Director, Women’s Resource Center, and an assistant Dean of Students, Student Engagement and Well-Being
Melanie DeMaeyer
Positive Changes:
“I came to Tech in 2010. It feels like a million years ago to me now. At the time, we were still experiencing a lot of firsts for women, and we still are to some degree. Some of our women students thought they were being seen as ‘different.’ They didn’t want people to think they were admitted because of their gender. So, the Women’s Center did a lot of work to support them, to try to change outdated attitudes and beliefs and emphasize that women are here because they are qualified. In the last 12 years, I have seen some evolution. Culture change takes time. Women and their peers are embracing the fact that women worked hard to get here, and they deserve to be here.”
Proudest Achievements:
“I am proud to have been a part of the Women’s Center. There have only been three directors in its 25-year history, and I am the third. I am proud of the work that we get to do every single day. We don’t do big splashy work; we do work that makes a difference for individual students and alumnae. It’s really special to see a student that we worked with during their first year come back in a few years or after graduation and say that something we taught them or the community we helped them build made a difference.
I’m proud of so much of my work here, but thinking back to the very beginning, the work the Women’s Center did in reestablishing VOICE, Georgia Tech’s sexual and relationship violence prevention and survivor support initiative, was formative for me. While it is not the work that the Women’s Resource Center does every day anymore, it was important work to us for a very long time and remains work that we are closely allied in. The advocacy and policy change that I got to do as an early professional at the Institute was a big deal for me and helped shape my trajectory here.”
Advice for Next Generation:
“Find yourself a community of people that you can trust and are going to challenge you, lift you up, and bring your voice and experience into spaces that you don’t have access to yet. I believe there is a lot of power in shared experience, shared trust, and shared vision building. I want you to remember that you got here because you worked hard, you’re tenacious, and you have everything you need inside of you to succeed.”
