By: Alex Altman
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) — The month of March is recognized as Women’s History Month. It is a way for everyone to celebrate all the different accomplishments and contributions that women have made throughout history.
The University of Arkansas has a long history of influential women who have gone on to do great things in the world.
From famous writers like Darcy Pattison to Miss America 2017 Savvy Shields, to Mary L. Good, the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, to 16 Olympians, women from the University of Arkansas have paved the way for women’s excellence in all types of different fields.
This tradition of women at the University of Arkansas excelling continues as many women are in leadership positions across a wide range of diverse clubs, organizations, and philanthropies.
JESSICA HANSON
Senior Jessica Hanson is an honors nursing student at the University of Arkansas. She is also the president of the U of A’s Global Brigades chapter where she leads a group of nearly 50 students in medical and dental brigades. She had the opportunity to travel alongside her group to Panama earlier this year where she was able to work with medical professionals in rural and under-resourced communities.
“I like being able to go on these trips, but what I love is getting a group of like-minded students together and use their passions on a project that makes such a great impact globally,” Hanson said.
She has been involved with Global Brigades for two years and said she hopes to set an example for other women on campus looking to get into a similar role. She also couldn’t stress enough the importance of women getting involved on campus.
“Women’s involvement on campus is something that inspires not just the freshmen, but also seniors in high school that get to see these people that they can look up to. With the continued involvement of women on campus we can continue to inspire more people than just our peers,” Hanson said.
When asked what one piece of advice she would pass on to future generations of women at the University of Arkansas, her answer was simple: don’t be afraid.
“Something I would say to other women would be: don’t be afraid to use your voice, don’t be afraid to lead in a position where you don’t think that you could see yourself leading because once you step into that role you don’t know what you are capable of until you start doing it,” Hanson said.
Hanson also said that Women’s History Month goes a long way in giving women this sense of pride and empowerment.
“It allows women to grow past the stereotypes of men leading things and putting a little bit of self-worth into women and allowing them to realize that they’re capable of a lot more than they think that they are capable of and that nothing is holding them back,” Hanson said.
MEGAN FORMWALT
Another woman who has made an impact at the University of Arkansas is Megan Formwalt. Megan just finished her presidency for Women Impacting Supply Chain Excellence. She has also been the president of Beta Gamma Sigma, the honors society for the Walton College of Business. She said that these roles and organizations have had a large impact on her.
“I’ve been involved with WISE going on three years now and I would say that that group has had the biggest impact on my life in terms of developing me both personally and professionally. It has just been a great way for me to be surrounded by so many different women that really are passionate about women in supply chain,” Formwalt said.
As more and more women have gained leadership roles in various groups and organizations on campus, Formwalt said that more women and more diversity are the keys to success.
“Having more women in leadership positions is awesome and just in general having more diversity on campus has a lot of great benefits for our student body. Everyone just has a different perspective and I think the more diverse we can make our leadership positions, the better off we will be,” Formwalt said.
Formwalt said that she is increasingly optimistic about the strides women across campus have taken, but that she is not satisfied quite yet.
“Specifically in supply chain alone, we have seen huge strides in women joining supply chain as a major and joining WISE. But although we have increased in a lot of numbers, we are obviously still not matching what the men are now. So I think that even though we are growing, we need to continue to grow until we can even the playing field,” Formwalt said.
When asked about how she is celebrating Women’s History Month, she said that the organization she is part of, WISE, has already taken the initiative to find ways to thank impactful women in their life.
“WISE actually just celebrated International Women’s Day by having a bunch of letters out for students to take time and write to their mentors or anyone in Walton or just in their personal lives who might have had a big impact on them. This was a great way for me and a lot of people on our executive board to just show appreciation to a lot of the women in our life,” Formwalt said.
BREANNA HICKS
Breanna Hicks is a senior majoring in Public Relations at the University of Arkansas. She currently works for the Career Development Center on campus as a Public Relations Career Ambassador. She has received numerous scholarships through her work on campus and has held several internships through the connections she has made at the U of A. She said that overall she would love to see the U of A become more diverse.
“I would like to see the U of A become more diverse, but by all means just doing what I can whether that means helping people establish a better sense of belonging on campus, or just trying to push forward the initiatives to get the ball rolling for the U of A to become more diverse,” Hicks said.
She also went on to talk about the many different contributions that women have made all over campus to benefit students.
“Women are really still contributors in a lot of different things on campus. There are a lot of significant women that make impacts on campus whether it be staff members, faculty, and even students,” Hicks said.
When Hicks was asked about what Women’s History month meant to her personally, she said it was all about giving women a voice.
“I like to think of Women’s History Month as a way to give women a voice in terms of societal aspects in that sense and not only looking at the history but as future women can move the ball forward and continue to be progressive,” Hicks said
These are just three women of the hundreds of thousands at the University of Arkansas who have taken on key roles and leadership positions throughout a wide range of opportunities that the U of A offers. Throughout March, these women and all those who have come before them will be celebrated for their accomplishments and the roles they have taken to pave the way for women in future generations at the University of Arkansas.