As Chanel Craft Tanner, recently-selected Director of the Maxine Platzer Lynn Women’s Center, begins her first semester in the new position, she said she will focus on offering a greater variety of counseling resources to the University population, as well as enhancing the Women’s Center’s mentorship programs. Previously serving as director of the Center for Women at Emory University, Tanner said she hopes to make the University’s Women's Center a model for innovation and excellence for all women’s centers.
According to its website, the Women’s Center aims to foster respect, safety and dignity among women and girls, as well as work for gender justice both on Grounds and beyond. It serves as a hub of resources designed to provide opportunities and support to students, faculty and staff at the University of all gender identities. These resources aim to address common concerns such as academic issues, depression, trauma, stress and more.
The Women’s Center and the University’s Executive Search Group announced Tanner’s selection as director in April, and she joined the Women’s Center in June. Tanner’s appointment follows the departure of the previous director, Abigail Palko, who served as director of the Women’s Center from 2017 through 2023.
Tanner, a Virginia native herself, said that what drew her to the University was not only the opportunity to return to her home state, but also the size and scope of the University’s Women’s Center, which first opened in 1989. She said she was particularly excited about the center’s in-house counseling, in which Women’s Center counselors directly assist clients for multiple sessions, describing the practice as rare and unique.
According to Tanner, the Women’s Center is the only location on Grounds that provides long-term counseling for students. And while Tanner said that the current counseling staff at the center is performing well and offering adequate services, she is looking to recruit a more diverse staff so that students can see their needs and identities reflected in their counselors.
“We do see a really diverse population of students within our counseling offices, and not only are they racially and culturally diverse, but our client base also is diverse in terms of socioeconomic status,” Tanner said. “We are looking at how our staff could be more diverse, how the counseling staff can reflect the needs or reflect the population of [the University] at large.”
Leah Carroll, senior intern at the Women’s Center and fourth-year College student, said she bonded with Tanner over their shared background as small-town Virginians and appreciated Tanner’s ability to connect with students, especially those from first-generation, rural or minority backgrounds.
"She just seems so excited to be back home and really excited to connect with first-gen college students, talk about the experience of Black women in college and the experience of rural students,” Caroll said. “She actually knows where the students are coming from who are drawn to the Center.”
To provide University students with more forms of support, Tanner said she has expanded offerings at the Women’s Center. New programs include Wellness Wednesdays, where students are invited to pick up free giveaway items, as well as Cultivate Calm with Creativity, where students can drop in and partake in knitting, needlework, collage and other projects. Additionally, students can visit Fender — a service dog from Service Dogs of Virginia — at his “office hours” Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the semester from 12 to 1 p.m.
Tanner also spoke about plans to improve existing programs at the Women’s Center. In particular, she mentioned the Young Women's Leaders Program and the Men's Leadership Project, which provide community-based mentoring by pairing undergraduates with middle school students in Charlottesville. According to Tanner, the Women’s Center is reevaluating these programs to meet the changing needs of students and help them find a sense of community.
“I think that [the mentorship programs are] a unique way of providing a hands-on opportunity for leadership development” Tanner said. “As the needs of young people continue to evolve and change, we as a team are looking at how the needs of the program itself may be changing.”
Gabriela Dell’anno, senior intern at the Women’s Center and fourth-year Batten student, praised Tanner’s focus on ensuring that the Women’s Center adapts to the community’s needs to support a wide range of people.
“[Tanner] talked a lot about increasing diversity and inclusion at the Women's Center, which was something that is really important to me,” Dell’anno said. “I saw that she was ready to bring people into her bigger vision for the year, and that she had a real sense of purpose and drive for bringing her life's work from Emory to U.Va.”
In addition to enhancing the Women’s Center’s mentorship programs for local students, Tanner said she hopes to form stronger relationships with other local organizations and partners in the Charlottesville community.
Abba Kodiaga, senior intern at the Women’s Center and third-year College student, said she believes Tanner brings a new vision to the center that will involve not only members of the University community, but Charlottesville community members as well.
“She brings such a new and refreshing energy — as most new people do, they have a fresh set of eyes — but for her, it was infectious,” Kodiaga said. “She brings not only a wealth of knowledge and experience … more importantly, she really wants to connect not only with us as interns, but [also] with the Charlottesville area.”
As Tanner continues her role, she said she hopes to make the University’s Women's Center a model for all women's centers as a space where students feel empowered and heard.
“I want the students that do engage in the Women's Center to lead differently than when they came,” Tanner said. “This is a place where women's voices matter and that they're taken seriously.”
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