Symposium addresses ‘flexibility stigma’

“The Flexibility Stigma: How to Make Flexibility Policies Truly Usable” will be the topic of the 2009 Denice D. Denton Memorial Symposium on Friday, Oct. 2, at 1610 Engineering Hall.

The keynote address will be delivered by Joan Williams, Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California–Hastings and an expert on work and family issues. All members of the university community are welcome to attend. Registration is encouraged.

Williams is the author of “Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What to Do About It,” for which she won the 2000 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award.

She has played a leading role in documenting workplace bias against mothers.

Williams is the founding director of the nonprofit research and advocacy group WorkLife Law, which is based at the UC, Hastings College of the Law.

Her address will be followed by a public forum featuring a panel that will include Chancellor Biddy Martin; Laurie Benson, co-founder and CEO of Inacom Information Services; Duncan Highsmith, former president and CEO of Highsmith Inc.; and a representative from state government. Benson and Highsmith have received recognition for their leadership on work/life balance.

From 11 a.m.-noon, there will be a question-and-answer session with the panelists and Williams.

A benefit in support of the Denice Denton Memorial Fund will be held from 6–8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1, at the University Club. The cost is $100, half of which is a contribution and the other half will cover the dinner. Registration for the benefit is required.

Register for the events online. A schedule is also posted there.

The Denice D. Denton Distinguished Lecture Series, now in its third year, is funded by the Denice Denton Memorial Fund, the Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute (WISELI), the Office of Child Care and Family Resources, the Women Faculty Mentoring Program, the Irvine Women Faculty Mentoring Fund, and the Women’s Philanthropy Council.

In 1987, Denton became the first woman to join the College of Engineering faculty. She was an assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering and a co-founder of WISELI. She blazed a trail for other female faculty members in science and engineering.

Denton left UW–Madison in 1996 to become dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Washington. She was chancellor of the University of California-Santa Cruz when she died unexpectedly in 2006.