Spouses and Partners@MIT, formerly the Wives Group, will hold a reception on Wednesday, Feb. 23 to celebrate its change of name.
The group is making the change to reflect the many faces of those who accompany their partners to MIT, including husbands of female graduate students, unmarried partners of postdocs or visiting scholars, and gay and lesbian partners.
Founded in 1972 as the Wives Group by Charlotte Schwartz, a psychologist at MIT Medical, the mission of Spouses and Partners@MIT is to assist and encourage spouses and partners to develop a family support system, and to build social and professional networks with one another, MIT and surrounding communities.
The group provides information and referrals that connect spouses and partners with resources both at MIT and in the Boston area, fosters friendship in a new community, supports both the personal and professional growth of its membership, encourages spouses and partners to take initiative to organize and lead activities according to their interests, and offers confidential consultation and referral as needed.
Next week's reception will be held in Rm E23-297 from 4:30-6pm. All members of the MIT community are invited. Anyone with questions may visit the group's web site or contact coordinator Jessica Barton, a social worker at MIT Medical, at x3-2916 or barj@med.mit.edu.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on February 16, 2000.
