Dr. Verner named director of Women's Center

Former English instructor Dr. Lisa Verner was named the new Director of the UNO Women’s Center on Wednesday, Jan. 20, per official release from the University of New Orleans.

She will now be responsible for producing and supervising activities with the Diversity Council, Student Affairs and other groups on campus and updating service information for on and off campus networks.

Along with giving several scholarships for women students, the Women’s Center also helps connect students to other resources to help educate them about women and LGBTQIQ issues.

Verner, who earned her Ph.D in medieval literature from Tulane University, has been on the faculty since 2002 where she operated as a Women’s Center Coordinator.

During her time as coordinator, Verner taught women’s and gender studies courses for over 14 years and given Coffee Talks, a series of in-house lectures sponsored by the Women’s Center.

While she believes the Women’s Center itself could use some renovations, her main priority is getting students feedback.

“I consider my first order of business to be meeting with students themselves and hearing what they need from us…,” Verner said.

“I really want to hear from students, particularly groups like the Muslim Student Association or the Vietnamese American Student Association, which perhaps aren’t the most obvious connections the Women’s Center might forge, but whose members may have unique concerns and needs that the Women’s Center can help with.”

Beth Blankenship, who recently became the coordinator for the new Center on Teaching Innovation that was opened earlier this month, was the director before Verner was appointed and has been helping her throughout this process.

“In the last few weeks Beth has been extraordinarily generous with her time and expertise,” Verner said. “It’s phenomenal how much information Beth manages to keep in her head, and I just pray she keeps letting me draw off her knowledge until I get the hang of all this.”

Verner said she was initially gratified by the opportunity to become the new director, but was quickly realized what was needed to fill Blankenship’s shoes.

“…it will be quite a challenge to live up to Beth Blankenship’s legacy,” Verner said.

The Women’s Center first opened in 1985 and was responsible for opening the now defunct UNO Children’s Center, in addition to at least six scholarships for female students.

For more information on scholarship opportunities, visit the Women’s Center page on the UNO website.