"A lot of women who have thoughts that are worth sharing, who should be thought leaders, don't see themselves that way," said Allison Piepmeier, director of Women's and Gender Studies at the College of Charleston. That's where The OpEd Project comes in. College of Charleston faculty and staff participated in the national project which encourages women to make their voices heard by coaching them on how to identify an area of expertise, where they can speak with authority. Then they write op-ed submissions to newspapers, news magazines and websites. Female faculty and staff are certainly confident in their areas of scholarly research. "All of us have had things published in the specific area of our research," Piepmeier said. "That's written for a really specific audience." The OpEd project teaches women at colleges and universities, as well as community leaders and those in women's organizations, how to translate an area of expertise into something for a more general audience.
