Feature
Amy Odom serves as the Associate Director of Business Career Services and Women of Walker adviser. Photos by Sophia Lyons
Lori Medders is a professor of insurance at Appalachian State University.
Brandy Hadley is an assistant professor of finance at Appalachian State University.
Madison Browne is a senior at Appalachian State University double majoring in risk management and insurance with finance and banking. 26 | November-December 2021
App State College of Business Encouraging More Women to Enter Financial Fields While the trend is starting to improve, the Department of Finance, Banking and Insurance in the Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University has typically seen a lower enrollment of women in the program to that of men. According to Associate Director of Business Career Services and Women of Walker adviser Amy Odom, 33% of students in the Walker College of Business are women; overall, about 59% of the total number of students attending App State are women. In the Finance and Banking program, one of the 17 majors in the College of Business, just 18% of finance majors are women, Amy said. Lori Medders, professor of insurance, and Brandy Hadley, assistant professor of finance, agreed that it’s difficult to count the exact number of women in their programs because the numbers can fluctuate significantly from semester to semester. Despite this, Lori estimates about 40 women are in the Risk Management and Insurance program out of 180 total students; Brandy estimates out of over 420 Finance and Banking majors, just under a hundred are women. Senior Madison Browne, who double majors in risk management and insurance with finance and banking with a minor in criminal justice, estimates there may be four to seven women in a class with 30 people. She describes her relationship with the other women in her classes as a community. “You kind of come in the first day and you see the few women, and you know them because it’s the same women that have been in your classes,” Madison says. “You kind of are like ‘oh, these are my friends.’” To foster that sense of community between women, the Walker College of Business hosts two programs: Women of Walker and the Women in Financial Services initiative. Women of Walker is a spring-semester program hosting workshops, panel discussions and site visits, and is only for business majors; it aims to support women already in the major through professional development and networking. The Women in Financial Services initiative is active all year and also hosts workshops and site visits, and women outside of the business majors are welcomed at their events as well. It seeks to grow the presence of women in the business program as well as increasing financial literacy and knowledge among women in other departments. Amy, the adviser for Women of Walker, describes the program as “intensive.” She only accepts 30 students to the program every year. To join Women of Walker, a prospective student needs a recommendation from a professor, adviser or current Women of Walker member, and they must be a current or intended business major. “We include that ‘intended’ part so we can accept freshmen and sophomores, because typically they have not declared their major at that point, officially, through the College of Business,” Amy says. aawmag.com
