When Lysa Salsbury accepted an offer to become the new director of the University of Idaho Women’s Center, she left a vacant position for the assistant director of programs of the Women’s Center.
Bekah MillerMacPhee works in her new office in the Women’s Center. The university recently welcomed MillerMacPhee as the assistant director for programs.
Salsbury said one of the biggest challenges the Women’s Center continually faces is a lack of staff. So, when earlier this month they hired Bekah MillerMacPhee as the new assistant director of programs, Salsbury said it was just what the center needed.
“That, for us, has been a blessing,” Salsbury said. “We’ve been very short staffed and really kind of struggling against the current, fighting to keep our heads above water. We really needed someone who could just jump right in and she absolutely has.”
MillerMacPhee graduated from UI in 2008. During her time as a student, MillerMacPhee said she spent two years participating in the former women’s group, Feminist Led Activist Movement to Empower (FLAME). She said one thing she remembered was holding a gender inequity bake sale where male students were charged a little bit more than female students.
FLAME also brought performances of “The Vagina Monologues” to campus, organized the poetry slam event “F-Word Live” and met regularly in the Women’s Center to speak about women’s issues. This helped MillerMacPhee maintain a strong connection to the Women’s Center.
“I remember thinking when I first met her that she had incredible potential to be a leader in gender equality work,” Salsbury said. “I saw the personal commitment that she had.”
MillerMacPhee said she kept her connection to the Women’s Center after her graduation and throughout her six years of work for Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse (ATVP). MillerMacPhee said her connection to the Women’s Center was one of the reasons she applied for the job of assistant director of programs.
“I’m really excited about being at U of I,” MillerMacPhee said. “I mean since I went to school here, I’m really excited to come back in this capacity. This is like a dream, to be here full time.”
MillerMacPhee said she hopes to bring more activism back to the Women’s Center through her work there, as well as enthusiasm and optimism.
Salsbury said she is excited to have someone with a background of work for ATVP to bring advocacy, but also someone who loves being at UI.
“She has a depth of knowledge, and a flexibility and an enthusiasm for this work that really stood out to me,” Salsbury said. “She’s an excellent presenter, she’s an outstanding educator, she’s very passionate about the issues we address, she loves the U of I, she’s very well established in the community and she’s very excited about the possibility of working in this capacity.”
Whatever position they fill, Salsbury and MillerMacPhee both share a common interest in the Women’s Center and a passion for what they do.
“I love this place,” Salsbury said. “I can’t imagine being anywhere else, or doing anything else. I really, genuinely believe I was meant to do this work, and I find tremendous satisfaction in it.”
Erin Bamer can be reached at [email protected]