By Amanda Boyer

On Tuesday, March 28, Quincy University hosted an open forum on women in the workplace in the student success center, hosted by Jannah Zubaidi and the Intercultural Initiatives.

The forum was titled, Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Women in the Workplace and is in celebration of Women’s History Month. Linda Moore and Kristen Leisen participated as the panelists.

Moore graduated from QU with a degree in business. After graduation Moore got a job in admissions and she enjoyed talking with students and finding the right fit for them. As her career continued Moore made many connections.

“If you’re invited to have a seat at the table, have a seat at the table. But if you are sitting at the table be engaged and ask good questions. Listen first and then ask,” Moore said.

Her career continued to accelerate. She was offered a job with ESPN and the X-Games. She moved to San Diego and spent 20 years there. Moore was able to retire early and return to QU and teach at the graduate level.

“I had a very fun career I got to travel all over the world and see and do all sorts of things but when the opportunity came where I could retire early and come home it was kind of a no-brainer,” Moore said. “I knew there were things around here that I could do and my parents were getting older, so it just made a lot of sense to come home and see what was going on at QU.”

Leisen was recruited to play softball at QU. She currently serves as the Director of Career Services.

“I love it and it’s been neat to see the transition of not having very many students come to visit you and not having a lot of student interaction like we have today, which is a lot of meetings with students and that has been wonderful,” Leisen said.

As Leisen was pursuing school she continued to visit her admissions counselor, who recruited her, and she became intrigued in admissions.

Leisen lived and worked in St. Louis for five years. After her second child, Leisen saw an opening in career services, and got the job. She has been here for 12 years.

“I feel very successful as Director of Career Services and I can’t say I’m at my end point of being successful, but I wanted a success balance because I wanted to be a mom and I wanted to be a business professional and although it is not impossible it can be tricky,” Leisen said.

In honor of Women’s History Month, the Intercultural Initiatives have hosted three events: The Poetry Slam, in the Hawk’s Nest on Mar. 27, the Women in the Workplace forum on Mar. 28, and the Women in History the short story discussion on Mar. 29 also in the Hawk’s Nest.

Interested in inquiring about other campus events, click here.