On behalf of the University of Cincinnati C-Ring committee and the 89 women who have gone before them; please join us in congratulating Lauren Magrisso and Julie Marzec, our 2012 C-Ring recipients!  

When the C-Ring committee finished interviewing the 5 finalists and tallied the results, there was a tie! This has only happened twice before in the entire 90 year history of C-Ring - in 1972 and in 1984.

About Our Recipients…

Lauren Magrisso is a true innovator and entrepreneur; her C-Ring portfolio is full of examples, starting with her degree. Lauren felt constrained by her first academic choice at UC - she thought it was too narrowly focused - so she created her own degree program combining industrial design, marketing and social science disciplines. Hence the unusual initials behind her name, BIS – bachelor’s in interdisciplinary studies – design strategy. 

Magrisso has participated in five problem-based studios and seminars crossing three colleges – DAAP, Business and Engineering. She has pioneered student-led sustainability efforts at UC, helping to launch a campus-wide recycling program. Magrisso was selected by Vice Provost Gigi Escoe to help implement a major new initiative called UC Forward and is also a member of the university’s Innovation Council working with students, faculty and administrators across all colleges.  

An early example of Magrisso’s entrepreneurship allowed her to combine her commitment to sustainability and her advocacy for women. She took an Honors course on rural development in India where, she learned that rural development and women’s empowerment are intertwined. Marketing Professor Raj Mehta, her nominator for the C-Ring, gives the example that if a young woman spends 4 hours a day fetching water for her family, she has no time for her education. Although water is critical, so is education if rural areas are to progress. 

Intrigued by the connection between women’s status and economic development, less than a year later, Magrisso was back in India, this time on her first co-op. She located a small non-governmental organization in Northwest India whose purpose it is to raise the status of women by capitalizing on their ability to make and sell local handicrafts in a global market.  In the mornings, before work, she taught English.  In the afternoons she researched new buying channels which could generate more business for the women artisans. She helped the women redesign some of their products. By the time she left, she had secured 3 new international buyers for the goods produced by these women. 

In her C-Ring letter of support, Kim Fulbright said “Lauren has been an amazing ambassador for U.S. and for UC, traveling with purpose and grace, focused on the advancement and equality of women.” 

After graduation, Magrisso hopes to move from a co-op to a permanent position with a local agency. 

Julie Marzec has been enormously successful in merging her scholarly interests with her activism for women. Her nominator, Dr. Laura Dudley Jenkins said, “Her academic excellence and intellectual curiosity is clear from the way she connects her coursework and ideas to her service and leadership activities.”  

Marzec credits UC with giving her the opportunities to gain a global perspective and experience, become fluent in Spanish, and discover her passion for women’s empowerment. She begins her story with her experience on the UC Model United Nations team, traveling and gaining research and speaking skills promoting the rights of women and girls. This initial involvement has led Julie to her current role as President of this organization. 

Her advocacy extends to our local community where Marzec has used her Spanish skills as a translator with Su Casa to help undocumented women immigrants who are experiencing domestic violence apply for a special Visa. She is also an intern at University Hospital, assisting Hispanic/Latina women with high risk pregnancies by translating and explaining medical information, reassuring them in a frightening situation, and increasing their comfort in seeking medical care. 

Marzec would say that her experiences in Quito, Ecuador most inspired her decision to focus on advocacy for women. Interning within a governmental institution, she spent the summer of 2010 assisting victims of domestic violence and collaborating with many different professionals to help the victims in their struggle to obtain justice. This experience had a profound impact on her. She decided to return to Ecuador and was awarded the highly competitive Taft Undergraduate Senior Thesis Fellowship. 

Marzec investigated women’s access to the Ecuadorian justice system and interfamilial abuse. She conducted 30 expert interviews and analyzed both governmental and non-governmental documents to examine whether the Women’s Police Station worked as a means to combat violence against women.  Her thesis makes recommendations on ways that the Ecuadorian government can improve in order to better serve women.  

In her letter of support, Professor Amy Lind, a scholar who has spent 20 years studying in Ecuador, said, "There are few undergraduates who exhibit the ability, courage, and confidence to plunge into a new country...and address this kind of thing." 

It is our community’s good luck that Marzec plans to stay in Cincinnati at least for a while after graduation, honing her advocacy through a position with the YWCA’s Battered Women’s Shelter. Ultimately, her goal is to create an organization focused on empowering women and girls in the developing world.  

Congratulations Lauren Magrisso and Julie Marzec, 2012 C-Ring Award Recipients!

For more information on the C-Ring Award, C-Ring Committee, and former C-Ring Recipients, please click here! 

C-Ring Cycle 90: It’s Down to Five Finalists

The C-Ring is one of theoldest and most prestigious awards at the University of Cincinnati.     

The award, first given in1922, recognizes an outstanding graduating senior woman.  Eligiblewomen must have a 3.4 GPA, be community or university leaders and demonstrateadvocacy for women or girls.

The C-Ring recipient is announcedat an annual spring dinner where all finalists are recognized.  Thisyear’s dinner will be held Saturday, May 5.  Professor Emeritus LanthanCamblin, who has over 25 years of service as a member of the C-Ring Committee,will give the welcome for the occasion.  The 2011 C-Ring Recipient,Kimmins Southard, will award the C-Ring to this year’s recipient.

This year 30 graduating senior women were nominated for the2012 C-Ring by faculty, staff or alumni.  The 2012 finalists all hail fromthe College of Arts & Sciences and we are pleased that Dean ValerieHardcastle will be able to participate during the recognition. 
Five finalists were selected by the C-Ring committee:    

Rachel Berman, College of Arts & Sciences, Political Science andWomen’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Nominator: Deborah Meem, Department Head, Women’s, Gender, and SexualityStudies

Lauren Magrisso, College of Arts & Sciences, DesignStrategy   
Nominator: Raj Mehta, Professor of Marketing, Lindner College ofBusiness       

Julie Marzec, College of Arts & Sciences, International Affairs
Nominator: Laura Dudley Jenkins, Associate Professor of Political Science;Faculty Affiliate, Women’s Gender, & Sexuality Studies and Asian Studies

Jessica Sarko, College of Arts & Sciences, BioPsychology
Nominator: Amy Howton, Assistant Director, UC Women’s Center

Katherine Talbott, College of Arts & Sciences,  Biology
Nominator: Jessica Donovan, Assistant Dean, McMicken College

Read about other recent C-Ring Recipients:

2011, KimminsSouthard

2010, NehaMaheshwari

2009,Kimberly Bauer

2008Amy Schlegel

Clickhere for more information on the C-Ring Award.

2011 University of Cincinnati C-Ring Recipient
Kimmins Southard

The UC Women’s Center and the C-Ring Committee are proud to announce the 2011 C-Ring Award recipient, Kimmins Southard. The C-Ring is perhaps the oldest undergraduate award at UC and recognizes women who work to improve the quality of life in our communities and who feel a responsibility to the greater world and to advancing the status of women and girls.  Kimmins is a stellar example of the all the C-Ring qualities honored – academic excellence, service, leadership and especially advocacy for women and girls. 

Southard, a Cincinnatus scholar and social work major, has chosen to engage with some of the most difficult, contentious and important issues in our society – access to reproductive health and sexuality education, racial awareness, assuring gay rights, education about gender identity, and ending sexual assault.   The breadth and depth of their commitment to social justice and social change is stunning and their activism has had a real and, we believe, a lasting impact on the university community. 

Southard has worked: with RAPP, a highly regarded 9-month experiential learning program where students challenge, debate, and educate each other on issues of social justice; as a peer advocate in the Women’s Center Reclaim program; and with the UC Wellness Center as a health educator, presenting at local and national conferences on how to create an inclusive climate on college campuses. 

Southard credits their parents with encouraging them to think critically about society’s moral prescripts. In their essay, they wrote “My parents provided me with unbiased and honest information about reproductive rights…. and as result of this guidance, I gained valuable insight about the status of women’s rights.” 

This insight was certainly important when Southard joined the Ohio Council of Advocates for Youth, a national organization that advocates for a more positive and realistic approach to adolescent sexual health. Participating in Advocates included in-depth training on media and messaging; grassroots organizing; and online advocacy. Their ability to articulate the importance of comprehensive sexuality education for young people afforded them the opportunity to testify in the Ohio Legislature on behalf of the ACT for Our Children’s Future.

Southard is probably best known for their advocacy for students who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered.  They have been a visible and outspoken campus leader through GenderBloc - an influential student group that serves as a place of support, activism, and education in relation to gender and sexuality. Through GenderBloc, Southard successfully lobbied the administration to add gender identity to the university’s anti-discrimination policy and they were a forceful member of the student movement which helped create UC’s first Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Center.

On behalf of the C-Ring committee and the 88 women who have gone before them, please join us in congratulating Kimmins Southard, the 2011 C-Ring recipient!

For more information on the C-Ring Award, C-Ring Committee, and former C-Ring Recipients, please click here!