By Stacia Salvatore
Staff Writer
The Olean Area Zonta Club recognized two education professors at Saint Bonaventure last Friday on International Women’s Day.
According to The Zonta International website the goal of the organization is advancing the status of women locally and worldwide.
René Garrison, program director and associate professor, received Zonta’s Celebrating Women’s Achievements Award which is awarded to women whose perseverance has shown through extreme barriers and a specific goal or result was achieved from that barrier.
Garrison, the first member of her family to graduate from high school and college, faced the exceptional challenge of taking on her doctorate while raising three kids.
“I graduated from Buffalo State with my masters and my bachelors in education, got married and starting raising a family,” Garrison said.
It was when she had her oldest son and was pregnant with her daughter that she decided she wanted to go back to school for her doctorate. Two weeks into her first doctoral class, her daughter was born.
“I was taking classes, had her two weeks later and was also an adjunct part-time professor at Buffalo State,” she said.
While collecting data for her dissertation, Garrison’s third child was born.
“I was a mother of three kids under school age, a full-time doctoral student, and was an adjunct at Buffalo State. Then at one point I was an adjunct at Canisius and working at UB at the same time. So I was extremely busy,” she said.
While obtaining her master’s degree, Garrison said she had an influential mentor who encouraged her to go for her doctorate
“She was very driven, very prominent in her field and very focused on her career,” she said.
When Garrison was closer to graduation, her mentor questioned her post-graduation priorities.
“She asked me what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I was planning my wedding at the time, so I said ‘Getting married, and I’d like to teach for a few years, have some kids and go back to school to get my doctorate.’ She said to me, ‘You’ll never get your Ph.D if you have kids. You need to establish your priorities and figure out what’s important to you.’ There were times after I started my doctoral studies when I just felt like quitting,” she said.
Although it took Garrison six and a half years to complete her doctorate, she said she did it because she wanted to touch the lives of others.
“I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives,” she said. “When you’re a teacher there’s a ripple effect, so if you drop a stone in a pond, every child that you touch is a ripple. When you’re a professor, you touch a lot more stones who are the teachers.”
Being influenced by a mentor that Garrison felt changed the world inspired her to continue what she started.
“Every time I felt like quitting, I’d hear her voice ringing in my head,” she said. “I actually just talked to her the other day and she told me that she said I needed to establish my priorities because she knew I would prove her wrong.”
Even though Garrison has been honored for things she accomplished before, she said this award holds a special place.
“I’m being honored for who I am, which I think is extremely special,” she said. “It just doesn’t honor me — it honors people who have influenced me: that would be Diane, my mother, my children and my fiancé, and all those people who’ve helped me be who I am, so it’s especially important because it honors them as well.”
Garrison’ colleague, Elizabeth Cashing, was awarded the Yellow Rose award, which goes to a woman residing in Cattaraugus or Allegany County who either serves as an excellent role model for women or gives outstanding service to women.
Cashing, who works in both undergraduate and graduate education, is a co-counselor for Kappa Delta Pi, the International Educational Honor Society, and works with the admissions team at St. Bonaventure.
She is currently board president of the Southern Tier Symphony and member of the First Presbyterian Church. She said she was beyond surprised when she found out she was the recipient for the Yellow Rose Award.
“I was flabbergasted. I don’t get caught off guard very often and I was above surprised,” she said.
Cashing said she believes that the Zonta Club is an organization that looks to equalize the status between males and females.
“If we’re going to look at a society that has opportunity for everyone then women have to achieve a level of equality that highlights anyone who’s capable of doing what they really want to do and because of that, I think that Zonta has a strong mission to work toward achieving that,” Cashing said.
On the acceptance of her award, she was extremely humble.
“It’s a distinct honor to be recognized for wanting to continue that level of achievement for women,” she said.
Ann Marie Sitter-Tompkins, a member of the Zonta Club of Olean, nominated both Garrison and Cashing.
“I nominated Betsy Cashingfor her constant support that she shows our students here on the Bonaventure campus in their academic and their personal achievements. She goes above and beyond what any professor or adviser has to do,” Sitter-Tompkins said. “I nominated René for her lifetime achievements in education, which were amazing and impressive.”
Sitter-Tompkins said she admires the achievements that both Cashing and Garrison have accomplished.
“After being an adjunct and teaching here (at Bona’s) for seven years, I noticed the education department is really different. We truly do celebrate one another down here. We enjoy each other, but we celebrate all of our accomplishments, big and little. Both of these women have been so good to me,” Sitter-Tompkins said.
