Mission Statement

Mission Statement

The mission of South Carolina Women in Higher Education (SCWHE) is to improve higher education in South Carolina by promoting women’s leadership and participation.

SCWHE is affiliated with the American Council on Education’s Inclusive Excellence Group, (formerly the Office on Women) and the American Council on Education’s Women’s Network. SCWHE also joins with other organizations to foster an educational, social, and political environment in which women in all their diversity and richness gain a greater voice.

Goals and Strategies

Goal 1: Identify women leaders in higher education.
Strategies:

  • Nominate and support women seeking positions in higher education.
  • Enhance utilization of the SCWHE Advisory Board to assist in identification of women leaders on their respective campuses and throughout the state.
  • Work aggressively to assure that each South Carolina higher education institution has in place an institutional representative appointed by her president.

Goal 2: Develop the leadership skills of women in higher education.
Strategies:

  • Sponsor an annual conference focusing on women in higher education.
  • Provide two workshops for Institutional Representatives, one in the Fall and one in conjunction with the annual conference.
  • Provide a biennial one-day workshop for new and prospective chairs and directors (Fall 2016).
  • Provide an annual workshop for minority women in higher education.
  • Provide a biennial leadership development forum in the spring  (Spring 2016), alternating academic years with the workshop for new and prospective chairs and directors.

Goal 3: Encourage women leaders to make full use of their abilities.
Strategies:

  • Present the Martha Kime Piper Award to recognize the contributions of an outstanding South Carolina woman in higher education.
  • Promote widely all of SCWHE’s programs and activities.

Goal 4: Advance women into senior level positions.
Strategies:

  • Utilize the SCWHE Advisory Board to assist with the implementation and advocacy of SCWHE mission and goals on their respective campuses, across the state, and nationally to organizations and areas of influence.
  • Endorse women candidates for mid- and senior-level positions in higher education.
  • Encourage and support women seeking advanced degrees and leadership development.

Goal 5: Link women leaders at all levels to one another.
Strategies:

  • Collaborate with South Carolina higher education organizations and other organizations with similar missions to promote opportunities to advance women in the state.
  • Advocate the appointment of women to boards and commissions dealing with higher education.
  • Provide scholarships for women emerging professionals and graduate students to attend the annual conference.

Goal 6: Support the retention of women in higher education.
Strategies:

  • Support, endorse, nurture, mentor, and partner with women in higher education positions.
  • Support, endorse, nurture, mentor, and partner with women students in higher education.
  • Enhance and continuously update the SCWHE website.
  • Sponsor high visibility celebratory events to mark the appointments of women to institutional presidencies.