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New Parents on Campus

Prepared for:
Prepared by:

Amy Petersilie
English 402 Professor
Jake Staniszewski
Jeremy Morrell
Kelsey Phariss
Lindsay Rodriquez
November 13th, 2016

Washington State University

Pullman WA, 99163

Washington State University

Pullman WA, 99163

Date:
To:
From:

Subject:

November 13th, 2016

Amy Petersilie
WSU English 402 professor
Jake Staniszewski
Jeremy Morrell
Kelsey Phariss
Lindsay Rodriquez
Pamphlet for New Parents on Campus

Attached is the final report for our pamphlet on the available resources on
campus for new parents, specifically new fathers. Our goal is to bring
awareness to the students and staff here at WSU; To inform the community
of a new demographic that may have gone unnoticed before new studentparents and staff that are a part of this community. By reaching out to new
fathers, we will continue to make Washington State University an inclusive
community, a place that is welcoming to everyone, and a place that is safe
and accommodating for new parents.
During our project, we determined that there was a lack of awareness for this
demographic on the Washington State University Pullman campus,
specifically regarding resources and statistics on male caregivers. To disperse
this information as effectively as possible, we targeted several buildings
where we felt these pamphlets could be properly distributed. These included,
but were not limited to: WSU Childrens Center, Womens Resource Center,
WSU Child Care Resource and Referral, and Health & Wellness Services.
On the Washington State University campus, nearly every women's restroom
is equipped with baby changing stations. In men's restrooms, however, there
are not nearly as many; Several students and staff interviewed for this
project do not recall seeing any at all in any of the public restrooms on
campus.
In addition to spreading awareness for the lack of childcare options for
fathers on campus, this pamphlet will help fathers learn these resources are
available to them on campus, and where they can go to access these
resources. For instance, the WSU Children's Center offers a daycare for
children ages 6-weeks to 12 years old, and is eligible to give out grants to
help those with financially debilitating circumstances. Another great location
is the WSU Child Care Resource and Referral center, which serves as a tool

for those who are caretakers. This is a place that can answer questions about
all services offered on campus, as well as options that are offered in the
Palouse community for new fathers. It is a volunteer-based organization that
also help by provides skilled counselors for those trying to balance being a
student and involved parent.
The goal of the pamphlet is to help fathers and male caretakers know what
all is available to them on campus, and to help them have the best
experience possible while attending Washington State University. There is a
lack of both awareness (i.e. gender discrepancies, lack of available
resources, and information for new fathers on campus) and resources for
fathers here at WSU who are trying to pursue a degree while also being a
parent. Therefore, we recommend distributing these pamphlets to all the
aforementioned resources, including wellness centers, community centers,
clinics, and resource centers on campus, so that they may reach as wide an
audience as possible.
Our goal is that by distributing these pamphlets around the campus, not only
will we bring awareness to this issue, but we will also serve as a valuable
resource to fathers and male caretakers. We would like to begin by
distributing them to the on-campus organizations and resources that have
been listed above, which include the WSU Childrens Center, Womens
Resource Center, WSU Child Care Resource and Referral, and Health &
Wellness Services.
Thank you for the trust you have given us in heading up this project and
allowing us to try and tackle a real issue here at WSU. We look forward to
hearing back from you and continuing to improve this project around
campus.

Table of Contents

Executive
Summary...........................................................................................................
.............5
Introduction.......................................................................................................
.............................6
Research
Methods.............................................................................................................
.............8
Results...............................................................................................................
.............................9
Conclusions.......................................................................................................
............................10
Recommendations.............................................................................................
...........................11
Appendices........................................................................................................
...........................12

Executive Summary
The following report is an in-depth overview of the project conducted by our
team for developing a pamphlet for new fathers and male caretakers at
Washington State University. This pamphlet includes resources and
organizations that are available to these caretakers which consist of
counseling, day care, and several other resources. It also provides locations
that need to be known by these fathers, such as health and wellness, and
which Men's restrooms have changing tables for infants. Our goal is to bring
resources and awareness to the Washington State University campus,
including its students and faculty. Every student deserves the best possible
environment available to them which includes new fathers and male
caretakers. By making this pamphlet we hope to increase their knowledge,
and help make these caretakers life a little bit easier while at WSU.

Introduction
As the result of a long line of new and progressive initiatives spear-headed by
Washington State University including becoming a smoke-free campus,
establishing a resource center for women on campus, funding Green Dot and
providing a Childrens Resource Center the Palouse has become a more
accepting, inclusive, and diverse environment for students and staff. To
perpetuate the growth of this inclusive environment and continue outreach
for underrepresented communities, beginning on October 21st, 2016 and
ending on November 20th, 2016, this collaborative repurposed research
project this project was created with the endeavor of creating digestible,
resourceful information for new parents at Washington State University. The
purpose of this project is to create a nonpartisan pamphlet whose objective
is to provide myriad resources aimed at supplying information, community
assets, and administrative aid for young fathers.
Our objective is to normalize the fact that men co-parent, and mothers are
not the sole caretakers in every household. By doing so, this pamphlet not
only provides a plethora of resources for fathers on campus, but it also raises
awareness of the fact that traditionally, mothers are hailed as the primary
caregivers in heteronormative households and nuclear families, and fathers
are members of the working-class. This cultural phenomenon built on
socialized gender discrepancies has given rise to an inherent lack of resource
in public facilities for fathers, i.e. access to daycare, changing tables in mens
restrooms, access to child services, and lack of legal paternity leave, and as
such has created a barrier for students with children at Washington State
University.
To spur circulation and engage conversation, the first way to make this
pamphlet accessible is by distributing it to all the major community clinic
outlets, like Pullman Regional Hospital and the Health and Wellness center;
Considering new fathers will likely frequent these areas with a newborn, it
will be a great place to focus our efforts. Next, giving it out to residence
offices throughout campus could help circulate the information, i.e. Coug
Housing and the D.R.A, to target new fathers who may live on campus or in
on-campus housing. Furthermore, distributing it out to commonly used newparent resources on campus like the Womens Resource Center, the Office of
Equal Opportunity, and the daycare centers offered through the university
and Pullman community could greatly improve this pamphlets circulation.

On one of the benefits of creating a pamphlet is that new parents might not
have time to sit down and read a lengthy essay or short book about
resources, and that can cause a huge educational rift. By creating something
small, easy to digest, and easy to access, we not only eliminate this barrier,
but hopefully give fathers the resources they need on campus. Using
Microsoft Office and InDesign as our method of production, we will create this
pamphlet with the goal of creating a simple, inclusive, informative, and
concise pamphlet for new fathers.

Examples of this research are as follows:

WSU Childrens Center
For parents with children between 6 weeks and 12 years of age, the
university has a day care and educational facility conveniently located on
campus. The program offers a CCAMPIS grant for income-eligible families
year-round. There is also food service for children enrolled in the program,
evening care, and family-involvement events.
Children's Center, 1425 Olympia Avenue, Washington State University,
Pullman WA 99164-3454 | (509) 335-8847 | childrens.center@wsu.edu
Womens Resource Center
Dont let the name fool you, the Womens Resource Center is open to
everyone, with an emphasis on promoting safety and supporting women.
This center is also home to a private breastfeeding room and the Womens
Transit project that transports anyone in need within the Pullman community
without charge.
PO Box 644005, Room 8 Wilson-Short Hall, Ground Floor, Pullman, WA 991644005 | (509)-335-6849 | wrc.email@wsu.edu
WSU Child Care Resource and Referral
Also known as Child Care Aware of Eastern Washington, this community
service organization is made up of volunteers and skilled parent counselors
that provide parents and caretakers with local information regarding child
care and parenting on campus. The organization welcomes all forms of
questions, comments, or concerns.
PO Box 641410, WSU Child Care Resource & Referral, Region K, Smith Gym
Room 113 C, Pullman, WA 99164-1410 | (509)-335-7625 | ccrr@wsu.edu
Health & Wellness Services
The HWS is an on-campus clinic providing several services including
immunizations, nutrition counseling, and a pharmacy. The building has a

baby changing station in both the mens and womens restroom and may be
an ideal place for changing a child in a safe and sanitary setting*.
PO Box 642302, Washington Building, Pullman, WA 99164-2302 | (509) 3353575 | hws@wsu.edu
*Womens restrooms tend to be equipped with baby changing stations more so than mens
restrooms. Many students and staff do not recall seeing a changing station in most of the
mens restrooms on campus. If you are a male caretaker with a child, please note restrooms
appropriately marked with the symbol below when changing a childs diaper. If no such
restroom is available, please utilize the resources listed above.

To create a successful pamphlet, outsourcing information was of paramount

importance. We needed to provide fathers with a coherent list of resources
on campus, as exemplified in our Introduction, within an aesthetically
pleasing pamphlet (a draft of which can be found in Appendix A). The key to
this was a figuring out the best was to design the pamphlet, and we decided
to divide the pamphlet into sections:
(A) Resources on campus (as exemplified in Introduction)
(B) Resources for daycare
(C) Statistical analyses on fathers as primary caregivers and how that
traditionally affects their education and work life
(D)Clinics and how new fathers can use their resources
(E) Tips and tricks for new fatherhood

Project Schedule is as follows:

Tasks
Reviewing
policies and
literary
review to
create
research
base for
pamphlet
Create
bibliography
and compile
applicable
information
into Research
Methods
Draft Research
Methods and
Results and

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draft pamphlet
using this
information
Use
bibliographic
research to
create
cohesive
Introduction
that relates
both to the
Research
Methods and
Results, and
summarize
this in sections
1 and 2 of the
pamphlet
Based on the
already
drafted
information,
create
Conclusion,
and
summarize
this for the
last sections of
the pamphlet
Draft
Recommendati
ons per
information
already
established
(making sure
to still have
working
bibliography),
and finalize
draft of
pamphlet

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28
30
October

4
5
November

Results
Research via interviews collected by undergraduate student Lindsay
Rodriguez revealed that fathers feel underinformed in the following areas:

Available resources

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Changing tables in bathrooms

Ways to get their child enrolled in healthcare or after school care
Resources available for working fathers with long hours

With this we could deduce that this pamphlet needed to address, statistics
on fathers as primary caregivers to raise awareness of the lack of resources,
resources on campus, and ways fathers can use these resources to their
benefit. The product itself has a very enticing picture right on the front of the
pamphlet to grab your attention (see Appendix A). When delving in and
reading further, you will find lots of resources where you can reach out to
and get support, have questions answered, or information on future
resources you can reach out to when youre ready.
To provide the most accurate and concise statistical information possible, we
outsourced to research done at other institutions on the matter, and included
their results in our pamphlet as additional information.
The research resulted in a bibliography, which we used to compile the FAQs
listen on the back side of our pamphlet. The sources are as follows:
(1)Badalament, J. (2008). Engaging Modern Dads in Schools. School
Matters, 122-131. Retrieved from:
http://www.thefatherhoodproject.org/media/Engaging-Modern-Dads-inSchools.pdf
(2)Doucet, A. (2006). Estrogen-filled worlds: Fathers as primary
caregivers and embodiment. Sociological Review., 54(4), 696-716.
(3)Fagan, J., & Iglesias, A. (1999). Father involvement program effects on
fathers, father
figures, and their head start children: A quasi-experimental study. Early
Childhood Research Quarterly, 14(2), 243-269.
(4)Radin, N., Gottfried, A., & Gottfried, A. (1994). Primary-Caregiving
Fathers in Intact
Families. Redefining Families, 11-54. doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-0961-9_2
(5)Eckerson, E., Talbourdet, L., Reichlin, L., Sykes, M., Noll, E., Gault, B.
(2016). Child Care
for Parents in College: A State-by-State Assessment. Retrieved
from http://www.iwpr.org/initiatives/student-parent-successinitiative/resources-publications/
Finally, our team had to discuss another important facture: aesthetics. In
order to garner attention but not be aesthetically unappealing, we used
black-and-white pictures of a father with his child and warm blues, grays, and

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greens to make the information itself stick out, but also be pleasant to read
and look over.
In sum, our team outsourced information from fathers on campus via
interviews to figure out the educational gaps we could fill with this
informational pamphlet. Furthermore, we created a bibliographical resource
from which we could draw statistics and methods to promote educational
awareness. Finally, we laid all this information out in a concise, informative,
digestible, and distributable pamphlet.
Recommendations
This project is made successful because it gives new and expectant fathers a
short, portable, and easy-to-read pamphlet designed to provide them with
contact information for resources on campus, synopses of facilities they
provide, and information regarding male caregivers. It is successful because
it provides nonpartisan information, which means that it does not exclude
minority groups on campus.
On juxtaposition to the above, one thing that makes this pamphlet
unsuccessful is it does not address solutions to the lack of resources and
information on campus. Fathers are only told what there is, not what there
could be. However, one of the reasons for this is we didnt want our
pamphlet to be opinionated in any way, and endeavored only to provide
nonpartisan information.
To ensure the success of this pamphlet, the distribution of it will be of
paramount importance. Making sure it is given to clinics, student resource
centers (like the Womens Resource Center), wellness offices and clinics,
childcare facilities, and housing offices will ensure its success both in the
present, and in the future. We also recommend that new versions of it be
created every year with updated campus and community resources so that
new and expectant fathers on campus always have access to the resources
available to them.
Conclusion
Based on the information garnered through interviews and nonpartisan
research, our team deduced that providing a short, informationally
diversified (via statistics and resources), and distributable pamphlet is the
best and most productive way of informing new and expectant fathers of
resources available to them on campus. It is clear via the information
garnered in our preparatory interviews (see Introduction and Research

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Methods) that men on this campus are not aware of the resources available
to them, and we need to provide access to more prenatal care like
changing stations for men on campus.
To be successful in the distribution of our information, we need to target
areas that new fathers will likely frequent: clinics, childcare facilities, grocery
stores like Walmart and Dissmores, and housing facilities like the D.R.A and
Coug Housing on campus.
Considering that new parents at the university are more-than-likely either
students or staff, they are unlikely to read a book or large packet containing
this information because their busy schedules create time constraints. By
making this pamphlet aesthetically pleasing and brief, we not only eliminate
this barrier, but we create a new avenue for distributing information to this
communal group portable, easily accessible, and informative information
about all things they might need on-camps.
In short, with this pamphlet we are raising awareness of the fact that not all
families on campus are heteronormative and nuclear, and fathers need as
many resources as mothers get on the Pullman campus.

Appendix
(A)This is the final draft of the first side of the pamphlet provided by
Lindsay Rodriguez. It has a focus on raising awareness to the fact that
not all primary caregivers are mothers.

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(B)This is the final draft of the pamphlet, with a focus on physical

resources for new caregivers and information on the location of
changing stations. In the center of this side of the pamphlet is a series
of statistics, which will garner attention, social engagement, and

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awareness of the lack of attention and resources given to new

caregivers, specifically male parents.