Icons for Environmental Sustainability
Throughout March 2026, thirty women will be given their overdue social media spotlight thanks to a new partnership between the National Women’s History Alliance (NWHA) and thirty partnering universities. NWHA serves as the living-legacy organization of the original California teachers association credited with founding national women’s history week in 1980 and continues to lead educators in celebrating Women’s History Month.
The March 2026 theme of “Leading the Change: Women Shaping a Sustainable Future” will spotlight thirty women each day throughout the month. Partnering colleges will honor one specific icon by designing a social media tribute on a designated day – creating a monthlong campaign tied together with #NWHA2026. (Note: March 8’s International Women’s Day will be left open for any community to honor local icons). The new NWHA initiative was inspired by the annual Women’s Empowerment Draft, a college-led collaboration which celebrated women’s history with the enthusiasm of a professional sports league’s player draft. Since its founding in 2020, over 100 colleges and K-12 schools have participated in the “W.E. Draft.”
“In the past year, the NWHA has made significant progress towards embracing the next generation into our alliance,” shared Executive Director Dr. Jill Kracov Zinckgraf. “Adopting the Women’s Empowerment Draft concept into our portfolio – and recently appointing the program’s creator Dan Napolitano onto the NWHA Board – is another opportunity to expand our educational impact.”
Sponsorship contributions by college partners will support the printing and distribution of the annual Women’s History magazine. The colleges’ names will be included alongside their honoree’s portraits on a fold-out educational calendar which may be utilized by educators in K-12 classrooms and college campuses across the nation. Each college is encouraged to highlight their campus’ creativity in designing their social media post with a prize awarded for most impressive tribute. Past participants have painted mural tributes, worn sports jerseys adorned with their icon’s face, or visited birthplaces and gravesites related to their icons. Partnering colleges will choose the icon to honor, either in consultation with NWHA’s resources or choosing to honor local or alumna icons. NWHA will also commission an artist to design similarly-themed portraits of each icon.
“College campuses across the nation often honor Women’s History Month in their own silos,” added Napolitano, currently the Assistant Dean of Student Services and Community Design at St. John’s University in NYC. “By uniting in such an alliance – alongside the organization that actually founded the national women’s history educational movement – we will be more impactful in our shared educational mission.” College educators and student leaders are asked to contact Dan at napolid@stjohns.edu for more details about how to sponsor and select an icon to honor. Partnering colleges will be announced at the end of October 2025 with their chosen icons revealed with the February magazine release before Women’s History Month’s daily tributes.