Pat Lowrie is the director of the Women’s Resource Center and assistant to the dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, where she works to enhance and increase educational and professional opportunities for underrepresented groups in the health professions.
"Everything that I'm doing is about how people relate to this institution and how this institution is best served by the folks who are in it," Lowrie said.
That includes workshops, vignettes around a movie, lunchtime conversations, keynote speakers and collaborations with sister institutions.
"We also have a number of grants that we have written to support students in their quest for veterinary medicine," she said.
In both of her roles, Lowrie works to support the quality of life of MSU students, staff and faculty — whether it is one's work, school or residence hall life.
"We really want to move to understand what creates a climate that makes everyone successful," she said.
The Women's Resource Center offers a number of programs and events, including an annual women's leadership conference for students. Many women staff and faculty at MSU are similarly interested in leadership and personal and professional development.
"We have developed programs around issues of health, safety, what you always wanted to know and were afraid to ask, and that kind of thing," Lowrie said. "Really working, I would say, thematically, around women; what we call women in the middle."
The distribution of age among women on campus is large – about four generations, she said.
"Because women are not one monolithic description, we quickly understood that we had to take into account the diversity among women," she said.
The Women's Resource Center strives to keep in mind the intersections of gender and gender identity along with race, sexual orientation, class status, ability/disability, age and religion. The center also has a Men’s Advisory Council, which provides an opportunity to discuss women’s issues from a male perspective.
"We are very much a part of partnering with any number of units around the campus," Lowrie said. "Those relationships contribute to bringing the quality of your work life, your school life and your residence hall life into perspective, all working collectively and synergistically to create a better place for MSU."
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