Monthly Archives: December 2015

Holiday Party Promises Interesting Talks, Good Food and Splendid Music, Reservations Due December 5 by Linda Patterson

Reservations are Due December 5th!

What you can do if you have not already reserved your place at the Holiday Party:

  • Please note that if you have not already registered and can pay the $2.39 in online fees, we encourage you to register for the party on Eventbrite.  Reservations will get your meal choice and information immediately.
  • You can also print this form and send a check to Dawn Boyd. Please contact her immediately at darnone1@att.net to let her know that your check is in the mail and your meal choice.
Speaker Dennis Mangers

Speaker Dennis Mangers

Dennis Mangers, President of the Board of Trustees of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation and member of the Board of Trustees of the California State Bar, is our guest speaker at the December 12 Holiday Party.

Mangers began his accomplished career as an elementary school teacher, working with first, second, third, and sixth grade students in the Long Beach Unified School District from 1964 until 1968 before becoming California’s youngest school principal, serving first in the San Joaquin Valley and later in Fountain Valley.  He continued his work in education as a member of the California State Legislature (1976-1980) as a member of the Education Committee, Chair of the Subcommittee on Education Reform and as author of the Gifted and Talented Education Act. He retired professionally in 2009 as Senior Advisor to then-President Pro Tempore of the California State Senate, Senator Darrell Steinberg.

Manger’s experience with the arts is extensive.  He is an accomplished singer, one of 18 young performers selected in 1966 in a nationwide talent search by the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Company for a full scholarship to the USC School of Performing Arts.  He went on to play featured roles in Civic Light Opera productions of My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Yeoman of the Guard and Iolanthe.

He is a member and former President of the Board of the Sacramento Ballet, former Chair and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the California Musical Theatre, which produces The Music Circus and The Broadway Series, and was appointed last year by Mayor Kevin Johnson to the Sacramento Performing Arts Theatre Task Force. Mangers will speak on the status of performing arts in Sacramento.

AAUW is fortunate to have one of our scholarship recipients also speak at our December event.  Rachel Jahnsen is a student at California State University, Sacramento, and expects to earn her BA in Theatre Arts in 2016. She has studied and worked with children while raising her 3 children, who are now all teenagers. After finding theater techniques useful for reaching her son with Asperger’s syndrome, she used them while working as a teacher’s assistant to help special needs pre-schoolers learn communication and teamwork skills. Rachel’s children will join us at the luncheon, enjoying their mother’s talk and the holiday celebrations.

President’s message- December 2015 by Nancy McCabe

President Nancy McCabe

President Nancy McCabe

If you were at the September Showcase meeting, you know that we heard an emotional presentation of our scholarships for this school year. I asked how many of us were first-generation college graduates in our families, and about half of those present raised our hands. As I am one of these first in the family graduates, so it seems like a good time to share my story.

Neither of my parents graduated from high school. My father was orphaned at age 10, and he and his five siblings went to an orphanage. The boys were sent to farms to work, so his education ended with the fourth grade. My mother was one of 11 children of a tenant farmer who died leaving half of the children still underage. Mother dropped out in the eleventh grade to help her family.

My mother valued education and basically expected me to attend college. She found a scholarship that paid my tuition, which went from the princely sum of $90/quarter to $105 by my senior year. I worked to pay for my books and such. I don’t believe that I would have undertaken college without her support and expectations. I know that all of us who are first generation have someone who enabled us to see ourselves as going further than our predecessors. Donating to our scholarship fund would be a way of paying forward their gift to us. We can enable and encourage other women to pursue their dreams by showing that we believe in them. It is money well spent.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

— Nelson Mandela

Get Your Articles, Branch Programming, Band Interest Group Information for Printing Here!

putthis_on_calendar_clip_art_1_Programming Calendar

Click here to print the latest programming calendar update, including information for Speech Trek, coming up on Feb. 20, 2016.  Their topic this year is “What is gender bias and inequality?  What is its impact on people?  Why should organizations such as AAUW continue to work to change its practice?”

Here is the holiday luncheon form if you wish to pay by check

Here is the IBC Luncheon form.

Interest Groups and Birthday Celebrations

  • Click here for your interest groups
  • Click here to find out who is celebrating their birthday this month!

Membership Matters

Click here for updates on branch membership!

Have you checked out our online calendar?

If you haven’t, please click here.  We try to ensure that everything stays up-to-date.  Contact Angela at angela.scarlett@gmail.com if you see gaps.

Want to print most of the articles you see here?

Click here to  print the news articles.

Looking for Support for Our March Program on Human Trafficking by Nancy McCabe

The AAUW Sacramento Branch is excited to be sponsoring a program on human trafficking and sex trafficking for our members and the general public on March 10, 2016.  We will have a panel of speakers talking about abuse and violence against women and girls in the Sacramento region.

Our panelists include Jenny Williamson, Executive Director of Courage Worldwide, an organization that offers shelter, counseling, education and training for women and girls rescued from traffickers; Holly Gibbs, a former victim and health educator; and Jan Scully, former Sacramento District Attorney and founder of the Family Justice Center, a new program for victims that offers legal services, counseling and referrals to housing, job training and educational programs.  The Family Justice Center is being developed in collaboration with California State University, Sacramento, and will have a satellite program on campus that will offer victim assistance as well as provide internship opportunities for students on campus.

We need your help in contacting other community groups that might be interested in joint sponsorship and encouraging their members to attend. We will not be asking for financial assistance, but we need them to encourage their members to attend. They will be listed as joint sponsors on promotional materials, and we may set up tables where they can distribute their relevant literature. Could you help with your contacts?

Mark your 2016 calendars for the Interbranch Council Luncheon January 23

Mark your 2016 calendars for the annual AAUW Interbranch Council Luncheon, scheduled for Saturday, January 23, at Plates Cafe. Once again we will meet with members from other area branches for a delicious meal, socializing, and presentations from two recipients of AAUW fellowships.

Registration and socializing will begin at 11:30 a.m., and the event runs until 2 p.m. Plates is located at 14 Business Park Way.

Helen Rocha, AAUW Fellow & IBC Speaker

Helen Rocha, AAUW Fellow & IBC Luncheon Speaker

Our first featured speaker is Helen Rocha. She has received a Career Development Grant to assist her this year as she pursues a master’s degree in Civil Engineering with a concentration in engineering management. A licensed civil engineer, she is passionate about helping communities with their water supplies and infrastructure.  She also mentors engineering students at California State University, Sacramento.

 

 

Swati Patel, AAUW Fellow & IBC Luncheon Speaker

Swati Patel, AAUW Fellow & IBC Luncheon Speaker

Our other speaker, Swati Patel, is the recipient of an American Fellowship and is working on a Ph.D. at U.C. Davis in Applied Mathematics.  She is fascinated by the ways evolution shaped the diverse organisms in today’s world and how math can be developed to study this. Her work is on modeling the feedbacks between ecological processes and evolutionary processes to understand how these feedbacks affect species coexistence.

Those who attend will have a choice of entrees: Chicken Breast Roulades, Tuscan Bowtie Pasta with pine nuts and mushrooms (vegetarian), or Classic Chicken Caesar Salad. Side salads, dessert, rolls and beverages are included with the meal, and wine will be available for purchase.

If you plan to attend, please fill out the reservation form located here  and send it along with your check for $28 to Shirley Zeff by January 15.  The check should be made payable to Capital Cities IBC.  We hope to see you there!

Click here to see a complete list of the AAUW Fellows who will be speaking at different venues.

Cherril Peabody

Exploring Our Interest Groups: Art and Architecture by Cherril Peabody

The Art and Architecture group, one of the branch’s newer groups, started about five years ago. On the first Friday of each month, they tour an art gallery, see public outdoor art, or visit an architectural structure.  One of the first activities involved a tour of the public art at the new Sacramento International Airport terminal, with presentations by group members Anne Just and Vivian Counts, who are docents with the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission Art in Public Places program.

Art & Architecture at Preston Castle

Art & Architecture at Preston Castle

A different member plans the activity each month. Last month they visited the Preston Castle in Ione. This historic landmark dates back to the late 1800s. Twenty members and three guests participated.

Latest Funds Update by Marty McKnew and Donna Holmes

Marty McKnew, Funds Co-Director

Marty McKnew, Funds Co-Director

We have just received the latest Funds report for 2015.  Through the end of September our branch members have donated over $5,000 to our Educational Foundation!  Add to that a check for $3,630 representing the branch’s recent fund-raising efforts.  Won’t you help make our 2015 contributions top $10,000?  Please consider AAUW when making out your year-end giving list.  A donation to the Fund is a great way to honor women.

Donating to the Sacramento Branch 100th Anniversary Fund #4372 will help us complete this Research and Projects grant by our 100th anniversary in 2020.  Of the $8,685 donated, $5,335 was ear-marked for this Fund.  If all had been designated, we would be a lot closer to this goal.  We are making progress – over 40% complete.  But we need your continued support.

Donna Holmes, Funds Co-Director

Donna Holmes, Funds Co-Director

Please consider designating all donations for the next five years to the Sacramento Branch 100th Anniversary Fund #4372.

You can donate on the AAUW website here.  To credit our fund, click on Search for a specific program, then scroll down to Grants and select Sacramento Branch 100th Anniversary.