Heather Aleknavage is currently an office manager and assistant to the Associate VP of Research Operation in the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). She has been at Mason for 17 years, and OSP is the third position she has held since September 2000. She coordinates Mason’s Working Mom’s Support Group Coordinator, and a friend of Women and Gender Studies for a very long time now. She just recently got admitted to the Masters of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Higher Education at Mason.
What has been your relationship with Women and Gender Studies? How long have you been involved with Women and Gender Studies and in what capacity?
When I became a new mom, I craved reassurance that I wasn’t the only one feeling overwhelmed and a support group seemed to be the answer. Knowing the unique problems working mothers share, I wasn’t interested in joining a group of stay-at-home moms who might not have offered the kind of support I needed. Instead, I turned to the resources at Mason hoping that I might find a group already in existence. While I didn’t find the group I was seeking, my inquiries resulted in an amazing amount of interest and support for starting a support group for working mothers.
Through the cooperation and encouragement of the Women and Gender Studies Center, who offered to host the group, I was motivated to start making it happen. In the process of generating publicity and interest for the support group, I found that by reaching out to help other women, I began to feel better about myself.
The first meeting of the Support Group for Working Mothers at Mason was held on February 20, 2003. We have continued to meet regularly in the Women and Gender Studies Center. Our group has been a focus group for the university quality of work life task force, and we’ve helped influence HR and Payroll’s efforts toward promoting telework/flextime options and best practices for using FMLA. HR now offers a new parent packet with a complete checklist to keep new parents on track. Most importantly, our advocacy for the GMU Child Development Center helped to move the construction of a new facility to the top of the list, and the center opened its new doors at the current location on Patriot Circle in 2007.
This group is important because working mothers face unique issues, and coming together over lunch fits schedules and allows members to discuss their experiences in “a friendly, nonjudgmental environment. There is always another parent who’s been through a difficult stage and who can say to us, ‘It will get better! It will get easier!’”
What graduate program did you get accepted in? What are your hopes and goals for this program?
Now that my kids are 16 and 11, I decided it was time to do something for ME! Last semester, I made the first move toward advancing my education when I applied for non-degree admission and took my first graduate class. Throughout my career at Mason, I’ve been able to reflect on my own personal journey and look inward at my goals. This reflection led me to some serious consideration about my future at Mason. I have thought about graduate school several times over the years, and I am now confident that this is the right step. I am ready for an in-depth exploration researching areas of higher education that I have not yet experienced in my career at Mason. The MAIS Higher Education will be a great opportunity for me to learn and grow personally and professionally.
Any additional information you would like to share?
I love working in higher education and have pursued roles outside of my paid position to explore areas where I can make a difference at Mason. For example, a group of champions for student-parents at Mason has come together to look at strategies to support and connect to this important student population. Most of the members of this working group serve in divisions of University Life where they have interacted with student-parents on some level, and they all agree that there is an urgent need to streamline services and resources. I am honored to be a part of this creative and collaborative team coming together to change our campus community for the better.
The partnership between the Mason Working Moms group and WGST continues to evolve, and this is a new area of advocacy that will need all-hands-on-deck to be a stronger voice for women who are raising children while they are working and learning at Mason.
Women and Gender Studies would like to congratulate Heather on her new adventure as a graduate student of the MAIS-Higher Education program! We are extremely excited for you!
April 09, 2018
