The Washington University Family Network Web site — WUSTLfamily.net — launches Sept. 3. The WUSTL Family Network provides an online forum where members of the WUSTL community can exchange information about parenting, events and the St. Louis area.
Through the Family Network, WUSTL community members can post questions or notices on family, lifestyle or cultural topics, and other members can offer feedback. The network, which is sponsored by WUSTL’s Diversity Initiative, will be for WUSTL faculty, students and staff only. Though anyone can view the Web site, a University e-mail address is required to post questions and responses.
Sophia Hayes, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, came up with the idea of a WUSTL Family Network Web site after she and a group of her friends — some of which are WUSTL faculty members — started a Yahoo group to discuss child-related questions.
“Many faculty, graduate students and postdocs are transplants to the St. Louis area from other communities, and they may initially lack a local network of family and close friends,” Hayes said.
“This online resource is a way for people to exchange information on topics where ‘local knowledge’ is very helpful,” Hayes said. “Such local insight takes time to develop, and for the many in the University community, this online community can help augment other community links that might have yet to fully develop, and ensure there are resources in place to help women and men balance their work and family obligations while sharing a sense of common purpose.”
Topics for discussion on the Family Network may include pediatricians, school districts, day care centers, adoption and interfaith families.
The site also will feature links to other reputable family, cultural and St. Louis-area Web sites and forums.
Because only those with WUSTL e-mail addresses can respond to questions or invitations, members can feel secure posting invitations for play dates or events knowing that those who respond are from within the WUSTL community, said Laurel Sgan, program manager in the Office of Diversity Initiatives, who spearheaded the effort to both fund and develop the Web site for the Family Network.
WUSTL community members can post to the Family Network anonymously. That may be helpful to those who have topics they are curious about but don’t want to announce to the public at that time, such as looking for a tutor for a struggling student, Sgan said.
For more information about the Family Network, contact Sgan at 935-9206 or sganl@wustl.edu.