At its 21st annual Outstanding Women Awards ceremony on May 8, the Institute for Women’s Studies and Services acknowledged six women, a women’s advocacy organization and two longtime institute administrators.

Janell Lindsey (left) accepts the Outstanding Woman Administrator award from Institute Director AnnJanette Alejano Steele while LAS Dean Joan Foster looks on. Photos by Dave Neligh

Awards are given to women who demonstrate exceptional dedication to the women’s community at Metro State and Denver. For the student category, scholarships are awarded to students who have overcome adversity in their personal lives and are inspirations to others, said AnnJanette Alejano-Steele, director of the Institute for Women’s Studies and Services.

The awards are voted on by a committee of previous winners selecting nominees from five categories: alumni, classified staff, administrator, faculty and student.

About the winners
Administrator: Janell Lindsey, director of special initiatives for Alumni Relations and Enrollment Services, has been with Metro State for more than a decade. She was named director of the Student Academic Success Programs at its inception, and is involved with Metro State’s sorority, Delta Sigma Theta. As corresponding secretary, vice president and president for the Denver Alumnae chapter of the Deltas, she has raised thousands of dollars for the community.

Foster and awardee Pat Yarrow, who is president of the Classified Staff Council.

Classified Staff: Pat Yarrow, program assistant in the Art department, dedicates herself to her students, and is highly regarded as a department leader, Alejano-Steele said. Yarrow serves as president of the Classified Staff Council, and classified staff representative for the College Strategic Planning Committee. She recently helped guide the Art department through a national accreditation process that entailed more than 800 pages of submissions.

Interim LAS Assistant Dean Clare Hays was recognized with the faculty award for having advised more students than any other professor in the Biology department.

Faculty: Clare Hays is an award-winning professor in the Biology department. She has advised more students than anyone in her department, having written more than 50 recommendations on behalf of students who have gone on to graduate school, Alejano-Steele said. Hays currently serves as interim assistant dean in the School of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

History Professor Laura McCall has been at Metro State for 18 years and helps organize Women’s History Month events.

Laura McCall, history professor, recently won the Golden Key Teacher and Researcher Award. In the 18 years McCall has been with Metro State, she has completed 18 publications, including an edited volume on Manhood in the West. She has organized Women’s History Month activities and is a moderator for the History Honors Society.

Student: Jaren Gomez, an Individualized Degree Program major, has maintained a 3.95 grade-point average while organizing and working with several fundraisers and organizations. Gomez is a rare student who has demonstrated exemplary leadership and a thorough feminist commitment during her college career, Alejano-Steele said. She has secured a position with Planned Parenthood to start her young career after graduation.

Alumni: Claudia Janiszewski (’07, nonprofit administration) is president and founder of Albania’s Abandoned Babies and has worked in Tirana, Albania as well as New Orleans. In 1999 she provided direct support to more than 700 newborn infants and mothers from Kosovo. Janiszewski was featured in the Rocky Mountain News as an outstanding graduate for her incredible journey to receive her degree.

This year’s $33,000 donation from the Zonta Club of Denver will fund six scholarships.

Special acknowledgement
The Zonta Club of Denver was also honored for their ongoing contributions to Metro State. The club recently donated $33,000 to the College, which helps six students attend Metro State every year.

“This brings our total contribution to this fund to over $130,000 over the years, and this scholarship fund is a way for our club members to make a tangible difference in the lives of local women,” said club President Nikki Headlee. The Zonta Club has donated scholarships to single-parent women to Metro State since 1987.

Library named in honor of Tull, Wetzel
Lastly, Alejano-Steele announced that the institute’s library is being named the Wetzel-Tull Feminist Library in honor of Jodi Wetzel and Tara Tull. Wetzel is the institute’s founding director who retired in 2005 and Tull is its associate director, who is leaving the institute to take a tenure-track faculty position in the Human Services department this fall.