Student, community member receive prestigious awards for progressive initiatives for women

Jordan Haiduk / The Bulletin

Aneta Bodkin congratulates Ann Birney as she receives the Mary Headrick Award at the ceremony in the Memorial Union Kanza Room.

The annual Susan B. Anthony Scholarship and Mary F. Headrick Award were presented at 3 p.m. Friday, March 7 in the Memorial Union Kanza Room. Annabel Osburn, junior social science major, was presented with the Susan B. Anthony Scholarship and Ann Birney, an active community member, was given the Mary Headrick Award.

The Susan B. Anthony Scholarship includes a personalized plaque and $1,200 to be split among two semesters. This award was presented to Osburn by Aneta Bodkin, assistant director of student wellness and counseling center.

"It's a ridiculously high honor and means a lot to me," Osburn said.

The scholarship is awarded to a male or female student who has demonstrated the greatest input to the education and advancement of women on campus. The honoree must also demonstrate academic excellence through their grade point average and other honors.

Osburn is from Manhattan and would like to work for a non-profit organization that helps women after graduating. Osburn demonstrated her input to women's growth and education through her active participation and leadership in clubs on campus. She is a member of People Organized for Women's Equal Rights (POWER) and the vice president of Young Democrats. To honor her award, Osburn plans to continue this action and become even more involved.

In her brief acceptance speech, Osburn said she could not express how grateful she was to receive the scholarship and thanked the coordinators for presenting her with the honors. Kelli Coble, last year's recipient, then passed on the medallion to Osburn, who will have possession of it until next year's ceremony.

"I'm glad to see everyone out here supporting women and education," Osburn said.

The Mary F. Headrick Award is given to an employee or community member who has most effectively promoted the continued growth of women and girls in area schools and the community. This award was presented to Birney by Bodkin as well.

The traditional award originated in 1993 in honor of Mary Headrick, who retired in 1992. Headrick served ESU for 27 years. While she was here, Headrick taught classes, supervised graduate students and worked as a counselor. Headrick is also remembered for founding the Women's Resource Center, the Biofeedback Lab and the Susan B. Anthony Scholarship at ESU.

Birney was nominated for the award by Karen Manners Smith, associate professor of history. Birney demonstrated her continued promotion of females through her dedication of working with local and national Girl Scout chapters, doing professional and volunteer work and spending time on workshops, publications and dissertations. Since 1993, she as also been performing historical female characters for audiences.

Upon introduction and the presentation of the award, Birney said, "It is much easier to be Amelia Earhart," than to deliver her acceptance speech.

In her speech, Birney compared the treatment of male and female students at ESU during the 1960s. She explained that females had to wear skirts and had early curfews. However, the males were usually the cause of problems, and ironically had none of these types of stipulations.

The award ceremony was hosted by the Women's Center, who announced Friday the decision to change their name and location and to broaden their scope. Bodkin explained that the group will carry the same mission with a new name. They will now be called the Gender Program. The new program will be geared toward both genders and will go out to meet the needs of students, instead of waiting for students to come to them.

The bulk of the ceremony was led by Bodkin, who recognized four past recipients in the audience and the runner-ups to the Susan B. Anthony Scholarship. The guest speaker for the afternoon was Jan Wheeler, who worked at ESU for 11 years in the student life and counseling center. Wheeler took over Mary Headrick's job after her retirement.

In reference to replacing such an influential woman, Wheeler said, "We are standing on the shoulders of the women before us."

Bodkin was pleased by this year's excellent number and quality of scholarship applications. She concluded the ceremony by encouraging students to apply for next year's award, since the scholarship is growing and the process would be worth the applicant's time.