Texas Women in Higher Education-Speaker Biographies - Archive 2013
Twila Baker, CPA
Director of Compliance and Environmental Safety
Lamar University
Ms. Baker has served Lamar University since 1995. She began her career with Lamar University as Systems Internal Auditor and later promoted to Director of Internal Audit for all Lamar Campuses. She became the Associate Vice President for Compliance and Reporting and later Senior Associate Vice President of Finance. Most recently she has served as Director of both Compliance and Risk Management. Ms. Baker is a Certified Professional Accountant. She began her career as a CPA working for the firms: Tschirhar, Orion, & Little and KPMG Main Hurdman/Main Hurdman.
Dr. Sherry Benoit
Associate Vice-President
Strategic Enrollment Management
Lamar University
Sherry Benoit has been in higher education for over twenty years. She was a university registrar for nine years and is currently the associate vice president for strategic enrollment management at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. Her areas of responsibility are Admissions, Recruiting, Academic Services, Community Outreach, Financial Aid, Scholarships, Records, Veterans Affairs, Enrollment Marketing, Student Advising and Retention Services, Career & Testing Center, Student with Disabilities Services, New Student Orientation, Week of Welcome, and the newly established University Undergraduate Advising Center. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, a Master of Interdisciplinary Studies degree and a Doctorate of Education in educational leadership.
Dr. Jennifer Fagen
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology, Social Work and Criminal Justice
Lamar University
Jennifer Lara Fagen is an associate professor of Sociology at Lamar University. Her areas of specialization include feminist theory, gender roles, sexual violence and Holocaust studies. Most recently she has focused on using feminist theory to investigate women in fundamentalist polygamous groups.
Shawn R. Gray, R.N., M.S.N., ENP-BC
Director Student Health Center
Lamar University
Shawn is the Director of the Student Health Center at Lamar University and works part-time in the Emergency Department at the Medical Center of Southeast Texas. She graduated with her Master of Science in Nursing in May 2000 and is a board certified Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. She has worked as a clinical nurse practitioner in several local emergency departments. She has also worked with her church’s medical board and assisted with medical mission projects which included opening a medically underserved clinic, hosting blood drives and sending medical supplies to Mexico. Her expanded campus contributions include orientation lectures, health education presentations and health promotion events such as vaccine clinics. She is an active member of the Behavioral Assessment Intervention Team (BAIT) and acting consult for the Sick Leave Pool committee.
Dr. Lula Henry
Coordinator, Post Baccalaureate Certification Program
Associate Professor, Professional Pedagogy
College of Education and Human Development
Lamar University
Dr. Henry has served Lamar University for 26 years as an associate professor of professional pedagogy. She has served the last 10 years as coordinator of the professional services center. She is an advocate for the student, fostering the love of teaching and has taken great pride in mentoring other to follow their dreams.
Dr. Brenda Nichols, R.N.
Dean
College of Arts & Sciences
Lamar University
Dr. Brenda Nichols is Dean of Arts & Sciences at Lamar University. In her role as Dean, Dr. Nichols guides the work of more than 200 full-time faculty in 12 academic departments, inter-disciplinary majors, AFROTC, dual credit programs, study abroad and partnership programs at the undergraduate and Master’s level. She oversees 48 budgets in excess of $40M for approximately 5500 majors. Dr. Nichols has previously served as Chair, School of Nursing at Old Dominion University and as Founding Dean, College of Health Sciences at Southern Cross University in Australia. She graduated from the University of Evansville and earned a doctoral degree from Indiana University in 1983. Dr. Nichols was recognized as the “Most Inspiring Faculty Member” by the Outstanding Graduate for the College of Health Sciences at Old Dominion in 1992. She has served as a consultant to a number of educational institutions and hospitals. Her community activities have included work on breast cancer, civic and hospital boards.
Concurrent Sessions
Title: "The Future is Bright": The Future of Women Leaders in Higher Education
Presenter: Twila Baker, Director of Compliance and Environmental Safety at Lamar University
Summary: Women leaders are growing in Higher Education; the glass ceiling has shattered. This presentation will look at current statistics of Women Leaders, the skills that set them a part, their challenges and recommendations to those aspiring to lead on campus.
Presenter: Dr. Jennifer Fagen, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Social Work and Criminal Justice at Lamar University
Summary: Borne out of the post-war return of men to the workforce and women to their homes, some feminist criticism in the late 1940s focused on the lack of control women had over their own destinies. Also referred to as the "cult of domesticity," feminists argued that women's biological capacity for motherhood and assumption that matrimony was their primary goal prevented them from reaching their potential in the workforce and academia. The cult of domesticity is a narrative that has recently reemerged as a backlash against the gains that women have made in academia and the workforce and it has never been more important that we as women--and educators of women--elucidate the historical context of the rhetoric that threatens the immense progress we have made.
Title: Shaping the Future: Connecting with Other Women at Your Campus and Beyond
Presenter: Dr. Lula Henry, Director, College of Education and Human Development at Lamar University
Summary: This presentation will address trends that will guide the future of women in higher education. It will also give a view of barriers that women encounter. Mentoring techniques that can assist women in persisting in higher education.
Title: Balancing Your Life- Your Health and Well-Being
Presenter: Shawn Gray, Director, Student Health Center at Lamar University
Summary: As women, we are often asked to play many different roles in life. These can include everything from managing a career, to being a wife, a mom, and taxi driver. Our lives can get hectic very quickly and learning how to prioritize our activities and take time for our own health is vital to a well balanced life. In this session, we will define health and discuss what a well balanced life looks like as well as analyze our own life for balance. We will look at ways to re-align those areas needing adjustment and set some goals in order to make that happen. Finally, we will identify ways to maintain a balanced life, learn how to live life to its fullest and thereby shape the future, one woman at a time.
