Our Crowdfunding Groups
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) envisions NAU as a welcoming, diverse, and family-friendly community that serves as a model of gender equity. The CSW makes recommendations to the President and leadership about women’s issues addressing concerns in university policies, practices, and programs to enact constructive change.
When you give to Northern Arizona University and the Commission on the Status of Women Martha Portree Scholarship, you contribute to something greater than yourself. With your support, we are able to help enrich the education of students at NAU in many ways:
Since 2007, 34 working single mothers have been the recipient of this $1000 award. With your generosity, the CSW hopes to expand the reach of this scholarship to four recipients annually.
One woman's story
The uphill climb for single mother, Army veteran, and NAU Online first-generation student Katherine Jackson is steep. Raising her children and working full time, Katherine devotes every spare moment to her coursework and clinical hours. She is grateful for the scholarship support she receives through the Martha Portree Commission on the Status of Women Scholarship.
“As a single mother and first-generation American citizen, responsibilities and needs pull me in a thousand different directions every single day, but I’m a strong woman devoted to raising strong children. It’s important to show my children that hard work pays off—and I have a lot of people rooting for me so failure is not an option.”
With her NAU degree, Katherine plans to become a licensed clinical psychologist and open a clinic in her Phoenix community. During her childhood, the services of a psychologist were not offered in her neighborhood and Katherine aspires to make that change. “I want to help stop toxic generational cycles and be a specialist who is relatable to those in underserved communities.”
About the Martha Portree Commission on the Status of Women Scholarship Fund
Martha Jean Portree was a member of the NAU community from December 2000 to July 2007. Martha died in a car accident in Flagstaff on July 7, 2007. She was 40 years old. At Cline Library, Martha served as a reference services librarian and was known for her dedication and library expertise. She enjoyed helping students and faculty with challenging research questions. With Tina Adams, Sean Evans, and John Doherty, Martha co-wrote “Overcoming Transactional Distance: Instruction Intent in an E-mail Reference Service” in the Winter 2008 issue of Reference and User Services Quarterly.
Martha’s coauthors dedicated the article to her memory. Martha enjoyed spending time with her daughter Samantha and husband David, as well as her many friends. She was a fan of biographies, pug dogs, birding, and hiking. She was an unashamed science geek. At NAU, Martha was a tireless advocate of the NAU Commission on the Status of Women’s mission, and she played an active and important role in the work of CSW on behalf of women on the NAU campus. In 2003 she helped create an annual Commission on the Status of Women scholarship for single mothers who excel academically. CSW renamed the scholarship in Martha’s honor in 2007.
A gender gap in pay between men and women still exists, despite pay discrimination being illegal. Make a gift of $8.10 to highlight that a woman earns, on average, 81 cents for every dollar a man makes. Consider asking a male colleague to donate the same.
Make a gift of $18.48 in honor of the first women's rights convention held in Seneca Falls, NY, in 1848. The convention, which launched the women's suffrage movement, called for equal rights for women and the abolition of slavery.
Donate $51 in honor of Sojourner Truth, a former slave, who delivered her now famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech at a women’s rights convention in Akron, Ohio.
Celebrate the first ever Women's History Month in 1987 with your gift of $87.
The National Association of Colored Women was formed in Washington, DC, in 1896 by Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Margaret Murray Washington, Fanny Jackson Coppin, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Charlotte Forten Grimke, and Harriet Tubman. NACW became the largest federation of local black women’s clubs; suffrage was an important goal for black female reformers. Donate $96 to honor the formation of the NACW.
Make a donation in honor of the ratification of the 19th amendment, August 18, 1920, which granted women the right to vote.
