After three years of informal meetings, the Academic Women's Association was formally begun in 1975 to encourage implementation of the recommendations of the University of Alberta Senate's Task Force on the Status of Women. The purpose of the association is to foster collegiality among academic women, to promote and encourage equal opportunities for women in university affairs, and to provide a forum and a mechanism for affirmative action for women at the university. The original name, Academic Women's Association of Alberta, was designed to provide an incorporated body under which branches from Alberta universities could function.