Women’s Leadership

When most students arrive on Clemson University’s campus, they are often unaware of the Women’s Leadership program. The students in the WE Lead Creative Inquiry project, mentored by Dr. Sarah Cooper from the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies and Vincie Albritton, Clemson alumna and retired employee, aims to change that and bring more attention to the Women’s Leadership program.

The Creative Inquiry project began with the objective to help students understand how to establish an organization from the ground up with the goal to establish a student-led organization to support the Women’s Leadership program. To start, the team updated the mission statement of the Women’s Leadership program and developed a social media strategy that comprehensively communicates the skills and benefits provided by a degree in this field. Then, the Creative Inquiry team implemented an Alumni outreach program to connect with and recognize the accomplishments of graduates from the program through social media outlets.

Leading the charge are Paige Schickling, a junior women’s leadership and psychology double-major, and Sarah Avery Robinson, a sophomore women’s leadership major. Under their leadership, the Creative Inquiry team founded People Advancing Women’s Empowerment (PAWe). This student organization is a gender and academic major-inclusive club that hosts networking, professional development, speaker series and service events to promote and highlight women in leadership. For instance, they recently hosted a chief human resources officer who spoke about her career and characteristics that companies look for in potential job candidates.

Since PAWe is such a new organization, the Creative Inquiry team is focused on the expansion of their network within and outside the Women’s Leadership major through social media marketing, event planning and mass communications. According to Albritton, “The goal of using CI is to integrate new skills sets with the theory learned in other classes and apply them to the growth and maturation of a new organization.”

Next year, the WE Lead Creative Inquiry project will focus on value proposition design to identify communities and service projects where students can make the most impact. As PAWe continues to build their platform, they hope to showcase the incredible work being done through the Women’s Leadership program and encourage students to get involved in whatever ways they can. “We want our voices to be heard. We want people on campus to have someone to talk to, a place to go to make new connections,” Robinson said.