Welcome to Poughkeepsie AAUW!
We have been advancing equity for women and girls as individuals and nationally since 1881 and as a local branch since 1925! We invite you to visit the pages of our website to explore the many parts of our organization. Our work continues. We welcome you to join us!
AAUW Membership-JOIN OR RENEW
Upcoming Events/Information
♦AAUW Centennial Endowment Fund
(for Dutchess Community College)
“a legacy for our next 100 years.”
Contribute HERE
♦DCC and Poughkeepsie AAUW:
Supporting Education in the
Mid-Hudson Valley♦
December 11, 2025 at 7:00 pm
Freedom Plains United Presbyterian Church
1168 Route 55, LaGrangeville
Presenter: Margaret Craig
J
oin us at our December meeting! Margaret Craig, Associate Professor of Art History and assistant coordinator of AWDCC (Association of Women at Dutchess Community College) will discuss our intertwined history and the future of DCC. Margaret will share highlights from DCC’s rich history as well as discuss the college’s evolving goals and continued partnership with AAUW. Funds for the Centennial Scholarship endowment will be presented to the college at this celebration and the anonymous donor who has matched our funds will be revealed.
Refreshments will be served.
More information to share with friends and colleagues: December 2025 AAUW Program Announcement
Contact: Barbara Van Itallie
program.aauw.poughkeepsie@gmail.com
The Poughkeepsie Branch AAUW invites you to join this
free virtual program.
Bias in Women’s Healthcare Today
Thursday, January 8 at 7:00pm; on Zoom
Registration required, check back closer to the date.
Presenter: Christie VanHorne, Founder & President, CVH Consulting
Have you ever felt dismissed or ignored during a doctor’s appointment? You aren’t alone. This eye-opening presentation explores why women continue to experience bias in healthcare today. We’ll uncover the historical roots of this inequity—how decades of exclusion and misconception have left women misdiagnosed, undertreated, and unheard. But the conversation doesn’t end there. Participants will leave with practical tools and strategies to advocate for themselves, ask better questions, and take back their power in clinical settings.
Contact: Barbara Van Itallie
program.aauw.poughkeepsie@gmail.com
Recent Events & Information
♦A Look at Fashion for University and Professional Women♦
On Novemb
er 13, 2025, David Roberts gave an entertaining and illustrative survey of fashion for college and university students and in the professional workplace over the last 100 years. The audience enjoyed the slides and had many questions to end the evening.
Our presenter, a native of Syracuse, NY, graduated from SUNY New Paltz. He has been teaching History of Fashion at FIT since 2009. He has also taught at Marist Univ. and Montclair State Univ. He lectures at Vassar LLI, Marist CLS, and at Boardman Rd. Library.
Leading to Reading Honored
Left to Right: Judy Linville, Flo Mondanaro, Kathy MacCarthy, Betty Harrel, Nancy Marrine, and Pam Terwilliger
On November 6, 2025, Hudson River Housing honored AAUW’s Leading to Reading, and the Poughkeepsie United Methodist Church’s Missions Committee with Community Builder Awards. They were honored for “their dedication to uplifting families in crisis which embodies the very spirit of hope.”
The event, Building Hope Together, was held at the Grandview. Leading to Reading members who attended were Betty Harrel, Judy Linville, Kathy MacCarthy and Flo Mondanaro. The Missions Committee was also represented by AAUW members, Nancy Marrine and Pam Terwilliger. AAUW has a long commitment to supporting residents at Hudson River Lodging, a short-term family shelter. The project has fostered a love of reading through donating and wrapping books, wrapping mountains of holiday gifts, and providing English and bilingual books throughout the year for the community room. We were presented with a glass house which is inscribed, “In recognition of your significant commitment and passion to improving lives and neighborhoods in the Hudson Valley. Hudson River Housing proudly recognizes you as a partner in our mission to end homelessness and empower local communities to reach their fullest potential.” We were also presented with a Certificate of Recognition from Senator Robert G. Rolison “with gratitude for your efforts and dedication to ending homelessness in Dutchess County.”
The mission of Hudson River Housing is to end homelessness and create pathways of opportunity across Dutchess County. The gala is an annual tradition to raise awareness of local needs and community support programs.
♦A City on the Hudson: Film and Discussion
of Poughkeepsie History♦
On Thursday, October 16, at the Boardman Road Library, AAUW in conjunction with Poughkeepsie Public Library District sponsored a viewing of the film A City on the Hudson. This film was produced by Poughkeepsie AAUW with script and filming by Dr. James Steerman of Vassar College. It premiered at the Bardavon in 1983. Margaret Nijhuis, then AAUW president and chair of the project, and Shannon Butler, Historian Poughkeepsie Public Library District, introduced the film and took questions concerning the history in the years 1687 – 1987.
♦We welcomed fall and the AAUW Year♦
Poughkeepsie AAUW Open House was held September 11, 2025 at Freedom Plains United Presbyterian Church. Tables were set up for all of our interest groups and community initiatives and provided an opportunity to meet many of our members.
Refreshments were served and a slide show gave prospective members an idea of some of our activities and our community services.
We invite those interested in membership to go to: Join/Renew
or contact Kathy Prisco or Maureen Tremblay, Membership VPs, AAUW Poughkeepsie Branch at Membership.aauw.poughkeepsie@gmail.com
♦Poughkeepsie AAUW receives a commendation from
Dutchess County Legislature♦
♦Annual Dinner & Meeting♦
On June 11 we held our a business meeting including bylaws update and election of officers. This was followed by an In Memoriam for members who have passed away this year and recognition of our Legacy Honorees (25 plus years of membership in Poughkeepsie AAUW), our Emerging Leader and our members who have anniversary years of membership.
♦Celebrating our 100 years1925!♦
Thursday, May 8, 2025 opened our year long celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Poughkeepsie AAUW. Delicious food, many former members and friends traveled back to share the evening.
Many former presidents from 1977-2024 joined the evening of memories and reunion.
President Celia Serotsky Report
Reports from your board and appointed office holders.
