Vol. 22, No.
O'Hara named as Director of Student Affairs
By Michele Hart
Peggy O'Hara has always been
involved with students in her 16 years at
Capital College, but now she will be
closer than ever to the students. O'Hara
was named to the Director of Student
Affairs post last November.
Formerly the Coordinator of
Career Services, O'Hara had also held the
title of Assistant Director of Student
Activities. In her new postion, which
had been occupied since 1976 by Dr.
Jerry South, O'Hara will still be
working with Student Activities, but
now she will also be handling residence
living, health services, career
counseling, athletics, financial aid, and
support services.
Student Affairs is something
that most students have heard of, but
really do not know what its function is.
O'Hara would like students to have a
better knowledge of Student Affairs and
plans to make it more visible to
students. She is currently working on a
plan that will consolidate each office
that is under Student Affairs to one
complex and have one person head each
division.
Her job, then, will be to
supervise and help each branch of
Student Affairs. "Basically, the most
important duty , as I see it, is to help
the people in those positions," she said.
Chilly Classroom Climate Investigated
By Jan Travers
"Unsatisfying or negative
experiences in the classroom may
contribute to high rates of attrition
among students. In addition, it can
affect those who complete their
education by limiting their intellectual
growth, self-confidence and career
aspirations." --The Strategic Study
Group on the Status of Women, July
1987.
In a report released in August
1987, the Strategic Study Group on the
Status of Women made a
recommendation to the Penn State
administration to study the classroom
climate for women within the university
and commit institutional resources to
improve it, as necessary. Of particular
concern to the group was the critical
element of professor/student interaction
Penn Slaty 'lli% CI SO V
O'Hara will also do "any kind of extra,
odd things." She said that it will be
important for her to make sure that this
campus is taking advantage of
everything that it should be taking
advantage of at University Park.
Student Affairs is important in
that respect because it works for the
benefit of the students. "The role of
Student Affairs is of student advocacy,"
she said. O'Hara wants to help evaluate
student organizations to make sure they
are getting and doing all that they can for
the students.
But, O'Hara wants Student
Affairs to help not only the students, she
plans on working closely with the
faculty and staff of this campus. "One
of my goals is a closer working
relationship with staff and faculty," she
said. "We need a good, basic
understanding of what each other's
responsibilities are and what we do."
If she can accomplish her goals
she said that Student Affairs will be
more effective and can grow. The most
challenging aspect of that growth will be
moving this campus into the 1990 s and
"making everything relevant," O'Hara
said.
in the classroom
The group's investigation,
which concluded with the report, was
supported by forums held at all Penn
State locations during the early months
of 1986. In the report, they detailed
examples of the "chilly classroom" for
women, ranging from outward verbal
attacks to intimidation caused by the low
numbers of women at Penn State.
The report told of incidents
where women in nontraditional fields
were told they were doing well "for
women," and of an engineering student
being told by a male faculty member
that it didn't matter if she learned
anything or not, "she would be hired
because she was a woman." In addition,
returning women on many campuses
reported being intimidated by male
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Peg O'Hara has recently been named the Director of Student
Affairs at Capital College.
faculty members.
The study group made three
suggestions for improvement of the
situation at Penn State--mentoring,
monitoring the classroom climate, and
improving the faculty/student
interraction in the classroom.
At Penn State, where females
comprise only 17.1 percent of the
faculty, finding role models for women
students is limited. The study group
suggested Penn State encourage faculty
to accept the role of mentor in return for
recognition in promotion and tenure
decisions.
In addition, they recommended
to the president that questions
concerning "classroom climate" appear
on student evaluations of instructors and
etv
1114
•
I
that handbooks be developed for program
heads that contain information on
improving and assessing the classroom
climate.
The classroom atmosphere has
become an important factor in the high
attrition rate of women, as well as
minorities and all returning students in
recent years, putting these groups at a
significant educational disadvantage.
However, the atmosphere can
also affect men by reinforcing negative
views about women. Be receiving these
mixed signals, either overtly or subtly,
they can interfere with men's ability to
work with women as equals, both in the
classroom situation and later in the
"real" world.
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