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OU DAILY
PHOTO GRAPHIC BY CAITLYN EPES AND JORDAN MILLER
Morgan Neuenfeld, president of the Women in Business Association, stands on the South Oval for a photo Sept. 5. According to the 2018 OU Factbook, there were 2,661 men and 1,444 women enrolled in the Price College of Business in fall 2017.
WOMEN AT WORK Student organization aims to bridge gender gap in OU’s Price College of Business
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U ’s Price College of Business has almost double the amount of men enrolled as women, but one student organization is working to encourage women interested in business to pursue their goals, despite stereotypes or stigmas. According to the 2018 OU Fact Book, there were 2,661 men and 1,444 women enrolled in Price in fall 2017. This means only about 35 percent of students in Price were women. Having more men than women enrolled has been a trend for the school. During the fall of 2016, 2,551 men and 1,406 women were enrolled, and in fall 2015, 2,492 men and 1,390 women were enrolled, according to the 2017 and 2016 OU Fact Books. H o w e v e r, t h e Wo m e n i n Business Association is working to relieve this gap. The organization’s president, Morgan Neuenfeld, said she feels the gender gap in the business school stems from gender stereotypes that we learn as children. “Boys are taught to be rough and tumble and take charge, and women are taught to step back, and I think that’s something that people in the business world still believe,” Neuenfeld said. “People think that women should step back and shouldn’t have a voice, even though women are just as capable of having a voice in the business world as men.” T h e Wo m e n i n B u s i n e s s Association works to encourage
BAILEY LEWIS • @BAILEYLEWIS75 more women to follow their dreams in pursuit of business. According to the association’s page, it “exists to further a sense of empowerment and limitless opportunity for young professional women of the future,” and it aims to “inspire women to use their unique talents and abilities to help transform the world of commerce.” Neuenfeld said the organization is important for teaching students women can be just as involved in the business world as men. “The goal of WBA is to empower and enlighten the women and men who have joined,” Neuenfeld said. “We want women to feel as though they have the power to close the gap, and we strive to create well-rounded students by having volunteer opportunities
for the students involved.” T h e Wo m e n i n B u s i n e s s Association is a relatively new organization and is currently starting its third year on campus. Despite its name, the association encourages students of all majors and genders to join and emphasizes the fact that it’s for everyone on campus. The organization currently has about 132 members and has biweekly meetings on Tuesdays that involve things like self-defense classes, guest speakers and internship opportunities for students. Rachel Mann is a current member of the association and said she joined to meet women with similar goals and to find older students that could act as mentors on her path to success in the business world.
Despite the positivity she has received in the Women in Business Association, Mann said she still receives stereotypical comments when she tells people about her goals in the future. “I have not received any blatant comments,” Mann said. “However, I was talking to someone about my career recently, and they commented that my career will probably be pretty short since I’ll start having children soon.” Regardless of this comment, Mann said she was surprised to see the lack of women enrolled in Price and that it stems from stereotypes people tend to associate with men. “I was actually fairly shocked to see this statistic,” Mann said. “I don’t know why, but I imagine it has to do with many of the stereotypes associated with business,
like working long hours, being continually at the office and away from family, and working only towards a higher paycheck.” T h e Wo m e n i n B u s i n e s s Association’s vice president, Logan Schoonover, said she has also dealt with people making comments about her career choice, but she feels as though the association has given her a platform to speak out about these issues. “(The organization) has given me a platform to speak about gender issues,” Schoonover said. “I had never really seen the statistics or anything before I joined Price and learned about it in the WBA. (The association) has just given me more information and more of a platform to stand up for issues like that.” Schoonover said the association will continue to work to empower women and help them achieve their business goals. “The overall goal is to empower women to do their best in business and to not settle for less,” Schoonover said. “All of the officers try to serve as role models by doing well in academics and by bringing in speakers that have been successful in their field. We just work to lead by example, which I think is empowering in itself.” Bailey Lewis
bailey.n.lewis-1@ou.edu
Office prioritizes diversity, graduation rates New interim leader to focus on faculty retention and more JANA ALLEN @jana_allen21
While the search for a permanent leader of OU’s Office of University Community is still underway, the interim associate vice president is focusing on improving faculty retention, graduation rates and diversity. Jane Irungu, who has held
the position for nearly three weeks, was appointed following the controversial resignation of Jabar Shumate in late July. After Shumate was asked to resign when an audit discovered his misuse of the department’s state-owned vehicle, he held a press conference claiming his forced resignation was racially motivated. Irungu most recently served as OU’s director for the Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies. The Kenya native was the first from her village to graduate
high school, an achievement that sparked a more than three decades-long career working in K-12 and higher education. She received her bachelor’s from Kenyatta University and her master’s and doctorate from the University of Kansas. Irungu said she is currently assessing the office’s needs, but her top priorities are improving faculty recruitment and retention, and improving the graduation rates of underrepresented students. The office of university community was created in 2015 following the
Sigma Alpha Epsilon racist chant incident, with the mission of creating a more diverse and inclusive community at OU. “So faculty recruitment, retention and development means that we are working with the departments to make sure that our faculty is as diverse as we would want it to be,” Irungu said. Irungu said the office will work with hiring committees for open administrative positions to ensure they are looking at a diverse pool of candidates. She said she is working on finding ways to retain
faculty after they are hired, making sure they feel welcome and represented. Irungu said she is also looking at the gaps in graduation rates of majority students versus minority students and wants to improve the retention rates of underrepresented students. “I know that you really have a very brief time during that first year to make sure (underrepresented students) feel like they want to come back,” Irungu said. see IRUNGU page 3