Greeting from WIS-PDX's New President, Lillian Klug

Dear WIS PDX members,I feel honored to address you as the new president of Women in Science Portland. I began volunteering with WIS as a graduate student. It was a time in my training where I was feeling frustrated, lost, and totally unsure of my next steps after graduation. I was seeking a supportive community. I came onboard with WIS just as the organization was transitioning from a student/postdoc group to a full-fledged non-profit. I was involved in the first visioning meeting to determine the scope and goals of the organization. I also was a part of a small group that wrote our mission statement and value statements, which describe our dedication to supporting all those who identify as women in any and all fields of science. In essence, I was able to help shape the community that I, and many other women, needed. Since that time, I have served on the steering committee as a volunteer on the communications committee and then on the board when I became the Chair of the communications committee. In this role, I built a team of volunteers and we initiated efforts to elevate our public communications, including our website, social media, and newsletter. We aimed to deliver more relevant and interesting content to our members, as well as improve the communication of our goals to attract more members. For the past year, I have also served as the Vice President of WIS PDX. I feel a great sense of pride in the organization that we have built from scratch and the community of incredible women we serve. Inclusivity has always been a very important aspect of our communication as an organization. I personally want to ensure that no person feels excluded from our community for any reason, be it sex, gender, race, or orientation. I made sure this was a part of the value statements of our organization. To put these values into action, I helped plan the first Queer Women in Science event that launched the QWIS subcommittee of WIS PDX to provide a space for LGBTQ members of our community to find any extra support they may need. But it is not enough to stop there. We can do better to support women of other marginalized groups in STEM. We need to include intersectionality in our approach to achieve equity for all women in science. Moving forward, I intend to listen to our community members to hear their needs and do everything in my power to meet them.  My primary goal as President of WIS PDX is to ensure that our organization does the very best that it can to fulfill our mission to support and promote those in our community. I believe in this organization and what we stand for. I believe in the magic of women coming together to support and uplift one another. I have witnessed it first hand, most often at WIS PDX events, and continuing to create a space for this magic is my primary motivation. I believe it is important to facilitate spaces for women to come together, share their experiences, and learn from one another. As we now adjust to the new normal of our world during a pandemic, how WIS PDX creates those spaces for women to connect will change. Currently, our in-person events are suspended indefinitely. The safety of our community is our first priority and hosting in-person events will not resume until we are certain it is safe. This likely will not be for many months. In the meantime, we are reorienting our goals and brainstorming ways to connect WIS PDX members. Online video meeting platforms have offered incredible opportunities to create virtual communities, and we plan to use this technology to create small peer mentoring groups as well as host panel discussions and webinars. Please look for more information about that in the future. Lastly, I want to highlight how in awe I am of our volunteers, who all give their time and effort to our cause and, without whom, we wouldn’t be able to do any of the work we do. Thank you all for your hard work. We always welcome new volunteers and new ideas. My (virtual) door is always open and I encourage anyone to contact me. I am beyond excited to see where this organization can go and what more we can do together. We are strong women and as a community we are unstoppable.Sincerely, Lilli Klug