A history of the 1970x Office of Women's Programs at the University of Tennessee : a forerunner to change

This study has documented the history of the Office of Women'sPrograms at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and described the experiences of participants who helped to begin or worked with theUniversity office. Records and information regarding the Office ofWomen's Programs had not been retained, and its history, contributions,and leaders were being forgotten.Information for the descriptive history and participant themes,and the answers to the research questions, were found by (1) studying related literature, (2) interviewing participants, (3) analyzing written documents and archival records, and (4) looking for artifacts to provide visual evidence. The cumulative data were analyzed and synthesized into a whole to tell the chronicled narrative of the Office of Women's Programs. Interview data were additionally analyzed thematically to present an account of participant perspectives. The four-year methodological process was an ongoing one of investigating, recording,analyzing, and interpreting the events of the past to find the needed data for the final interpretative account.The resulting study provided a rich, descriptive history of a new,transitional administrative office for women, started at the University Of Tennessee in 1971 in an attempt to respond to the changing needs ofUniversity women students. The Office of Women's Programs was one of the early women's centers in the U.S. and one of the earliest at a southern university. In its five years at the University it helped to initiate and develop a subsequent network of women's offices, programs,and organizations that still continue on campus and in the community.Many University of Tennessee women's "firsts" are associated with theOffice of Women's Programs years of operation from 1971 to 1976.