Roots of the Women's Center
In the fall of 1990, Lakeland hired Meredith A. Ring as a Women's Center Program Developer. Her mission was to help identify and overcome barriers that keep women from better paying jobs. Working solo for only a few hours per week, Merry initially established programs that helped women create a pathway back into the workforce. Since that humble beginning, the Women's Center quickly expanded and became a highly valued component of Lakeland Community College. Until her retirement in 2010, Merry led the staff (which grew as large as 10) in serving thousands of women on campus and throughout the community. Theoretically based on Mary Belenky's work in Women's Ways of Knowing, the Women's Center's effort have always been geared toward listening, helping women find and use their own voice, and assisting women in achieving goals of their own choosing.
