WGS seeking Sharon Barker Student Activism award nominations
Nominations for the 2021 Sharon Barker Student Activism Award will be accepted through Feb. 14, with a public celebration planned for spring 2022 at the University of Maine.
The Sharon Barker Student Activism Award honors UMaine students seeking to implement positive change in their communities by fostering equity and social justice.
Barker, a long-time employee of UMaine, is known for her passionate advocacy for Maine women and girls.
A community organizer, she was named the first director of UMaine’s Women’s Resource Center in 1991. In that role she mentored countless students, collaborated with faculty and staff, and served as a liaison with women’s organizations in the community. Her leadership included developing and facilitating gender equity workshops for girls, professional development workshops in gender dynamics for teachers, and training UMaine students to serve as role models and presenters at the annual Expanding Your Horizons program for middle school girls.
Her focus in the Maine Girls Collaborative Project and other regional and national initiatives was on sustainability and working to understand and change the culture, rather than “fixing” women and girls. Barker co-founded the Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center and served as the center’s first president, and chaired the state’s Women’s Employment Issues Committee. She retired from UMaine in 2014.
The Sharon Barker Award was introduced by Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGS) and the Rising Tide Center in 2019.
Nominations can be submitted online. For more information, call the WGS Office at 207.581.1228.