Two Ball State University women leaders will be awarded today along with six local people during Muncie’s 13th annual Women’s Equality Day program.
Jean Amman serves as assistant to Ball State Interim Provost Deborah Balogh and is the state president of the American Association of University Women. Mary Ann Olinger has served as development director, program manager and director of public information for WIPB-TV and now is the director of annual giving to Ball State University Development.
The Coalition of Women’s Organizations will present the awards, which honor significant community contributors, at 5 p.m. today at Muncie City Hall. Women’s Equality Day celebrates the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gives women the right to vote.
The program will also honor the late Vivian Conley, a black woman who attended Ball State as a non-traditional student at age 60 and earned her bachelor’s in political science and her master’s in gerontology.
Amman remembers interacting with Conley, a “vibrant and intelligent” motivator, during her time assisting former Provost Warren VanderHill from 1986 to 2002. Conley was responsible for inspiring about 185 students to enroll at Ball State.
“She used to come by our office and praise us for what we were doing for non-traditional students, and sometimes to chastise us, too,” Amman said of Conley.
As president of the American Association of University Women, Amman works to promote equity for all women and lifelong education.
“Simply being president of [AAUW] is a very significant job because she’s representing something like 1,500 people across the state of Indiana,” said Fred Meyer, political science professor who sat on the selection committee of six. The committee included representatives from several organizations, including the League of Women Voters and the National Organization for Women.
Olinger said she is glad for the opportunity to receive the award. Olinger also serves with Discovery, a women’s collaborative fund to benefit innovative projects at the university.
“What excites me the most is to be in the company of other women who are getting the award and to even be considered to be associated with Vivian Conley,” Olinger said.
Among past recipients of the award are former Provost Beverley Pitts and Sandra Worthen, the wife of former President John Worthen.
“I think it helps to reinforce the idea that it’s important to have participation of all people in society because it markedly increases the quality of life in our community,” Meyer said.
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