More than 100 faculty, staff, student parents and their children participated in the University’s Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day events held Thursday throughout campus. The day, observed nationally, is celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday in April.
According to www.daughtersandsonstowork.org, the day was started by the Ms. Foundation to “create an opportunity for girls and boys to share and communicate their expectations for the future.” It was expanded in 2003 to include sons as well as daughters.
Lilah Glick, the family issues advocate for Work & Family Services, an office of the University’s Human Resources department, said the program is about youth exploring work and family life.
“An important piece of the puzzle is obviously about partnership,” she said. “Balancing work and responsibilities is how they expanded Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day.”

Campus events this year included going behind the scenes at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, working with costume design in the Department of Theatre Arts and playing in the Knight Library video production studio.
“We wanted to give a broad range of activities from science to sports to art to dance to video production, so it’s a pretty multifaceted program,” Glick said.
Glick said this year’s program, which was advertised through a letter to University faculty and staff more than a month ago, filled up quickly.
“All the departments and programs are exceptional,” she said. “The departments have been really helpful and really enjoyed this. It’s a pretty well-liked program, and it seems the interest might keep on growing.”
The next campus event for children of University faculty, staff and students is Duckling Day on May 17, from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Glick said it is targeted toward toddlers to 4- and 5-year-olds, and events include music, juggling and face painting.
“It’s a good way for students who don’t have families to realize that other students and faculty and staff have kids, and this is part of a balancing act between work and school and their families,” Glick said.
For more information about the Human Resources department, visit hr.uoregon.edu/workfamily.
— Jennifer Sudick