IC News

What does it mean to be an essential leader? On March 1, three women from Ithaca College gave their insight into that question.

The Essential Leadership Panel was hosted by the Office of Student Engagement as part of its annual Women Leaders Series and featured the three 2020 winners of the IC Women of Distinction award — Julie Dorsey '01, MS '03, associate professor and chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy; Te-Wen Lo, associate professor in the Department of Biology; and Tiffany Valentin, assistant director in the Office of State Grants — who spoke about the integral skills they rely on as leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The panel kicked off the ninth annual Women Leaders Series at the college. Programs for the rest of the month will cater to female–identifying students at the college, but the events are free and open to all students. The panelists were selected because they won the IC Women of Distinction award.

Michele Lenhart, director of Student Engagement, said a theme for this year’s series is female leadership in the age of COVID-19.

“Our theme this year is recognizing essential women, and that definition of essential is very broad, so it's kind of how people define it themselves,” she said. “We know we need to acknowledge that the pandemic has been really tough for a lot of people, and when you look at statistics, it has been especially tough on women. There's a lot of data regarding the fact that women of color have been even more impacted. We thought ‘Let's hear from some women that have been working and taking on leadership roles and how has this impacted them and what advice they could give.’”

Dorsey started IC’s Women's Mentoring Network for faculty and staff to support women by connecting them with each other and offering professional mentorship. She said she was looking forward to the Essential Leaders Panel because of the impact it could have on students.

“If there's something that I say that helps students to feel supported, I think that's the biggest impact I can have,” she said. “For this series overall, there's so many amazing events lined up, and I think anytime we can have a chance to lift up women on our campus, to raise awareness about issues faced by women, that is so incredibly important.”

Lo said she has adapted her leadership style from other mentors in her life and hopes students who attended the panel can take away ideas to develop their own leadership skills.

“As far as leadership skills go, I think I've just been fortunate in that I've always had great role models, and I've learned from other great leaders,” Lo said. “What I hope students take away from these types of events, and college in general, is that you really just need to be yourself.”

Valentin discussed the importance of supporting other women leaders during the panel.

“When we see another woman shining, we think it takes away from our shine, and we get competitive,” she said. “I think it's really important to be able to support other women and allow them to shine and know that it doesn't dim your shine. It just means that it’s that person's time right now. Later, it can be your time.”

Jordana Brunache ’22 attended the event and said the panel helped strengthen her idea of her personal leadership, especially as an upperclassman stepping into more leadership positions.

“If a professor or faculty member or friend recommends you for something, that means they saw something in you that you probably didn't see yourself or knew that you had,” she said. “I think it's good to tap into those positions and then realize, ‘Oh, this is what they're seeing. This is what I didn't even know I could do.’”