Louise M. Croot – Newly Elected President of IFUW (2007-2010)
Ms Louise M. Croot of Dunedin, New Zealand was elected the new president of the International Federation of University Women (IFUW) at its 29th Conference in Manchester, England. She became the 29th President of IFUW and will serve from 2007–2010.
Louise, a geographer with long term experience in Public Health-Health Promotion and broad experience in g overnance and team management, graduated with a Diploma in Teaching from Dunedin College of Education in 1962, a BA in Geography (1963) and Graduate Diploma – Regional and Resource Planning (1999) from Otago University, and a Diploma in Education from Massey University in 1973. She was nominated for president by the New Zealand Federation of Graduate Women and Australian Federation of University Women.
She recalls her committed involvement started 30 years ago and has included a variety of roles at local, and more recently at international level (serving on the IFUW Membership Committee between 1995 -1998, and as Vice President 2001-2007). On a personal level, she firmly believes in the ‘Four Leaf Clover Approach’ where one needs to consider work from four prospects: work for pay, gift work, time for oneself and time for family.
Whilst there will obviously be many challenges over the next three years, Louise identifies three major challenges for IFUW: finance, focus on core business and communication.
In her view, there was an urgent need for IFUW to continue to manage finances prudently and to find new ways of growing and financing activities. The IFUW needed to focus on its core business which is “education, particularly higher education for women and girls”. With the current restructuring in the United Nations (UN), the IFUW Board of Officers needed to try to have direct contact with an identified individual in the UN to strengthen and advance its work on gender issues in the near future. To this end, work on reviewing the role of the Status of Women Committee was planned to commence in November. There was also a need to strengthen teamwork and to drive changes from within IFUW. This, she recognised required communication. She intended to have a dialogue with her new Board members on her expectations and their ideas, and to allocate tasks and responsibilities. “There should be no surprises.” She added that particular attention would be given to young members, with the possibility of representation on the Board to be discussed.
On IFUW’s Action Plan for the next twelve months, Louise plans to focus on two main activities:
- Encouraging National Federations and Associations (NFAs) to go back to their base – grassroots. Louise stressed that communication needed to start from within, with the NFAs identifying their needs, developing their activities and linking them to the regional groups and then connecting these to the international network.
- Review of the Strategic Plan – In reviewing the IFUW Strategic Plan, the Board would determine the “pots of money” available to IFUW and assess whether it was currently being used in the best way. It would then be necessary for the Board to decide how IFUW could better use these resources.
In a special message to the Young Members of IFUW, Louise’s advice is to “take opportunities and make choices (deliberately), and to learn as you go”.
Written by Marica Tabualevu
Young Member, Fiji