Glandina 'Dina' Morris and Sara McGuire Cerruto Promoted
Executive Director of The Women’s Advancement Initiative (WAI), Amy Jaffe Barzach is proud to announce the promotion of Glandina ‘Dina’ Morris to Director of The Women’s Advancement Initiative and Sara McGuire Cerruto to Assistant Director of The Women’s Advancement Initiative.
In this advanced leadership role, Dina manages Women’s Advancement programming, finances, daily operations, and strategic initiatives. She plans and facilitates Dorothy Goodwin Scholars, Robert E. Donovan Scholars, and Laura Johnson Leaders programs, creates outreach materials in collaboration with the Office of Marketing and Communication including the annual W magazine, works with the Office of Alumni Engagement on Hartford College for Women reunions, designs and manages special events, cultivates corporate and community partnerships, develops and manages external grants, works with the Office of Institutional Advancement on donor stewardship, and mentors students.
In this elevated role, Sara is responsible for development, implementation, and evaluation of LEAD (Leadership Education and Development) program that serves more than 100 students. Sara designs and directs all aspects of this innovative leadership and community building program. This includes overseeing program facilitation, creating and delivering curriculum, providing resilience and opportunity coaching, coordinating special events, planning community service projects, managing relationships with students and constituents, maintaining the LEAD operations budget, coordinating community and corporate relationships, and spearheading the LEAD sponsored students program.
Before joining The Women’s Advancement Initiative as Program Manager and then Assistant Director, Dina served as the Assistant Director of Cambridge College and the Acting Communication Director for Boundless Playgrounds. She holds a master’s of education in counseling psychology from Cambridge College and a bachelor’s of science in business administration and management from the University of Hartford.
Prior to this promotion, Sara served as LEAD Program Manager. She previously served as Assistant Director of Transfer Admission and University Evaluator at the University of Hartford. She holds a master’s of science in business management from the University of Hartford and a bachelor’s of science in communication disorders from the University of Connecticut. She is also an adjunct instructor of “Leadership: Challenges and Opportunities”.
Pearl Douglas, Chair of the Board of Directors of The Women’s Advancement Initiative adds, “Dina and Sara are two of the most enthusiastic and dependable professionals I have ever engaged with. They work tirelessly to enhance Women’s Advancement programming. During the pandemic, I saw them pivot seamlessly to online learning followed by a hybrid method for both LEAD students and participants in other WAI programming, knowing full well that they sacrificed many hours outside their expected work schedules to make it work. The Board of Directors of The Women’s Advancement Initiative will forever be grateful for their dedicated service. We congratulate them on these well-deserved promotions.”
The Women’s Advancement Initiative is proud to continue and celebrate the legacy of Hartford College for Women, which was established in 1933 as a ‘noble experiment’ – with programming for today’s women. Thanks to this strong foundation and a community of women and men who are committed to advancing the potential of women, The Women’s Advancement Initiative is able to make a difference in the lives of students, faculty and staff who participate in its programming.
Congratulations Dina and Sara!