Leadership conference empowers young women to strive for their ambitions

On April 15, Davis Women in Business (DWIB) will be hosting its first ever OWN IT Summit, a leadership conference geared toward empowering and encouraging young women to take on leadership positions in a variety of fields and to strive to achieve their goals.  

According to Disha Bahl, director of the OWN IT Summit and a third-year genetics and genomics major, the primary objective of the conference is to “empower, educate and to OWN one’s identity as a woman.”

Lindsay Chan, a third-year computer science major and events committee member, noted that “OWN IT was started to address the leadership gap.” She also stated that although women have begun to fill the education gap, there is still a discrepancy between the number of women who are graduating college — at higher rates than men — and the number of women in science and technology, c-level positions, government and general leadership roles.

Disha believes that the concept of the “glass ceiling” often hinders young women from pursuing their ambitions.

“OWN IT seeks to provide college women with real life examples of top level professionals in various fields living their dreams,” Bahl said via email. “This summit [seeks] to provide an experience for women of ALL fields. This is why we chose our respective four panels, as we felt it encompassed a large audience of the UC Davis population and the fields they were interested in.”

Bahl is hopeful that the event will facilitate conversation throughout the university about “the mentality of ‘I CAN’ vs. ‘I CAN’T.’”

“There is this mentality of a certain job being a “man’s” job […] this summit [aims to] break down that mindset and give women, as well as men, food for thought regarding their futures and how being a woman shouldn’t be a barrier but an asset,” Bahl said.

Mary Serafin, a third-year economics and design double major and the president of DWIB, believes that empowering women will lead to an improved community.

“Unapologetically empowered young women result in an empowered greater community,” Serafin said. “An empowered young woman, supplemented by the right tools and resources, can create a ripple effect that influences those around her [to] make strides towards their own goals in any field.”

The event’s agenda includes four panels consisting of esteemed professionals in the fields of business, activism and STEM. The first group of panelists are scheduled under the theme of women in business — specifically consulting, marketing and finance — and include Laurie Lavaroni​,​ the regulatory compliance manager of the Federal Reserve Bank; Jyoti Sarin​,​ the senior manager of IT at Cisco; Shujan Bertrand​, ​the CEO and founder of Aplat Inc. and Brenda Dulger-Sheiken​, the ​senior vice president of State Street.

The second panel will showcase professionals in the fields of science and engineering. The speakers for this portion are Rose Grymes,​ the deputy director of partnerships at NASA; Pratima Rao, ​an entrepreneur in residence of NanoDimension; Jennifer Sinclair Curtis, ​the dean of UC Davis College of Engineering and Erin Cooke, ​the director of sustainability & environmental policy at San Francisco International Airport.

Speakers for the third panel are women involved in activism, politics and media. The panelists will include Ann Shimasaki​, ​the chief consultant of the API Legislative Caucus; Rachel Michelin​, ​the executive director and CEO of California Women Lead; Sheryl Evans Davis​, the executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and Emily Bender,​ the director of programs at Sacramento LGBT Community Center.

The fourth and final panel addresses women in tech and is led by Facebook’s Infrastructure Team. ​Application Product Manager Somdatta Banerjee,​ ​Systems Roadmap Manager Jeanne Lim Biz and Operations Program Manager Kate Lechner ​will be speaking.

Each panel will be followed by a breakout session preceding the next panel of speakers. During these sessions, attendees will have the chance to participate in discussions and workshops with different themes relating to various occupations. Of the multiple sessions scheduled, topics covered will include “life of a NASA scientist,” “women in education” and “joining the workforce.” There will also be opportunities for networking and recruitment during the conference.

Tickets for the event are free and can be reserved via the Davis Women in Business website. Young women of all majors are invited to attend.

“We want attendees to walk away from this summit feeling motivated and ready to take on what college has to offer and beyond,” Bahl said via email. “As our motto states, Dream It, Achieve It, OWN IT.”

As for the long term goals of DWIB as an organization, Serafin hopes that this inclusive space will inspire young women to “educate themselves, empower others and take action toward their respective ambitious goals regardless of gender stigmas, biases or other inhibitions.”
Written by: Kimia Akbari — campus@theaggie.org

Katehi responds to criticism that she should have resigned earlier

The Sacramento Bee reported on March 24 that nearly $1 million was spent investigating former UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, according to information released by the UC Office of the President (UCOP).

Last April, UC President Janet Napolitano ordered a four-month investigation into various allegations against Katehi. The investigation focused on Katehi’s acceptance of board seats for DeVry Education Group and textbook publisher John Wiley & Sons, improper use of student fees, nepotism and involvement in the payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars to public relations firms to clean up her and the university’s online reputations after the 2011 pepper spray incident. Katehi resigned on August 9, 2016, the same day the investigative report was released. She was offered a year’s salary with benefits while placed on leave.

The probe was conducted by the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliff LLP. Dianne Klein, the press secretary and executive director of strategic communications of the Office of the President, provided a statement to The Bee regarding the exact cost of the investigation.

“After taking into account the discounted hourly billing rates and other fee accommodations that the firm agreed to, the final cost to UC will be $988,142.75 for Orrick’s fees and expenses,” Klein wrote in an email to The Bee. “The funds used to pay for the investigation come from the presidential endowment, which does not include any state or tuition dollars.”

Many people feel that the amount of money spent on the investigation could have been allocated elsewhere to provide more resources to students and faculty.

“The big losers in this are the students at the University of California, Davis specifically, and the University of California generally,” said Ed Howard, of the Center for Public Interest Law, to The Bee. “If you think of the number of scholarships or the number of computers, or the excellent professors or programs that could have been paid for with that nearly million dollars, that is just tragic.”

Connor Gorman, a fourth-year graduate student in the Physics Department who was an active participant in the Fire Katehi movement, expressed a similar sentiment.

“Obviously I think it’s ridiculous,” Gorman said. “That money could have been used for other things […] on students, we need so many things. We need more counselors, we need more housing, we need more classes. Tuition also just increased.”

Gorman also expressed his displeasure with the lack of credit given to activists — who held protests and camped out in Mrak Hall for weeks — for their contribution in Katehi’s resignation, since it was amid this student activism that Napolitano put Katehi on a paid leave. According to Klein, Katehi was placed on paid leave because she refused Napolitano’s request for her resignation.

“As you know — but it bears repeating — all of this could have been avoided had Katehi resigned as chancellor of UC Davis as President Napolitano had asked,” Klein wrote in her email to The Bee. “Instead, in direct contravention to the agreement she and the president had made to keep the matter confidential until the terms of the resignation could be finalized, the chancellor waged a public campaign to keep her position while at the same time denying any wrongdoing.

Katehi believes that the investigation last year and the allegations presented against her were not represented well by the statements made by the UCOP, having sent out several tweets against the article by the Davis Enterprise. One tweet read: “I have been working in Higher Ed in the US for 38 years. This is the first time I have experienced this treatment.”

Katehi feels that the UCOP was trying to place the blame on her for the expensive investigation.

“The only thing a President has to do is to ask the Chancellor to leave the position,” Katehi said. “That happens all the time and there are many respectful ways to allow the Chancellor to step down from the position.”  

Katehi maintains that she and her family were threatened and that she was asked to leave her position without any proof that she violated the trust of the university or the law.

“I was asked to leave the university and I am a distinguished faculty member. I have tenure,” Katehi said. “There is a process the UC Senate takes if tenure is to be removed for a faculty member.”

Katehi believes the whole development of the investigation could have been avoided if the UC president had asked her to step down from chancellor by justifying the accusations instead of threatening her and her family.  

“There was no need for an investigation,” Katehi said. “The only thing that the president should have done was tell me for all the reasons she wanted me to step down from my position. But this is not what happened. What happened was that I was threatened that I and my family will be investigated unless I would leave the university, not just the chancellor position. […] I am a member of the National Academy of Engineering and am one of the most cited engineering women in the U.S. and around the world. I would not leave the university overnight as a thief without knowing why I’m leaving the university.”

Katehi believes that the funds might have been better used to support universities and the students, and hopes that UC Davis can focus on improving education and research, increasing the number of scholarships provided and improving the quality of teaching and facilities. Katehi plans to return to UC Davis in the fall as an electrical engineering professor and researcher.
Written by: Jayashri Padmanabhan — campus@theaggie.org

Employees’ injuries still unknown

A branch of an eucalyptus tree in front of the Student Community Center (SCC) fell, injuring four female UC Davis employees on April 5 around 3:30 p.m.

“[The branch] missed the majority of the people, but it did hit one of the tables, where it broke off all of the metal panels and kind of trapped the people under it,” said Ashley Collins, a third-year political science and Spanish major who was at the SCC when the branch fell. “Everybody from the [SCC] runs out […] and it’s kind of an emergency at that point, so everyone is lifting the tree, people are calling 911, it was like a very fast response.”

The Fire Department and Police Department arrived on the scene shortly after the incident. Three of the four people injured were taken to area hospitals via ambulance. According to the associate director of News and Media Relations, Andy Fell, the severity of the injuries cannot yet be publicly confirmed.

Written by: Alyssa Vandenberg — campus@theaggie.org. Kenton Goldsby contributed reporting.