Background

In September 2001, the Provost Lawrence B. Dumas and Eugene Sunshine, senior vice president for business and finance, appointed a child care committee to explore options to increase the availability and affordability of child care for University members.

Katherine Faber, professor and chair of the materials science and engineering department, chaired the committee. Members included Charlotte Crane, professor of law; Robert Decker, professor of medicine and cell and molecular biology; Margaret McDonald, director of finance and administration in the office of research; and Suneetha Vaitheswaran, project manager in the office of the controller. Jean Shedd, associate provost, served as staff to the committee.

In its report, the committee recommended that the University:

• Establish child care facilities on or near the Evanston and Chicago campuses in FY05.
• Pursue a major donation to help support the cost of establishing and maintaining these centers.
• Develop a partnership with Childcare Network of Evanston beginning in FY03 that may include a small pilot program to reserve slots, a referral service, and/or a training program for in-home or short-term care.
• Pursue a similar partnering plan in Chicago in FY03 while recognizing that child-care options near campus are few.
• Update the FSA and Dependent Care Matching Programs in FY03 to better meet the needs of the Northwestern community.
• Assess the utility of, and revise if necessary, the current Sick Child Care Program in FY03.
• Enhance the mission, service, and reach of the Office of Child and Family Resources in FY03.
• Work to accommodate the childcare needs of students as fully as possible, consistent with their student status, and at minimum, immediately afford them the services of the Office of Child and Family Resources.
• Charge the Committee on Women in the Academic Community to monitor the progress made by Northwestern University in implementing these recommendations.

"The committee's recommendations have served as guideposts for the development of our initiative this year," Dumas said. "While some things remain to be accomplished, we believe the steps taken this year will provide significant improvements in childcare assistance for our faculty, staff and students."

The full report of the child care committee ( PDF) is now available online.