University staff are key to the success of UWM, says Ellen Bravo, executive director of Family Values @ Work and keynote speaker at this year’s University Staff Conference on Oct. 27.
“I want to help UWM employees name why they are important, to see what an asset they are,” Bravo said, “but also name how they can work together – among themselves and with the administration – to find ways to see that value recognized more.”
Bravo, a former instructor in Women’s & Gender Studies at UWM, said she’ll be addressing the stresses that public employees have been under during times of budget cuts.
“We live in a time where state government has denigrated public employees – faculty, staff, public school teachers – and tried to make them scapegoats and stirred up animosity against them,” Bravo said.
“And it’s not just words but actions – budget cuts that have drastically cut the budgets of schools and universities… Naturally, that’s going to affect morale at these institutions.”
The conference, with the theme of “Putting the ‘U’ in UWM,” will offer a series of workshops to educate, inform and engage university staff, as well as emphasize the importance of their role at UW-Milwaukee.
Bravo has long noted the irony of support staff being ranked near the top in terms of their importance to organizations, but whose compensation ranks closer to the bottom.
“I’ve spent my life focusing on workers whose jobs are vital but undervalued, people who are essential but underpaid,” she said.
Susan Butkovic, the conference chair, anticipates that Bravo’s keynote address will help university staff navigate the stresses they face.
“She is a leading advocate for working people,” Butkovic said. “She understands family values and the job/family challenges in these tumultuous economic times.
“She gets it.”
Bravo directs Family Values @ Work, a network of coalitions in 24 states working for policies such as paid sick days and family and medical leave insurance. Before helping start FV@W, she was the executive director of 9to5. She has written several nonfiction books, including “Taking on the Big Boys, or Why Feminism is Good for Families, Business and the Nation,” as well as a recent novel, “Again and Again,” a political thriller involving date rape. She served on the bipartisan Commission on Leave appointed by Congress to study the impact of the Family and Medical Leave Act.
The conference is sponsored by the chancellor’s office. Refreshments and lunch will be served.
