The Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics is pleased to recognize the accomplishments and activities of its students, staff and supporters:
Jenny Barker-Devine, who received a 2006 Catt Prize for Research on Women in Politics honorable mention award, presented her book, “On Behalf of the Family: Iowa Farm Women’s Activism since 1945,” at the Wonder of Words Festival on Nov. 9 in Des Moines. Her book examines the roots of rural feminism and the impact postwar women had on agricultural development and rural lifestyles. Barker-Devine is an assistant professor of history at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Ill.
Valerie Hennings, scholar-in-residence at the Catt Center, attended the first ever Ready to Run™ National Network partners meeting on Oct. 16-18 at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. The meeting was hosted by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers’s Eagleton Institute of Politics. It included representatives from the 18 programs located around the country that offer Ready to Run™ training in their respective states. The meeting provided an opportunity to exchange ideas for effective training policies and procedures, build connections, and develop new approaches to recruiting and training women for public life.
Szuyin Leow, senior in mechanical engineering and economics and an Elizabeth Hoffman and Brian R. Binger Legacy of Heroines scholar, was named Iowa State’s Homecoming queen during the Homecoming pep rally on Nov. 8. Leow is involved in many organizations on campus including the ISU Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Council, Pi Beta Phi fraternity and Cardinal Key.
Barbara Marie Mack, an award-winning media law professor at Iowa State and member of the Catt Center’s Sapphire Club, was inducted posthumously into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame during a dedication ceremony on Aug. 24 in Des Moines. Each year, four women are inducted in recognition of their contributions to improving Iowa’s quality of life and setting them as role models for others. The Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame was established in 1975 by the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women and is celebrated in conjunction with Women’s Equality Day. Mack is also the 2013 recipient of the James W. Schwartz Award for Distinguished Service to Journalism and Communication, the highest honor conferred by the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State. A ceremony was held Nov. 8 at Reiman Gardens to recognize Mack’s efforts to educate citizens and students about law and social justice.
Corrine McConnaughy, a recipient of a 2002 Catt Prize for Research on Women in Politics, has recently published a book, “The Woman Suffrage Movement in America: A Reassessment,” with Cambridge University Press. The book grew out of her dissertation research, which was supported with the Catt Prize. McConnaughy is an assistant professor of political science at the Ohio State University.