The Women's Resource Center has many things to offer the UNM community this year, including support groups, films, workshops and a brown bag lunch series.
Elizabeth Cahn, program coordinator for the center, said all events are intended to enhance support of women on campus and focus on issues such as body image, different cultures and creativity. She said the brown bag lunch series will offer seven events, including two speakers and five films, which will feature a variety of works by women from different cultures.
"The brown bag series focuses on women and creativity because we find there's a great interest in that," Cahn said.
She said the first brown bag event will be a film about black women's quilting in the Women's Resource Center at 12:10 p.m. today.
Cahn said the main goal of the Women's Resource Center is to educate members of the University community about women's issues and to plan special events, provide a "safe space," mentoring and scholarship opportunities.
"We are working from a perspective that the University as a whole provides a wide variety of resources but in which unfortunately there's not always equal access for women," she said. "So, one of our reasons for existing is to make sure that women students, staff and faculty have a safe place they can go to meet to express their views and to provide or receive advocacy regarding issues that may be marginalized in a larger University setting."
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Cahn said the center provides support groups, such as a drop-in support group Thursdays from 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. that provide a place for women to address body image issues, including eating disorders.
Another new group called Works in Progress, Cahn said, is a reading, discussion and writing group designed to explore women's creativity and self-expression around the experience of disability.
The Works in Progress group meets Saturdays 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. from Sept. 8 - 29. Those interested should contact Susan Weiss at suzweiss@unm.edu.
Cahn said an art therapy support group for women is available Mondays from 3 - 5 p.m. from Sept. 24 through Oct. 29. She said that Wednesday, Nov. 28, the center will provide an art studio, open all day, for people to make a card or ornament for their preferred winter holiday.
She said the center is open to everyone in the UNM community, including men.
"There are a small number of programs that are for women, primarily the support groups, but all other activities are open to anyone," Cahn said.
She added that the center has a computer pod that is family friendly - meaning that those with children are welcome. She said a library of more than 1,000 books about women's issues and topics is available and can be checked out from the center.
"People are welcome to stop by and see what's going on," Cahn said.
For more information on any of the support groups or events, contact Cahn at 277-3716.
