Lactating mothers now have a dedicated safe space in the Humanities to nurse or pump milk.
A new lactation room is now open in Humanities One at Room 228, thanks to an anonymous donor, and in collaboration with Cassi Janakos, ( Porter '11, business management economics) chief operating officer and co-founder of Healthy Horizons, the first company to offer corporate lactation programs at scale.
Healthy Horizons provides lactation rooms and lactation benefits services for Fortune 100 organizations, startups, universities, and other workplaces across North America. Janakos, and her mother, Sheila Dukas-Janakos, lead Healthy Horizons breastfeeding centers and corporate lactation programs, which have served more than 3,000,000 employees, parents, and families.
"I am incredibly proud to have partnered with UC Santa Cruz to create a dedicated lactation room for the Humanities staff, students, administration, and faculty,” Janakos said. “Providing a comfortable and private space for expressing milk allows parents to continue their academic or professional pursuits while also meeting their personal and family needs."
The lactation room includes a hospital-grade pump, milk fridge, microwave, personal breast pump kits, and a host of other amenities to help make nursing mothers more comfortable. A changing table has also been added to the first floor all-gender restroom.
"This lactation room will make a meaningful difference for our campus community,” Humanities Dean Jasmine Alinder said. “As parents balance their academic and professional lives, having a dedicated, comfortable space shows our commitment to supporting them. We're grateful to Cassi and her team at Healthy Horizons for helping create a more inclusive environment for our students, staff, and faculty.
The UCSC campus has an online map of several other lactation rooms for the convenience of staff, students and faculty.
These rooms are currently available at McHenry Library; Hahn Student Services; Kerr Hall; the Women's Center, located at the Cardiff House near the base of campus; Interdisciplinary Sciences; Biomed; the Science & Engineering Library; Sinsheimer Labs; Engineering 2, Sinsheimer Labs; the Physical Science Building.
UC Santa Cruz also offers other support services for families as well as a childcare program for the children of current students.
