Category Archives: Announcements

Now Accepting Donations for June 2025 Used Book & Media Sale

Women sorting and packing donated used books into boxes

Book collection drive

Donate gently used books, CDs, DVDs and vinyl – reuse and recycle for a great cause! Thank you to everyone for saving your books for the sale.

Bring items to one of these collection drives. We can use sturdy small and medium empty boxes too. Sorry, but we are unable to accept: encyclopedias, VHS cassettes, Readers Digest, Time-Life or National Geographic series, magazines.

Knox Presbyterian Church, 1105 Catalpa Ln., Naperville

Saturday, May 10, 9 AM – Noon
Saturday, June 7, 9 AM – Noon

New location! Mill Street Elementary School, 1300 N. Mill St., Naperville

Monday, June 9, 9 AM – Noon

Rebecca Malotke-Meslin is AAUW Naperville Area 2025 Woman of the Year

Rebecca Malotke-Meslin

AAUW Naperville Area is pleased to name Rebecca Malotke-Meslin as 2025 Woman of the Year for her life’s work dedicated to advancing equity for women and girls through education, advocacy, and leadership development.

From her early work with girls in foster care, through Girl Scouts, to her academic background in Women’s Studies, Rebecca has remained focused on creating opportunities for women to thrive. Her commitment to community, equity, and uplifting women is unwavering.

Rebecca founded Pleasantly Aggressive (www.pleasantlyaggreesive.com) in 2022 to provide one-on-one coaching to early and mid-career women leaders in schools and non-profits. She helps them gain valuable leadership skills, rediscover their authentic voice, and build the confidence they need to achieve their goals.

Rebecca provides workshops and keynote speeches to audiences from local high school students to national women’s conferences. She combines her background in social research with 20 years of sales, marketing, communications, and school leadership to tackle topics like dismantling bias, building confidence, and advocating courageously. Her work inspires real action: participants have gone on to successfully negotiate raises, navigate challenging professional conversations, and change the trajectory of their careers.

A Naperville resident for 13 years, Rebecca embodies community service and civic engagement. She ran for Naperville City Council in 2023, championing equity, affordable housing, and representation for all. She currently serves on the DEI Advisory Committee for the DuPage Children’s Museum and the board of Planned Parenthood Illinois Action. Rebecca also fosters connection and growth by creating women-only spaces like her local bowling league, a Women’s Entrepreneur Meetup, and IVY, a Naperville-based conference she created to support women’s health, relationships, and careers. Through her podcast Confidently You: Women in Leadership, she amplifies the voices of women leading in education.

Rebecca will be honored at the AAUW Spring Awards Brunch on Saturday, May 3, 2025, at Bolingbrook Country Club.

First Look Tickets on Sale May 1 for June Used Book & Media Sale

Attention shoppers! AAUW Naperville Area’s 2025 Used Book & Media Sale is Thursday, June 12 – Saturday, June 14 at Washington Junior High Gymnasium in Naperville.

A limited number of First Look tickets for early access to the sale go on sale May 1 at 10 AM. Ticket purchase order determines admission order. This important fundraiser helps advance gender equity for women and girls through research, education and advocacy.

Get First Look Tickets

Generative AI for Everyone! In-Person April 8

Limited Seating – Register Now

Join us at Naper Blvd Library in Naperville on April 8 at 6:30 PM for an engaging session exploring Generative AI, its underlying technology, societal impacts, and the latest developments. Registration is required for this special program.

The Vision 1948 team will provide a basic introduction to how AI models generate text, images, and more, explaining key concepts like neural networks, and large language models. The information will be presented in a way that is easy to understand, without the need for any tech knowledge. We’ll also discuss the social and ethical implications of AI, including its influence on creativity, misinformation, and the future of work.

To bring these concepts to life, we’ll feature interactive demos before the presentation, showcasing real-time text and image generation and AI-assisted creativity, as well as games to test AI’s ability.

Vision 1948, a team of motivated women technologists, is dedicated to bringing gender parity back to tech. Vision 1948 is a partner of AAUW Naperville Area.

Casting a Historic Vote: Suffrage for Women in Illinois – Zoom Webinar March 19

Celebrate Women’s History Month with an intriguing look at the history of suffrage in Illinois! Register to attend Casting a Historic Vote: Suffrage for Women in Illinois with presenter Jeanne Schultz Angel on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at 7 p.m. via Zoom.

Prior to 1920, women were denied the vote in the majority of elections in the United States. The struggle for enfranchisement began with the birth of our nation and was strategized differently in our local, state, and federal elections. Despite what people today believe to be a straightforward goal, the path to women’s suffrage was infused with sexism and racism and triggered a fear of feminism whose roots are still seen today.

This free community program is presented by the League of Women Voters of Naperville, and co-sponsored by AAUW Naperville Area and the National Council of Jewish Women-Chicago North Shore.

About the Presenter

Jeanne Schultz Angel, Naper Settlement

Jeanne Schultz Angel is the Director of Learning Experiences & Historical Resources for Naper Settlement. She is a nonprofit administrator and museum professional with more than 24 years working within cultural institutions. She holds a BA in Anthropology and an MA in History from Illinois State University.

Two $5,000 Scholarships Available – Applications Due by March 15

AAUW Naperville Area is offering two $5,000 scholarships for 2025: The Angeline Gale Scholarship and the AAUW Naperville Area STEM Scholarship. Both scholarships are intended to encourage women or non-binary presenting persons to engage in scholarly pursuits, even when their education may have been interrupted. Additional criteria apply.

Applications must be received in our P.O. box by March 15, 2025. No online applications will be accepted. Selections for the scholarship awards will be made by March 30, 2025.

Access scholarship criteria and applications

Nominate a Deserving Woman for “Woman of the Year” Recognition by March 22

AAUW Naperville Area’s 2025 Woman of the Year award will recognize a woman in the community who has demonstrated an exceptional level of leadership and community service, and has supported the advancement of equity for women and girls.

Do you know a deserving woman? Anyone may nominate someone for this award.

QR code to access 2025 Woman of the Year award criteria and application

Access nomination form for the 2025 Woman of the Year award

Submit nominations by midnight, March 22. The awardee will be honored at the AAUW Naperville Area Spring Awards brunch on Saturday, May 3, 2025.

Meet our wonderful past honorees.

Questions? Contact Nikki Batsch, AAUW Naperville Area President, aauwnaper.pres@gmail.com.

AAUW Naperville Area announces two $5,000 scholarships for 2025

AAUW Naperville Area is pleased to announce two $5,000 scholarships for 2025. The Angeline Gale Scholarship and the AAUW Naperville Area STEM Scholarship are intended to encourage females or non-binary presenting persons to engage in scholarly pursuits, even when their education may have been interrupted. Additional criteria apply.

Applications must be received in our P.O. box by March 15, 2025. No online applications will be accepted. Selections for the scholarship awards will be made by March 30, 2025.

Scholarship info and applications

Student Debt: Facts, Resources, and How to Avoid, virtual program, Feb. 11, 2025

AAUW Naperville Area invites you to Student Debt: Facts, Resources, and Ways to Avoid, a timely program on the impact of student debt, especially on women — and strategies to manage education funding. Our speaker, Dr. Linda Dagradi, is a college counseling graduate program instructor and senior enrollment services consultant.

The college enrollment decision process is a complex one. For many students, the issues of costs and funding resources are complicating factors that may limit their access to a college that fits their needs or to any college at all. Personally and professionally, Dr. Dagradi is committed to the ideals of equity and access to higher education. She believes that as a nation, we face serious challenges to access based on rising costs, increasingly needy students, and public policy that does not adequately prioritize funding for higher education.

About the Speaker

Dr. Linda Dagradi

Dr. Linda Dagradi currently works as an instructor in UCLA Extension’s College Counseling Certificate Program and as a Senior Enrollment Management Consultant with Higher Ed Strategies LLC. She has served as a financial aid services director or associate VP at four independent colleges: Elms College, Springfield College, Smith College, and American International College, and she worked as a regional educational manager for the College Board. She also spent several years working in and around public education, as a high school guidance director, training consultant, teacher, alternative school counselor, and community volunteer.

Dr. Dagradi holds an Ed.D. in Educational Research and Administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a CAGS and M.Ed. in Counseling from Springfield (MA) College.

Make a New Year’s resolution to advocate for women and girls

It’s the beginning of a new year — time to reflect on the year past and plan for the year ahead. Why not resolve this year to become an active advocate for women and girls?

You may be surprised at how easy advocacy can be — easier than losing weight, exercising more or many popular goals.

AAUW gives you the tools and information you need to take action. Visit our Action Toolkit page for simple advocacy steps you can take and add a resolution to do one or more of these in 2025.

We wish you a happy, healthy, impactful New Year!