Throughout 2023, Case Western Reserve will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Mather Center and the Alumnae Association of the College for Women—as well as its benefactor and namesake, Flora Stone Mather. Beginning with the Think Forum event with lawyer, educator, and civil rights activist Anita Hill and concluding with a conference on Women in Philanthropy in October featuring keynotes from FedEx Custom Critical President and CEO Ramona Hood and Founder and Former Chief Marketing Officer of KIVA Jessica Jackley, this year of events will include opportunities for community members and supporters nationwide to engage with the center through programs, history projects, research, and philanthropy.
View The Flora 20/The Exponential Power of Women Event Workbook Here.
The Flora Awards
In celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women in 2023, twenty women from across the nation have been chosen as recipients of the Flora Award. The Flora Award honors the philanthropic spirit and community service of the Center for Women's namesake who, like Flora Stone Mather, address problems in their community and work innovatively and tirelessly to solve them through significant philanthropic and communal service and other acts of generosity.
Over the course of the next four months we will be highlighting the leadership legacy of the twenty Flora Awardees through a series of video vignettes. We hope you will watch our ongoing video series highlighting the honorees and we invite you to celebrate them with us on October 18 at an event that will commemorate our past, celebrate our present, and create our future by launching a women-led philanthropic effort that supports initiatives and programs that ignite women's passions, voices, and hearts.
Alexandria (Alex) Johnson Boone, MSODA (GRS '81)
Jeanette Grasselli Brown, PhD (GRS '58, HON '95)
Marilyn Burns
Beth Embrescia, MSSA LISW (SAS '94)
Char Fowler, Chann Fowler-Spellman, Holley Fowler Martens MSSA, LISW (SAS '07)
Norma Saphire Geller (SAS '91)
Julie Louise Gerberding, MD, MPH, CWRU Trustee (WRC '77, MED '81, HON '06)
Roe Green, CWRU Trustee
Joie Gregor (GRS '74)
Ka-Pi Hoh, PhD (CIT '84; GRS '87, '89)
Nancy Kurfess Johnson, MD (FSM '49, MED '54, GRS '98)
Ellen Stirn Mavec, CWRU Emeriti Trustee
Marilyn Sanders Mobley, PhD (GRS '87)
Beth Mooney (HON '19)
Jacquelyn Nance, CWRU Trustee (LAW '92)
Iris Flaxman Hollander November (FSM '53, LYS '67)
Sandra Russ, PhD
Debra Wilfong, PhD, CWRU Trustee (CIT '78; GRS '82, '85)
Margaret W. Wong
Patricia B. Kilpatrick - posthumous (FSM '49, GRS '51)
Ann Amer Brennan - posthumous
You can also watch a bonus video of our rising student leader, Carly Scott, to learn about the impact these women have made on the lives of Case Western Reserve University Students here.
Calendar of Events
For more information about each event and to register, click on the link in the Registration Details below.
| Upcoming Events (all times Eastern) | Registration Details |
|---|---|
| Wed., Aug. 23, 4:00-5:30 pm | Women Faculty Welcome |
| Fri., Sep. 1, 2023, 12:00-2:00 pm | Welcome Back Ice Cream Social |
| Wed., Sep. 20, 2023, 12:00-4:00 pm | SEXPOpalooza Health Fair |
| Fri., Oct. 13, 2023, Time TBD | Mather Center 20th Anniversary Farm Open House |
| Thu., Oct 12 through Wed., Oct. 18, 2023 | Homecoming Mather Center Interactive Timeline |
| Wed., Oct. 18, 2023, 3:00-7:00 pm | Mather Center 20th Anniversary Symposium |
Oral History Project
In 2009, American Studies professor Gladys Haddad, herself a Flora Stone Mather College alumna, created a SAGES course for CWRU students, in which she helped them develop interview guides and conduct oral history interviews with other FSM alumnae. Following this initial endeavor, Dr. Haddad helped students conduct 20 more interviews (for a total of 26) with graduates spanning the years of Mather College, from as early as the class of 1936 all the way to the 1960s and 70s.
You can listen to all these interviews, as well as view Dr. Haddad's documentaries about Flora Stone Mather and the colleges, at this link: Flora Stone Mather Oral History Project. We will also soon be hosting brief descriptions of each interview, and on our digital exhibit page (described below), you can view a gallery of photos that will illustrate some of what the interviewees discuss.
Digital Exhibit
We have also been working diligently to compile the history of women at CWRU, and how their experiences and activism have culminated in the creation of the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women. In this digital exhibit, you will able to view some of the key events and programming for the 20th anniversary celebration, as well as an interactive timeline showing the history of the Center and women at CWRU more broadly, highlighting the significant moments and people that helped us achieve the development of the center all the way up to our 20th anniversary.