JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – University of Jamestown’s Mary Reed, Associate Professor and Co-Chair of the Department of Computer Science and Technology, was recently installed as the District 7 Governor by Zonta International at the international convention held in Nice, France, from July 1-6.
Founded in 1919 in Buffalo, New York, Zonta International is a professional business organization whose mission is to empower women through service and advocacy. Over 30,000 members worldwide represent 66 countries, who are divided into 33 different districts. District 7 includes North Dakota and five other surrounding states.
Reed previously has served in two separate roles on the District 7 Committee. She was the Secretary for two years before her most recent role as Lieutenant Governor of District 7, in which she also served a two-year term. As Governor of District 7 she will be responsible for overseeing the 16 clubs in the district, leading the annual district meeting, serve on an international committee, act as an international liaison, and work directly with the international president on a number of projects and issues. Reed says that her individual goal for her term as governor is to raise membership on the individual level up on the District and International level.
Along with being installed as Governor at the International Conference, Reed was able to attend a number of different sessions that included motivational speakers, international business for the organization, training for her new position, and networking with the extremely diverse members of Zonta.
“The great thing about Zonta is that there are so many unique people who are members and at the conference,” she says. “There were 14 of us from District 7; I was the only one from North Dakota. But the differences don’t matter. We are all united under the Zonta mission to be advocates for women’s rights, which are really human rights. You make lifelong friends with people that have the same goals, and no one cares about where you come from.”
Zonta International, as a whole, works with other international organizations like Unicef and the United Nations on issues like crisis aide, sexual assault, and other human rights issues. The local Zonta Club is active in the Jamestown area in a number of ways, including supporting Safe Shelter, supporting nurses who work with sexual assault cases, and offering two scholarships: one for women in business, the other for high school age young women who are involved or interested in public affairs. They recently sponsored the “Zonta Says No” campaign, an international project which targeted raising awareness for violence against women.
Reed will serve as Governor of District 7 until the next international conference in Yokohama, Japan which is set for the summer of 2018.
For more information about Zonta International, visit their website at www.zonta.org.
