March is always a special month for Brenau, as the university was founded in 1878 to provide higher education opportunities to women. While the university became co-educational in the early 1970s, The Women’s College remains a cornerstone of Brenau. It continues to be a place where women can rise to their full potential and flourish personally and professionally.
The signature event for Women’s History Month at Brenau is the Women’s Leadership Colloquium on Friday, March 21, and a dynamic lineup of speakers from several fields highlights the 11th annual event.
I want to focus on this year’s featured speaker, Dr. Debra Dobkins, assistant vice president and dean of The Women’s College. Dobkins is retiring from Brenau at the end of this academic year after nearly three decades at the university, including 12 years leading The Women’s College. She founded the colloquium, and her hard work has ensured that this has been an inspiring event each year. She and I have worked together for the good of The Women’s College throughout our shared tenure at Brenau, and I have personally appreciated her tireless efforts to serve the university and our students.
Dobkins also was responsible for establishing the Writing Center soon after she came to Brenau, which has helped hundreds of students improve their skills. I am grateful for her service to Brenau and the legacy that she leaves in our Women’s College. It is meaningful and fitting to have her featured at this year’s colloquium.
She joins Keynote Speaker Nicole Love Hendrickson, the first Black woman to serve as the chair of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners, and Alumnae Association Endowed Speaker Nairika Cornett, executive director of the Quinlan Visual Arts Center.
This event always features lively conversations about the unique potential and challenges of women’s leadership. I look forward to it every year, and I encourage women – and men – to attend and be a part of this important dialogue.
To learn more about what’s happening at Brenau, be sure to check out the March episode of my podcast, Brenau Insight: Conversations with the President, on WBCX and SoundCloud.
