"Women's Voices: Insights for a Successful Career," a workshop presented by the President's Task Force on Women at UB and the Affirmative Action Committee of the Professional Staff Senate, was held March 7 in the Center for Tomorrow.

The workshop highlighted the accomplishments of five women from throughout the university community: Beverly Bishop, Distinguished Teaching Professor of Physiology; Bonnie Butkas, editor-in-chief of The Spectrum; Elmira Mangum-Daniel, assistant provost for resource management; Gloria Paveljack, a staff assistant in the School of Law; and Jennifer Roth, general manager of WBFO.

But more than emphasizing the accomplishments of a few, the workshop brought women together to encourage them to take leadership roles at the university and to provide a sense of solidarity.

"There is room at the top. It's up to us to push...so that in 10 years we can see some improvement," said Judith Miller, director of purchasing, who welcomed participants.

While panel participants represented women ranging from a professor with nearly 40 years of experience to a 22-year-old student leader, their message was consistent: know yourself and have the courage to be yourself in the workplace. "We wanted this workshop to take a proactive position, not just be a list of grievances and complaints," said Bernice Noble, co-chair of the President's Task Force on Women at UB, who provided introductory comments. "We're here to see what should be done for women, what could be done for women and what women should do for themselves."

Beverly Bishop noted her surprise at the number of women gathered for the workshop. "I expected to speak to 10 or so of you this morning-in fact, there are 250. I can't remember speaking to an all-female audience since I was a Girl Scout," said Bishop. Noting that while she has spent her career in a male-dominated environment, Bishop said she has never been at a disadvantage as a woman. "I have never felt discriminated against, so when I was invited to speak I wrote back that while honored, I didn't feel that I had anything to contribute. The only time I felt discriminated against was in the eighth grade, when I wasn't allowed to take shop and had to take home economics."

While that may have been the only time she wasn't allowed to do something because of her gender, her career path has not been easy, she admitted. "To get to this stage in your professional life takes an awful lot of hard work," Bishop said. But the numbers show that women have more opportunities than in the past, Bishop said. "When I studied physiology there were two women in my class." Today, in the medical school, 50 percent of the students are women.

It is important for a woman pursuing a career in the sciences or any other profession to take advantages of opportunity when it comes and to be herself, she said. It also is important to complement rather than compete, and to "develop emotional strength through self-discipline, complete objectivity and dauntless persistence," Bishop said.

Disregard your sensitivity to criticism and concentrate on doing your best possible job, she said, and "most important of all, be assertive, not aggressive," and "marry an understanding man who supports and encourages you."

It is important that young women be encouraged "to go and do what they want to do, and to not let anyone stand in their way," said Bonnie Butkas, a UB student and editor-in-chief of The Spectrum.

"Every woman I know has found herself apologizing more than she'd like. Every woman I know has been called (unflattering) names. Every woman I know has wanted the opportunity to fight the good fight."

Butkas herself is no stranger to those struggles. As editor of UB's student newspaper, she has found herself embroiled in a number of them this year over articles and viewpoints The Spectrum has published.

"I knew it would be hard work and there would be long days, but I didn't expect to be the subject of so much controversy," she said. "I'm disillusioned with controversy and the way it arises and takes on a life of its own," she said.

She also is disillusioned with the way she has been treated on campus. "I have yet to be in (Butkas named three UB administrators) offices and been able to finish a sentence....I was surprised to be treated like I didn't know what I was doing," she said. Thursday's workshop was "the perfect antidote" to her feelings of disillusionment about UB in general, she said. "I have the feeling that UB will be OK after I leave."

The program is "one of the most significant set of workshops assembled to celebrate and share experiences, and to engage in dialogue," said Elmira Mangum-Daniel.

"Our voices are a testimony that in spite of odds, obstacles, inequities and irregularities, women continue to raise their voices high and are being heard," she said.

Tracing her 18-year career path, Mangum-Daniel noted the importance of having a personal long-range plan, as well as the ability to be flexible when things don't work out as anticipated.

"I had written down a plan for the 10 years of my life immediately following graduate school. Some of you might think that this is boring, some of you might even think it impossible. What it is, is challenging," she said. "The point is, you need to have a plan."

Whether one sticks to those objectives is less important, she said. "Plans help you focus."

Don't be afraid to take on something new, Mangum-Daniel said, but "always be prepared to do the job, no matter how challenging. Sometimes getting the job done may require you to tool up in new areas, to learn new things," she said.

"It is important to use the strength, wisdom and experiences from each position to build for the next one. It is important to define yourself for yourself as you progress down the path that you define."

Depend on your own resources and form alliances, she advised workshop participants. "Network with other women to combat the psychological and institutional barriers to your potential for achievement."

She recalled the words of California Congresswoman Maxine Waters: "Power is what makes the difference in lives and communities, and the first thing we have to understand about power and how you get it is...you don't ask someone how to get it. You take it and once you've taken it, you use it."

There is power in an education, Gloria Paveljack told participants. "Opportunities are made available when you get your degree."

After Paveljack joined the university as a stenographer in 1986, a co-worker encouraged her to return to school evenings to get her degree. "I already had an associate's degree, so how long could getting a baccalaureate degree take?" she said. She took two courses a semester for the next six years. But faced with the prospect of another five years of work before she received her degree, Paveljack transferred to Houghton College, which offered the PACE (Program in Accelerated College Education) program. She received her baccalaureate degree 15 months later. Four months after receiving her degree, she was promoted to a professional position at UB.

"Where did the time go and what did I miss? I missed a lot," Paveljack said. Faced with the choice between school and one of her children's plays, school often had to take precedent.

But it showed her children that sometimes you have to work for what you want, she said. And on graduation day, "all the sacrifices I'd made were worth it. I'd taught them how important it was to have a degree," Paveljack said.

"You never know what the future holds or what opportunities will present themselves. A degree allows you to be prepared."

Success to Jennifer Roth is a scary word "because I feel I'm only as good as my last blunder or my last missed opportunity."

Noting that she's never had a 10-year plan, or even a six-month plan, Roth said, "it's innate in me to want to be of use." That means taking things a day at a time and trying to do the best she can each day.

"At a very early age I felt I was not destined for an average life," Roth said. "I wasn't going to live the life my mother did....That was not for me."

Instead, she moved around a lot, working at eight radio stations in eight different states since 1972, which gave her a sense of opportunity. "When you remove geographical barriers, there's a lot more available to you," she said.

She offered workshop participants what she called "sloganesque kinds of things that help me live my work life and my real life."

At the top of her list is to try to do the best job she can, and to see how she can do it differently and better. "Look at things in terms of how you can refresh your job....You have to feel like you're doing something meaningful," Roth said.

Be a student of human nature. It's a learning process that is lifelong, she said. It's also important to care about people. "Women have natural gifts - intuition and empathy. Use them," Roth said.

It's also important to listen as well as to communicate. "We're always communicating, except when we're asleep. We can't not communicate," she said. Whatever, the medium, think about the words and think about the voice used to convey them.

Share the credit and give others the opportunity to shine. And remember to thank people for a job well done. Head off trouble at the pass by anticipating problems and trying to solve them before they become problems. Have a "plan b" ready.

Prioritize and reprioritize, Roth said. "It is so important that we rethink our day and what's most important to get done that day.

She urged participants to engrave six words in their lives: What's the worst that can happen. "Write that one down. It'll be really useful," she said.

It's also important to admit your mistakes and learn from them, to be willing to be accountable, and to be solution oriented. "Instead of concentrating on problems, concentrate on solutions," Roth said.

"Toughen up. Learn to take criticism. Women tend to be a little extra defensive. It's great to be objective," she said.

Take care of yourself. "Your health is really important and energy is really important," Roth said.

And perhaps most important in her list of words to live by, "have fun."