Annie Selak was named the new associate director of the Georgetown University Women’s Center Jan. 8, marking the first time two full-time staff members have worked in the center since Oct. 2018. 

In her new role, Selak will help current director Shiva Subbaraman advance the mission of the Women’s Center and assess which topics or projects the center will focus on in the upcoming year. Subbaraman, who has served as the director of the LGBTQ Resource Center since its founding in 2008, was appointed to simultaneously direct the Women’s Center in November.

High student traffic in both centers and few staff members available to work in either prompted the Women’s Center to hire another full-time staffer, according to Subbaraman.

“There was a lot more increased demand from both undergraduate and graduate students but it was still a one-person office. It was clear that getting a second person was not an option,” Subbaraman said in an interview with The Hoya. “At the end of the day, if students need to be served, they need more than one adult in each office and before there was just one.”

Former Director Laura Kovach resigned from her position as director of the Women’s Center in October 2018. Former programming director Karla Rondon continued normal programming with the center until her departure in June 2019, after which three undergraduate students ran the center for over a year. 

As a result, student interns had to take on increased leadership responsibilities that usually would have fallen to the director, such as training new interns.

Selak’s hiring will allow the Women’s Center to better cater to Georgetown students’ needs, Caroline Sarda (COL ’20), an undergraduate staffer who helped run operations while the center looked for a director, wrote in an email to The Hoya.

“I definitely think Annie will help push the centers in the right direction,” Sarda wrote. “I think what we’ve learned from the past semester is that we really need to re-engage with students and what they need and want from the Women’s Center, and I think Annie’s extensive experience working with students will be really great in that process.”

Prior to working at Georgetown, Selak worked at the University of Notre Dame, where she helped students with topics ranging from student leadership and development to sexual assault prevention and response, according to a Jan. 8 email announcement of Selak’s appointment.

The hiring of Selak follows the fall appointment of Amena Johnson as associate director to the LGBTQ Resource Center, working under Subbaraman. Both Selak and Johnson come to their positions as the centers plan to restructure, according to Subbaraman. Previously, the two centers operated as separate entities, but now the centers share a director and will begin collaborating on more operations and initiatives. 

As part of the restructuring, the three full-time staff members plan to work to their professional strengths across both centers, facilitating programming and outreach. The changes will not diminish the individual identities of the two centers, according to Subbaraman.

“The two centers will remain separate in terms of their function and their audience. They will have distinct identities, but for all intents and purposes, the three professional staff here will work across both,” Subbaraman said.

The increased professional presence in both centers will allow student volunteers and staffers to better serve students on Georgetown’s campus, according to Sarda.

“I think all of the staff changes this year will enhance the work of both centers,” Sarda wrote. “Having more staff members to look to for guidance will certainly make student workers’ lives easier and more effective, and will also help grow the reach of the centers on campus.” 

The restructuring reflects current dialogues about the interconnectedness between the LGBTQ and women’s communities, according to Subbaraman.

“There was a big shift in how current generations of students think about gender. Even before Laura left, the two centers collaborated a lot to talk about what is gender,” Subbaraman said. “The reason the LGBT Center has been very successful is that we have had a very broad vision, and that is the vision we want to bring to the Women’s Center.”

As the centers move forward, Subbaraman plans to involve students in discussions this spring about the new structure to ensure the centers fully support the Georgetown community’s needs, according to Subbaraman.

“We will try to start conversations with students to ask where are the overlaps, where are the differences and what needs to remain separate between the two centers,” Subbaraman said. “By having me oversee both, my vision is that the three of us will work together to be available for all women students.”