The Academic Women's Association of the University of British Columbia was founded in September 1976 to foster collegiality among academic women, to encourage and promote equal opportunities for women to participate fully in all aspects of University affairs, to provide a forum for discussion on matters that affect women at the University, and to initiate any enquiry, study, or action as decided upon by the Association. Membership in the AWA is open to all women holding tenured full-time or part-time positions, as well as those with temporary academic appointments. The Association's administrative structure was largely ad hoc in nature until the late 1980's, when steady growth in its membership, its increasing activism, and establishment of regular awards, a newsletter, and a monograph publishing programme led to changes in its constitution in 1989. The following year began a regular series of meetings between the AWA President and the University President to discuss women's equality and other human rights issues. The Association also fosters relations with University offices with similar aims with respect to women's issues, and is involved with several
University committees that also address those issues.