Emma Pratt, assistant director of the Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies, is a recipient of a 2023 The Women's Place Critical Difference Grant. The grant is offered specifically to help facilitate professional development and career mobility for faculty, staff and students.
Pratt plans to further her professional skillset by enrolling in MAPS courses through the John Glenn College of Public Affairs to improve her proficiency with software products as well as grant writing. She also hopes to build on her professional network at Ohio State by actively participating in the Association of Staff and Faculty Women.
"As a graduate of a women's college who then came to Ohio State for graduate school and has now returned as a staff member, I have a unique perspective on advancing gender equity at Ohio State," Pratt said. "As an undergraduate, I needed the supportive, protected cocoon offered at a women's college to learn how to advocate for myself and take advantage of the opportunities available when I matriculated to Ohio State for graduate school.
"This understanding informs how I interact with and advise my students. I always encourage them to apply for and take advantage of the opportunities available to them, even if it may seem like a stretch, and to ask for support and advocate for themselves to their professors."
Pratt is a mentor to many students in Slavic studies, traditionally a male-dominated field, as it is often connected with power, war and conflict. Seventy-five percent of the undergraduate fellows she advises identify as female, and one of the goals of CSEEES is to broaden access to careers in this field to those who have been traditionally underrepresented.