The 麻豆原创 Women鈥檚 Research Center has moved onto campus from its former home in Research Park and has a new interim director.
The center is now in the Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning in Classroom Building 1, Room 207H.
Biology Professor Linda Walters has been named interim director after Professor Leslie Lieberman retired as director earlier this year.
鈥淭he center did great work when it was in Research Park,鈥� said Executive Vice Provost Diane Chase, who oversees the center. 鈥淒r. Lieberman provided some outstanding leadership before she retired. Now it鈥檚 time to evaluate and figure out how best we build on her accomplishments.鈥�
The center opened in 2001 to elevate the prominence of 麻豆原创 research relevant to women and to enhance the research capacity of 麻豆原创 faculty women. Goals included promoting research opportunities, building partnerships and bridging research in a variety of disciplines.
Those goals are still relevant, Chase said, but the center is looking to broaden its role to support research about and for women, and to encourage the development of women on 麻豆原创鈥檚 faculty.
That鈥檚 why the move to the Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning is ideal, Walters said.
鈥淭here is so much going on there already,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e will be building on those programs and offering seminars and other opportunities to enhance the resources available to faculty.鈥�
Among the new projects already in the works are a successful-women seminar series showcasing successes within and outside academia, including Chase as the first speaker; one-on-one mentoring sessions with faculty; a revamped web site full of relevant resources that all faculty will find useful, and think tanks and discussion sessions aimed at helping shape the future of the center.
Walters is especially interested in making the center a resource center for as many faculty members as possible.
Running the center is only part of Walters鈥� duties. She will continue to teach and conduct research for which she has earned national recognition. She鈥檚 won numerous grants for marine-conservation research and Volusia County honored her commitment and passion to education, research and the environment by declaring Nov. 6 as Dr. Linda Walters Day.
A search for a director will be conducted in about 18 months. For now, Walters said she鈥檚 excited to help shape the center鈥檚 mission for the next decade.
For more information about the center, drop by, call 407-823-4240, or email linda.walters@ucf.edu or frances.ragsdale@ucf.edu