Women's Leadership Program - National Network

NATIONAL NETWORK

N.E.W. Leadership Oklahoma is a program of the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. The Carl Albert Center is a participating partner in the N.E.W. Leadership Development Network, an initiative of the Center for American Women in Politics/Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Center for American Women in Politics (CAWP)
Before CAWP was founded in 1971, no organization or educational institution was compiling information about women in government and politics or studying and monitoring the status and prospects of those women. Today CAWP serves as a catalyst and resource, provider of data and analysis, interpreter and guide. CAWP is a leading authority in its field and a respected bridge between the academic and political worlds.

The N.E.W. Leadership Development Network
CAWP launched an effort to develop N.E.W. Leadership programs across the United States in 1999 by establishing the N.E.W. Leadership Development Network -- an initiative to build and support young women's public leadership education at colleges and universities across the United States. Representatives from partner institutions attend a Program Development Institute in which they observe and participate in the N.E.W. Leadership New Jersey program. The partners then return home to their campuses to plan regional N.E.W. Leadership programs in their own state/area.

Development Network Partners
To date, more than 800 college women from 35 states have participated in a N.E.W. Leadership Summer Institute. In 2004 the following Development Network partner institutions hosted N.E.W. Leadership Summer Institutes in their own states:

Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center at University of Oklahoma

Pennsylvania Center for Women, Politics and Public Policy at Chatham College

Women’s Resource Center at Washington State University

Center for Women and Democracy at University of Washington, Seattle

John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy at The Ohio State University

Women’s Research Institute at University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Sue Shear Institute for Women in Public Life at University of Missouri, St. Louis

Women & Politics Institute at American University

Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama

Minnesota State University, Moorhead

Portland State University, Portland, Oregon

Carl Albert Center
The Carl Albert Center is a non-partisan institution concerned with problems of modern democracy. The Center offers undergraduate and graduate programs in congressional studies; publishes Extensions, a journal on issues related to Congress; promotes original research; maintains a Congressional Archives; and sponsors civic education programs including conferences, speakers, television programs, and the biennial Julian J. Rothbaum lecture series.

Our Mission

The Women’s Leadership Initiative at the Carl Albert Center seeks to address the historic under-representation of women in politics, public service, and other leadership roles. Our mission is to educate, inspire and empower women to become political leaders. We accomplish this mission through a series of educational initiatives designed specifically for women in Oklahoma.

About Us

The Women’s Leadership Initiative includes several programs designed to increase women’s participation in politics and public service. Now in our tenth year, the N.E.W. ( National Education for Women’s) Leadership program is an intensive, five-day institute that includes the top undergraduate women from colleges across Oklahoma.

Pipeline to Politics serves women who are beyond college and/or in the workforce and interested in stepping up their political and civic engagement…whether that means running for office, working on a campaign, or becoming more involved in community-based issues and organizations.

In partnership with the Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma Inc., the Women’s Leadership Initiative hosts an annual leadership conference for “Tweens”. The conference strives to encourage, educate, and empower girls to discover and use their voices to positively impact their lives, their schools, and their communities.

Through The Appointments Project (TAP), the Women’s Leadership Initiative is working with Oklahoma’s new governor to ensure more women are appointed to high-level and powerful posts. TAP is a non-partisan effort to bring parity to decision-making bodies by identifying qualified women to serve.