The second annual Showcase of NC State Women Faculty’s Research, Creativity and Scholarship took place at the College of Textiles on Wednesday evening. For the first time, the showcase had support from every college at NC State, as well as a presenter from every college.
Consisting of guest speakers, a poster session and a networking reception, the Association of Women Faculty hosted over 40 NC State women faculty members, who displayed their current and completed projects. Research projects included polymer and fiber system simulations, the role of fashion innovativeness and next generation planning using 3-D city models.
Marian McCord, associate dean for research in the College of Natural Resources and member of the Association of Women Faculty steering committee, spoke on how she views the showcase as a way to create opportunities for research and scholarly work.
“[The showcase] was sparked at the new women faculty’s annual welcome event,” McCord said. “While there are a lot of opportunities to interact with other women faculty, this is meant to be a very directive event with specific outcomes in mind, which is networking, collaboration and celebrating and creating visibility around the work that women faculty do here at NC State.”
McCord, whose research is engaged in protective clothing against vector-borne diseases, discussed her thoughts on the importance of highlighting women’s work in the NC State community, as well the criticalness of multidisciplinary approaches to problem solving.
“I think it’s important to recognize that women faculty are very strong contributors to the intellectual community at NC State and to the research community,” McCord said. “I think the solutions to our greatest challenges lie within the space that disciplines intersect. All of those are reasons that I think this is a really important event.”
Willa Casstevens, associate professor in the Department of Social Work and chair of the Association of Women Faculty steering team, assisted in planning since last spring for the event, and discussed how the event enhances interdisciplinary relationships and partnerships.
“I think anything we can do to enhance interdisciplinary cooperation and collaboration is very important,” Casstevens said. “There’s a wonderful array of work from different disciplines. I think it’s important that we connect and support one another as women faculty.”
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Warwick Arden, Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Economic Development Alan Rebar and College of Textiles Dean David Hinks made guest speaking appearances before the start of the session. Each commented on the importance of highlighting women’s work.
“I think six out of the last seven faculty members that we have hired over the last several years are female,” Hinks said. “And it’s improving the quality, and it’s improving the diversity and the collaboration.”
The Association of Women Faculty has also partnered with Wolf Tales, a project that collects the stories of the NC State community. Virginia Ferris, outreach and engagement program librarian, commented on the partnership, and how the effort is seeking to include more voices in campus history.
“Wolf Tales gathers short video recordings with students, faculty and staff to capture a more diverse, inclusive picture of our campus and add that to the historical record in the archives,” Ferris said. “I think there’s a ton of really talented, brilliant women doing great work here on campus, and in the libraries. We want to do what we can to amplify those voices.”
