sharon Parson

Act to Support Women’s Equity

We see and hear rallying cries in the news media asking us to choose to do something over doing nothing. In AAUW, we are advocates for women’s issues and now is the time to move from advocacy into action. Individual action might be small or large. It might take little time or require a bigger investment. Each and every action we take is valuable and is needed right now. Act locally, nationally, or both. Write, call, make in-person visits, write letters to the editor, become informed about school board candidates and vote for candidates who want to support and fund public education, and more. Below are links to use to find who your US legislators and Texas legislators are, how to contact them, and links to the Texas Legislature.

United States Representatives

You can contact your national representatives by clicking on Congress.gov at https://congress.gov

Texas  

• https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov
• Texas Legislature Online - Texas.gov
• Texas Legislature Online (.gov)
• https://capitol.texas.gov
• My TLO · Track Legislation With Bill Lists · Receive Bill and Meeting Alerts · Subscribe to RSS Feeds View available RSS feeds · View Content on Mobile Device...

Bill Lookup

Calendars · Bill Status Hotline. 877-824-7038 (in Texas only, toll ...

Committees

View hearing notices, meeting minutes, and witness lists for a ...

House Members

Texas Capitol, Texas Legislature Online House Members. *, Help ...

Search

The Legislative Archive System provides electronic access to ...

Texas Constitution and Statutes

Please contact legislators encouraging them to vote in favor of AAUW priorities. An issue of great importance now and in the future for Texans is education. Please make your voice heard in support of public schools and against vouchers. Also continue to make use of The League of Women Voters website https://www.lwv.org and websites of other organizations that share our values. Look for emails from AAUW and other organizations that make contacting representatives easy. On many sites, just a click or two will suffice. Others provide a basic letter with pertinent points you can customize if you wish and then click to send.

Thank you for actively supporting our mission!

Pat Sanford

AAUW SA Public Policy Chair

AAUW Texas Public Policy Committee

AAUW hosted a Legislative Day at the State Capitol on March 17, 2025. Members from around the state joined forces in support of public education. After a briefing, AAUW members visited representatives and senators.

The main topics discussed were Educational Savings Accounts - vouchers and funding for public schools.

The San Antonio delegation included President Dr. Claudia Walker, VP of Membership Debbi Sochia, Public Policy Chair Pat Sanford, AAUW Texas VP of Membership Diane Claiborne-Carr, and Malinda Gaul.

The Two-Minute Activist

The Two-Minute Activist is a source of information on topics relating to women’s issues. It also enhances our ability to send emails and texts to legislators to fight for equal pay, family leave, stopping sexual harassment, equality in education and more. Sign up on the AAUW webpage to get regular alerts to be able to take timely action.

You can also text “AAUW” to 21333 to get AAUW action alerts via text. 

American Association of University Women

San Antonio Branch

2024-2025 Programs

Theme for 2024-2025:

Celebrating our Differences As We Advocate for All Women

May 3, 2025

Speaker: Brian Thompson, Edward Jones Financial Management

Topic: Management of AAUW Endowments, which fund our graduate student scholarships.

Location: Restaurant TBA

AAUW Moviegoers (Let’s All Go to the Movies!)

Moviegoers! We had a wonderful time at Diane Claiborne-Carr’s home watching Wicked! It felt like a girls' slumber party without the sleeping bags and pajamas! We had popcorn, movie candy and muffins from Broadway Daily Bread. Plus, if you watched the Academy Awards later that evening, it was fun watching to see which nominees from the film would win. We have watched some great movies this last year: Wicked, A Complete Unknown, Conclave… I’m looking forward to the upcoming movies being released this Spring. We meet the last Sunday of each month. I send out an email with a list of movies to vote on and then let everyone know the winning movie and location. Please join us! All are welcome!

What Does AAUW National Do?

Policy Advocacy: Focuses on national issues affecting women and girls, such as education, equity, pay equity, and reproductive rights.

o   We coordinate our Public Policy Committees, participate in coalition work and partner with other prominent National organizations to raise awareness about our policy priorities (such as the YWCA for our Gen Z Town Hall in Philadelphia).

Subject Matter Expertise: We have historically produced in-depth studies on topics like the gender pay gap and women in leadership roles.

o   While we haven't produced reports recently due to limited funding - we have done high level analysis of pay gap data recently released. We are frequently asked to comment on topics related to pay equity, student loan debt and other issues related to gender equity. You can see our recently updated page on Latinas and the pay gap for example here: https://www.aauw.org/resources/article/latinas-and-the-pay-gap/

o   We have tens of thousands of social media followers across all platforms and have well over 1 million website viewers - ensuring that our brand remains prominent and relevant. CEO Gloria Blackwell has been invited to White House events on at least three occasions recently.

o   On a Global level - Gloria is AAUW's representative to the UN - and our work in this capacity provides great reputational value related to global gender equity work.

Salary Negotiation and Financial Literacy Training: Offers training and resources for women to develop skills to be financially empowered.

o   In particular our Work Smart, Start Smart and Money Smart trainings provide valuable resources and tools for women to become economically empowered. Nationally we work with organizations such as the HBCU Career Center, Tri Delta, Coca Cola Foundation, Finra Foundation, SAGE and others to bring these trainings to thousands of women across the country. These trainings were developed and are updated and managed by the National office. They have been independently evaluated by two separate entitles and continually receive very high ratings from participants.

Fellowships & Grants: We award and administer over $6 million in fellowships and grants each year to hundreds of women in the US and Internationally. 

o   We also connect our members and branches to these awardees and alumnae and have an Alumnae Relations team charged with growing and maintaining relationships with our thousands of distinguished Alumnae.

Membership Services: Provides support and resources for local branches and members, including access to national networks and events.

o   We host all aauw.net websites, process dues, support 990 filings, and maintain our history and globally recognized brand. Without AAUW National - AAUW branches would instead be independently organized entities who would not be networked with one another or have the ability to utilize the AAUW name. 

In essence, while AAUW National sets the strategic direction and focuses on broader issues, local branches implement programs and initiatives that directly benefit their local communities. Together, our aim is to work towards the common goal of advancing gender equity.

Follow AAUW San Antonio on:

Facebook www.facebook.com/aauw.sanantonio