Office of the Dean of Students | Vanderbilt University

July 7, 2009

The Office of the Dean of Students welcomes the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center into its operational division and looks forward to sharing resources and supporting the Women’s Center in its programs and services. Associate Dean Sandy Stahl will work with Nora Spencer who has been named director of the Women’s Center and who will also continue as director for the Office of LGBTQI Life. The following points may be informative:

The Women’s Center and the Office of LGBTQI Life will remain separate centers with separate budgets and separate advisory boards.
Staff is being hired for both operations to ensure adequate support for programs and initiatives.
Strategic planning for program enhancement and development is in process and will likely continue throughout 2009-2010 for both the Women’s and LGBTQI Centers.
University efforts to prevent sexual assault and serve victims of violence will be expanded in coalition with other University departments.
An architectural study will be undertaken to assess the feasibility of a renovation of the Women’s Center facilities.

Ideas, suggestions, and support from faculty, students and staff will be important considerations as we move forward. We see opportunities for growing the programs of these two centers that will benefit the University community.

Questions, concerns, suggestions should be directed to:

Associate Dean Sandy Stahl: sandy.stahl@vanderbilt.edu
Director Nora Spencer: nora.spencer@vanderbilt.edu

June 12, 2009

Dear Friends,

As you may have seen in today’s edition of myVU, LGBTQI Life director Nora Spencer has an expanded role on campus that now includes the directorship of the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center at Vanderbilt, effective July 1st. In addition to her new responsibilities, Spencer will continue her leadership of the Office of LGBTQI Life.

Does this mean that the Women’s Center and Office of LGBTQI Life are merging?
Absolutely not. Both centers will retain their autonomy, respective buildings on campus, and programs. An additional staff member will be hired in LGBTQI Life to account for Nora’s added responsibilities.

How will this affect LGBTQI Life?
With the addition of a full-time staff member and an enhanced relationship with the Women's Center, the Office of LGBTQI Life will flourish. We will continue to develop the office with guidance from the LGBTQI Life Advisory Board and feedback solicited from our Family Meetings.

How are these two centers complementary?
While the areas of focus for the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center and Office of LGBTQI Life differ, they share some similarities. Both centers serve students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community members; both serve identity-specific populations while looking for ways to raise awareness about particular issues across campus; the work of both centers intersect in the education about gender identity and expression, violence prevention, institutional inclusion, and more.

How can I help shape the future of the Women’s Center?
This fall we will create faculty and student advisory boards for the Women’s Center to help steer our work and reflect the priorities of our constituents. You can also email, call, or stop by with ideas, concerns, suggestions, or inquiries.

What experience does Nora bring to the lead the Women’s Center?
Nora has a strong history of collaborative, intersectional work and has led initiatives related to women’s and gender issues in higher education and community settings for over a decade. To read more about Nora's professional background, see below.

While no transition is effortless, we are convinced this decision is a good one and will enhance the work of both the Women's Center and LGBTQI Life.

Please feel free to contact Nora Spencer at nora.spencer@vanderbilt.edu or (615) 322-3330.

Background information about Nora Spencer:

headshot of nora spencer As an undergraduate student at Creighton University, Nora organized to create the Eileen B. Lieben Center for Women, an office that still flourishes today. She spent the summer of her junior year working as a full-time volunteer at a women's transitional housing facility that served homeless and recovering women and their children. As a senior she received the Mary Lucretia Creighton Award for women's advocacy and achievement.

Upon graduation Nora spent a year as a residence hall director in an all-women's hall at St. Norbert College, where the Women's Center and Childcare Center also reside. As the administrator of that building she worked closely with both offices and designed many campus programs around women's issues. Outside of work, she volunteered as a Victims' Advocate for the Sexual Assault Center, where she did everything from staff the crisis line to meet survivors at the hospital or police station immediately after an assault.

While Nora enjoyed working in student affairs, she was most drawn to gender and sexuality education and decided to do this work full-time. She left St. Norbert and took a position as Director of Education and Training for Planned Parenthood of Nebraska-Council Bluffs, educating about and organizing around women's issues across the city. Also during this time she served as a consultant to Family Planning International Assistance, leading a team to the Dominican Republic to train peer educators on HIV and pregnancy prevention; she also co-coordinated a year-long professional exchange between PPNCB and the Foundation for Youth Development, a non-profit agency focused on family planning and disease prevention. Additionally, she was asked to serve on the advisory board for the Women's Studies Department at University of Nebraska at Omaha, and volunteered as a Spanish interpreter for several community agencies including a healthcare clinic and domestic abuse shelter.

When PPNCB merged with another affiliate, Nora left Planned Parenthood and went to graduate school at the University of Florida, where she earned an MFA in creative writing. Outside of writing workshops, her graduate coursework was in feminist and queer theory. She began finding ways to integrate the critical inquiry of gender and sexual identities into the classes she taught as a graduate instructor.

Upon graduation Nora was hired by the University of Florida English Language Institute as an adjunct instructor. At the same time she also taught at a community college and spent much of her free time mentoring women of all ages who were re-entering the workforce after years of raising children or working in low-wage, disempowered jobs.

When the directorship of LGBT Affairs opened at the University of Florida, Nora was reluctant to give up teaching but invigorated to return to student affairs in a role that integrated all of her interests. Among many other accomplishments, she forged a strong partnership between LGBT Affairs and the Women's and Gender Studies academic department and coordinated much of the co-curricular programming on women’s and gender issues.

In June, 2008, she was hired to launch the Vanderbilt University Office of LGBTQI Life as Director.