At a glance
In celebration of Women’s History Month, Alfred State College is partnering with Art Force 5 and dozens of other SUNY institutions on a program designed to honor many women’s empowerment icons from the past and present.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, Alfred State College is partnering with Art Force 5 and dozens of other SUNY institutions on a program designed to honor many women’s empowerment icons from the past and present.
Dubbed the “Women’s Empowerment Draft,” this monthlong program draws inspiration from the annual National Football League draft and asks, “What if we celebrated women’s history with the same enthusiasm as we root for professional athletics?” A total of 32 colleges are collaborating with Art Force 5, a student club and class at Alfred University, on the effort, which features trading cards, mosaic paintings, and a draft ceremony with students wearing football jerseys adorned with icons’ faces and names.
According to an article by the Art Force 5, in 2020, the NFL Network’s NFL360 broadcast the first annual Women’s Empowerment Draft, which spotlighted college students from each NFL city honoring icons from those cities. The 2021 draft, the article continues, still honors many historic trailblazers but has shifted some of the focus to include “Living Legends” and regional connections to New York State.
As part of its involvement with the program, Alfred State will honor Attorney General Letitia James, who is the first woman of color to hold a statewide office in New York State and the first woman to be elected state attorney general. Each school is receiving a kit to paint a mosaic of their chosen women’s empowerment icon, and once completed, all 32 colorful mosaics will be displayed in a meaningful location.
Alfred State Assistant Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Title IX Investigator Desmond Davis said, “Alfred State is proud to be a part of this program because it allows us the opportunity to celebrate the women who have impacted our world and society and continue to do so. This year, Alfred State chooses to honor living icon NYS Attorney General Letitia James as the first woman of color to hold statewide office in NYS and the first woman to be elected state attorney general. Such an accomplishment and milestone cannot go unnoticed and uncelebrated. Many of the interns for the Cultural Life Center are women with a passion and strength to impact culture from the micro-level to the meso-level, so it’s only right that our selection is a living legend who is doing just that, too!”
For more information on this effort, email artforce5@alfred.edu.
