The UI Retirees Association is a co-sponsor of this talk, along with the UI Center for Human Rights, Organization of Women Law Students, and Women of Color Coalition. UIRA Program Committee host is President-elect Lois Cox, lois-cox@uiowa.edu.
Professor Jean Jew and attorney and author Carolyn Chalmers will dis-cuss the sexual harassment suit against the UI’s College of Medicine that unfolded over eight years (1983-1992), including a university investigation, federal trial, and a state court jury trial. The experience led Chalmers to write a personal memoir, titled They Don’t Want Her Here. Published by the University of Iowa Press in 2022, it was a finalist for the 2023 Minnesota Book Award.
Carolyn Chalmers’ legal career spanned four decades in employment litigation before she turned to writing. In addition, she served as the director of the Office for Conflict Resolution at the University of Minnesota (2000-14). In this role she designed and administered a dispute resolution system for faculty and staff employment disputes. In academic year 2006-07, she also served as the interim director of the university’s Office for Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action. Chalmers has been repeatedly recognized by her peers as among the top alternative dispute resolution practitioners in Minnesota, with her mediation work focused on employment, sexual harassment, and higher education conflicts. She was recognized as one of the top 50 Twin City women attorneys in the decade of the ’90s. Chalmers received a JD degree cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School. She has a BA degree with dis-tinction in English literature from Carleton College, magna cum laude, and a MA degree in anthropology from Brandeis University. She has received distinguished alumni awards from Carleton College and from the University of Minnesota Law School.
Jean Y. Jew received a medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine and began her academic career at the University of Iowa College of Medicine in 1973. As a tenured professor, she conducted research on the brain and autonomic nervous system, taught human anatomy, neuroscience, and neurology and served as a leader for gender equity. The Jean Y. Jew Women’s Rights Award has been awarded annually since 1992. She was inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame in 2018. Dr. Jew is an emerita professor at the university.