Liz Sherman Seeks to Advance Innovative New Research at the Pembroke Center
Elizabeth (Liz) Sherman ’77 P’06 P’09
With a challenge gift from a devoted alumna to help reach a $1 million goal, the Pembroke Center’s long tradition of research excellence is entering a dynamic new phase.
Elizabeth (Liz) Munves Sherman ’77 P’06 P’09 is challenging the wider community to raise $750,000 in support of the innovative research initiatives at the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women. When the amount is met, she and her husband David Sherman ’79 P’06 P’09 have pledged to donate $250,000. Sherman is chair of the Pembroke Center Associates Council, the governing body of the Pembroke Center Associates, an organization of more than five hundred members that was founded in 1983 to help secure the academic and research programs of the Pembroke Center.
“I am awed by the work of the scholars we support and by the Pembroke Center,” says Liz. “Although I wasn’t studying women’s issues at Brown, I felt as though I was living them. It was a time of great change. When I went to work on Wall Street, I realized how much still needed to be accomplished—not just regarding equal pay, but about so many issues that matter to women and to families. And anything that affects the family affects both sexes.
“Last year, the New York Times did a magazine on women’s issues. Almost every topic they included either had been or was being researched by the Pembroke Center and was being moved forward by the work they’re doing there. It’s a pretty exciting thing. And I love the vision that Kay Warren—the Pembroke Center’s new director—has for the future.”
Kay Warren, Charles C. Tillinghast, Jr. '32 Professor in International Studies and Professor of Anthropology;
Director, Pembroke Center for the Teaching and Research on Women.
Kay Warren is a cultural anthropologist who joined Brown in 2003, part of the faculty expansion initiated by the Plan for Academic Enrichment. “The Pembroke Center’s research is expanding to deal with the human cost of the global circulation of new health technologies, international labor migration, illicit trade across borders, emergence of new social media, and development strategies that target the poor. Although some of these issues are identified as women’s problems, others defy being categorized by gender alone. In fact, our scholars grapple with the complex difference that historical contexts, cultures, and identities make for how these issues play out around the world.”
“When we earn this challenge I will feel like I’ve made a huge difference,” says Liz. “It will enable the Pembroke Center to be in a more secure position to be able to do its work: good for the Center, good for Brown University – and good for the world.”
Click here for more information on the Pembroke Research Initiatives. For more information on participating in the Pembroke Challenge, contact Christy Law Blanchard.
