Open Access Kent State (OAKS)

The 4th annual Women's Leadership Symposium was held March 1, 2017.

Ph.D., is Principal Investigator, Historical New York Research Associates, and Professor Emerita, State University of New York at Oswego. She has more than 40 years of award-winning experience in research; teaching, cultural resource surveys, and grants administration in U.S. history, women’s history, Underground Railroad history, African American communities, and historic preservation.

With a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, Judith Wellman taught history at the State University of New York at Oswego from 1972-2010. In 2012, she held the Gretchen Hoadley Burke Chair in Regional Studies at Colgate University.

Dr. Wellman has worked as a consultant and principal investigator on award-winning projects with the National Park Service, the Mary Baker Eddy Library, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, the U. S. Department of Education, the Preservation League of New York State, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York State Office of Historic Preservation, the New York Council for the Humanities, the Documentary Heritage Program of the New York State Archives, National Public Radio, Save America’s Treasures, the U.S. Department of Education, the Weeksville Heritage Center, and a wide variety of local historical, genealogical, teachers, women’s, and preservation groups.

Yuko Kurahashi is an associate professor of theatre, Graduate Coordinator, and AOT (Art of the Theatre) supervisor in the School of Theatre and Dance at Kent State University. Her areas of specialty include multicultural theatre, community-based theatre, and intercultural theatre. She is the author of Asian American Culture on Stage: The History of the East West Players (Garland, 1999) and Multicultural Theatre (Kendall/Hunt, 2004 & 2006). She has published a number of articles on Ping Chong’s Undesirable Elements. Her articles on regional theatres include an article on Terrence Spivey and Karamu House (Cleveland) published in February issue of American Theatre Magazine and Love in Afghanistan for Theatre Journal. She continues to write reviews and articles for scholarly journals and other venues.

Alicia Robinson serves as the Program Coordinator of Kent State University’s Women’s Center, where she assists the Directors of the Women’s Center, Sexual and Relationship Violence Support Services (SRVSS), and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Queer and Questioning (LGBTQ) Student Centers in the administration of programs and services. In this role, she coordinates and plans the centers’ planned programming, events, and services for students and employees throughout the University. Ms. Robinson’s role also supports the continual advancement and quality of educational experience and professional life of women, survivors of sexual violence and members of the LGBTQ community at Kent State University. Ms. Robinson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Fashion Merchandising and is currently pursuing her Master of Arts Degree in Human Development and Family Studies at Kent State University. Her areas of study are Non-Profit Organizations and Positive Youth Development. Her scholastic interests include academic and emotional support for underrepresented student groups, and women’s leadership. Prior to accepting this position, Ms. Robinson served as the Graduate Assistant for the Women’s Center, where she was responsible for providing support, advocacy, programming and education for the female faculty, staff and student populations on campus. Ms. Robinson also founded a non-profit organization known as Limitless Ambition, which empowers young women from economically deprived areas through career coaching, academic assistance, and mentoring programs.

In 1959, Judge Allen announced her retirement from active service to the United States 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. During an official unveiling of a portrait honoring Judge Allen’s career held on October 15, 1959, Justice Potter Stewart of the U.S. Supreme Court noted that Judge Allen's distinguished career included 15 years of service for the Citizens of Ohio, followed by 25 years of service at the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. From the struggles of securing the vote, through 1959, Justice Stewart remarked that Judge Allen then remained "the first and only woman to hold that high judicial office."

Captured in the photo is Judge Allen (center); joined by her eldest sister, Emeritus Dean of Women at The Ohio State University, Esther Allen Gaw (far right), and United States Senator Frank J. Lausche (second in on the left). Chief Justice of the 6th Circuit, the Hon. Thomas F. McAllister (far left), captured the spirit of Judge Allen's legacy by stating the following:

"The heart and mind of Florence Allen will flame for generations as a beacon for thousands of young women who will take their rightful places in government, in the practice of the law, and in judicial service - and lawyers and judges yet unborn will read the words she has written in the endless, ever-old, and ever new quest for justice."