SUMMER SOCIAL EDITION July/August 2026

On Sunday, August 16th, please join us for our free annual Summer Social. We will gather for this fun and festive event at the Balcones Country Club from 2:00 until 4:00 pm.

Watch for your evite arriving next week to RSVP

New member Deena Telley. With thanks to Elizabeth Newell, we are pleased to welcome Deena Telley as a new member. With a background in microbiology, Deena taught chemistry and AP environmental science at Austin High from 2000-2021 while also coaching women’s soccer and directing women’s athletics there. A rugby player and coach for 30+ years, Deena is now retired and happy to join is. She is also, as of August, a new inductee in the Texas Rugby Union Hall of Fame. Congratulations!

Another new member this spring is Emily Gifford. Emily heard about our group (thank you, Nancy Andren) at a book club meeting of the Lakeway Community Library West. She accepted Nancy's invitation to attend our impressive Fellows' presentations in May and the rest is history (she joined!!)

Emily holds a BA in Humanities from Fairleigh Dickinson and an MA in Education from Incarnate Word. She has worked on efforts to assist students aspiring to play collegiate sports and has also served as a staffing recruiter for several I.T. firms. Currently a volunteer at the Lakeway Library's bookstore, Emily is the proud owner of a rescue bunny named Chew Chew. One fun fact about Emily is that she was a Division I athlete in college.

NOTE: New members, Janet Staiger and Kate von Alt will be profiled next month.

Although we pause most branch and group meetings over the summer months, we are a busy bunch and do not stop our planning work. From monthly program development to fundraising to community activism, we "keep on keeping on." Here's a quick look at the amazing speakers and topics we've lined up for 2026/2027:

Mark Strama -- It’s About Voting

Laura Minnigerode -- Gun Sense

Barbara Hines -- The Immigration Battle

Karen Pope -- Women in Art History

Janine Barchas – Understanding Jane Austin

Francie Ferguson -- Affordable Housing in Central Texas

Alison Alter -- AI and Good Government

(+ Our Fantastic Fellows in May)

HAVING FUN RAISING FUNDS '26-'27

We have so many good ideas for activities this coming year, get ready to join in. Here are a few of them:

*Chocolate (need we say more)

*It's a mystery (and, no, we're not saying more...yet...shhh)

*Neat things to buy at meetings: hand-made cards, lightly-used jewelry, and other handicrafts

*Our fantastic pre-holiday silent auction: start thinking about what to give and get

*Continuation of our easy-to-fill donation jars: save those coins (we take cash, too)

STAY TUNED FOR MORE, AND THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Meet the 2026-27 Branch Public Policy Leadership Team

1.  Mary Ellen Scribner, Chair. Focus and Subcommittee Chair: Public Education – PreK-12 & Higher Education

2.  Jackie Hardee, Focus and Subcommittee Chair: Elections and Voting (Also monitor state and federal voting rights legislation)

3.  Suki Steinhauser, Focus and Subcommittee Chair: Women’s Health and Economic Issues -- Organize presence at marches & rallies

To view our latest advocacy alerts and learn more about the issues, click here for July, and here for June.

PLEASE JOIN A PUBLIC POLICY SUBCOMMITTEE. If you're not involved with one of the focus committees above, please consider joining. This Fall is going to be critical for voter registration and voter rights issues and we will need all hands on deck.

Another important way to engage is to help staff voter registration events. If you're not yet registered as a VDR (Volunteer Deputy Registrar) here are links to the Travis County Tax Office and the Williamson County Elections Department to help you get signed up and trained.

In Memoriam: Long-time member Carol Joan Fritz passed away on 5/9/26 at the age of 91. Born in Pennsylvania, Carol earned an EdD in Nutrition and Public Health from Columbia University and pursued careers that included test kitchen nutritionist for Borden, professor, and technical writer for IBM. Carol kept busy with many interests and hobbies and was very active in our Austin AAUW branch, participating in branch meetings, book groups, and culture and cuisine. She was actively involved in politics, voting efforts, her church, and volunteering at local performing arts venues. We will miss her entertaining stories, her perseverence, and her overall wit and wisdom. [A memorial service was held on 6/18/26 at St. John's Episcopal in Austin.]

MAY MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

In May we celebrated both incoming and outgoing honorees. We were honored to host our new AAUW Fellows at our May meeting and so impressed with their research and presentations (top and bottom photos at left).

We were also pleased to honor our outgoing and incoming officers (new membership co-vp Paula Coopwood with Nancy Ennis, above right; new program co-vp Berta Lloyd with incoming branch co-president Sarah Averill, bottom right). Good things are ahead for our branch!

Other News and Notes:

·        Please correct Anne Epstein’s email to aederm@aol.com

·        New member Janet Staiger’s email is jstaiger@utexas.edu

·        Deena Telley can be contacted at Deenapuffin@aol.com

·        Emily Gifford’s email is emily.r.gifford@gmail.com

·        Kate von Alt’s email is kvonalt@yahoo.com

Sharon Lesikar, a long-time branch member, is our new Central Texas Representative to the AAUW Texas Board.