So, what's a straight white guy doing as chair of Women Studies?
Funny you should ask—so did NPR, most of the local news papers, FOX news and a host of blogging sites. And it's an excellent question requiring more space than you may want to read. So I'm going to offer a short response and then some links to more lengthy discussions. [read more...]
Whitney Frank, has been awarded a Bonderman Fellowship through the Honors Program. She was one of five Honors students to receive the award. The Bonderman provides a student with $20,000 for unlimited travel over a period of eight months.
Tara Kessel, & Mallory Allen have been invited to join Phi Beta Kappa in the 2007-2008 academic year. The invitation is based upon the students' excellent academic record and interest in the liberal arts.
Women Studies Major Christy Forrester organized a Report It Rally on April 29th. It was part of a nationwide movement to report sexual violence on the same day and raise awareness that over 80% of sexual assaults go unreported. The Seattle rally was on the UW campus. Christy reports: "If survivors can't report it to the police; they are encouraged to tell someone they trust or report it anonymously online at www.reportitnow.org. ... Over 20 people came out to the rally to encourage changes in our culture and justice system in hopes to make it easier to speak out and ensure that every effort is made toward justice."
Cassandra "Cass" Hartnett, US Documents Librarian and Librarian representative to the Women Studies Department was recently nominated for the Distinguished Librarian Award. Women Studies faculty member Rebecca Aanerud had the following to say: "Cass stands out. She clearly strengthens our academic community through her commitment, sense of humor, creativity, intelligence, and knowledge." The first-ever Distinguished Librarian Award will be awarded in May, with a reception and formal presentation in June. Good luck Cass!
EDIT: This years winner is Theresa Mudrock. Cass thanks her Women Studies colleagues most sincerely for this nomination, which has put an extra spring in her step every day! And she offers three cheers to History Librarian Theresa Mudrock, an inspiring peer who actually introduced her to Professor Shirley Yee and sparked Cass's continued interest in women's history.
On March 10th, Women Studies faculty member Dr. Rebecca Aanerud learned from Provost Phyllis Wise that she will be this year's recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award for Lecturers! Each year, the University of Washington honors a few members of the faculty as Distinguished Teachers. Awardees are chosen based on a variety of criteria, including mastery of the subject matter; enthusiasm and innovation in the learning/teaching process; ability to engage students both within and outside the classroom; ability to inspire independent and original thinking in students and to stimulate students to do creative work; and innovations in course and curriculum design. The breadth and depth of the candidate's achievement weighs heavily in the decision process. The Distinguished Teaching Award may be awarded to a faculty member only once in his/her lifetime and are inducted into the Teaching Academy.
David Allen, Chair of Women Studies said "It's an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime award and a real honor and credit to Dr. Aanerud and the challenging teaching she does for us."
Two brief passages from the many letters supporting her nomination convey the admiration and affection with which students and colleagues regard Becky: A graduate student who was a Teaching Assistant with Becky wrote: "Her long experience in teaching Women Studies, her personal commitment to feminist politics, and her pedagogical creativity led me to new insights and understandings of how to teach well in my discipline, and how to turn challenges into opportunities for guiding students to new insights of their own.." A professor echoed these sentiments: "Becky's teaching focuses on one of the most difficult and compelling experiences human beings face. Our success as an institution in dealing with diversity, equity, race, power, and privilege crucially depends on the skill, heart, and courage of teachers like Rebecca Aanerud. I can think of no more deserving candidate for our community's recognition—and gratitude. "
Dr. Aanerud will be honored with the other recipients at the annual Recognition Ceremony, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Thursday, June 12, 2008, in Meany Hall. A reception follows in the Walker-Ames Room.
Dr. Shirley Yee was nominated for the Distinguished Teaching Award in the Associate Professor category and made it to the finalists.
Americans, and particularly younger Americans, are consistently portrayed as dismissive of history, its effects and lessons, but not Professor Yee's students. One undergraduate wrote that: "Though Professor Yee is friendly and willing to help students in and out of class, she maintains a quiet authority, and her constancy and clear passion for her work wins respect. At the same time, she has a dry and witty sense of humor that occasionally even veers into goofy." An alumna who graduated thirteen years ago, recently sent a donation to the department that cited Professor Yee as an example of a professor who "…helped to educate, guide and challenge me! She taught me how to critique material instead of WHAT to think!" Shirley's leadership and mentoring have inspired generations of students in Women Studies, one student summarized Professor Yee's teaching by saying "Yee ROCKS!"
Come join the UW Women Studies Department for its first ever study abroad program this fall in Denmark! More information can be found on our courses page and at: http://depts.washington.edu/chid/showprogram.php?id=63
From Priti Ramamurthy:
I was at the University of Tromsoe, "the northern most university in the world," to deliver two keynote lectures at a symposium on 'Gender, Poverty and Social Transformation.' This is an interview for the Norwegian Gender Research Network which goes out to over 1500 women and gender studies organizations, faculty and students.
The article can be found here: http://kilden.forskningsradet.no/c16880/artikkel/vis.html?tid=50391
On February 4th, 2008, Rebecca Aanerud was interviewed by C.S. Soong for the KPFA (Pacifica) radio program Against The Grain. From Against the Grain's website: How can white people bring up white children committed to racial justice? Rebecca Aanerud addresses the challenge of white antiracist mothering and suggests activities crucial to that practice.
Against the Grain is a radio and web media project whose aim is to provide in-depth analysis and commentary on a variety of matters - political, economic, social and cultural - important to progressive and radical thinking and activism.
The podcast can be found at: http://www.againstthegrain.org/
The Women Studies Department was extraordinarily well represented in this last round of Simpson Center awards. Assistant Professor Sasha Su-Ling Welland received a research fellowship with a two-course release for her project entitled Experimental Beijing: Contemporary Art Worlds in China's Capital.
Graduate student Dipika Nath received a summer dissertation fellowship for her dissertation on Feral Disorders and Colonial Exclusions.
A group of graduate students, Women Studies faculty at SPU and SU and Chair David Allen received a small award to support a spring conference on religions and feminisms.
Congratulations all!
Congratulations to Dr. Michelle McGowan, who successfully defended her dissertation on November 7th, 2007. Michelle's dissertation title is "Stem Cells, Genetic Selection and Strong Embryos: A Feminist Analysis of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis." Michelle will be starting a position as a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Genetic Research Ethics and Law at Case Western Reserve University in January.
Don't miss out on seeing the work of Women Studies Associate Professor Michelle Habell-Pallán at the Experience Music Project! Michelle co-created the exhibit, which will be open from October 13, 2007 through September 7, 2008. This is the first bilingual interpretive and interactive museum exhibition to tell the story of the profound influence and impact of Latinos in American popular music. See more about the exhibit on the EMP's website!
Over 70 people attended the panel discussion on the criminalization of immigrants on July 18th, making this one of the most well-attended Women Studies events ever! Discussants included Shankar Narayan, Policy Director at Hate Free Zone; Maria Rivera, a local immigrant activist; Many Uch, an immigrant featured in the documentary "Sentenced Home"; and Maru Villalpando, a community organizer with Washington Community Action Network. Last year's Ph.D. graduate and current instructor Serena Maurer organized the panel and served as moderater.
The event was the second in a series of community outreach events hosted by the Women Studies Department. The next, schedule for fall, will be an event centered around the work of new faculty member Michelle Habell-Pallan.
Emeritus faculty Sue-Ellen Jacobs will receive the first ever UW Mellon fellowship for retired faculty. The support she received was for "Finishing the Ohkay Owingeh Multimedia Dictionary and Cultural Research Project."
Dr. Jacobs is currently the Co-Director of the Northern Pueblos Institute in the American Indian Center at Northern New Mexico College.
Women Studies Graduate Student Alka Arora will be starting her new permanent professional position this month as Director of Education and Research Programs for the Office of the Associate Vice Provost of Faculty Advancement. Alka will be working with Associate Vice Provost Dr. Luis Fraga on developing and implementing programs to recruit and retain underrepresented minority faculty. She will also be co-directing the activities of the Diversity Research Institute – all while finishing her dissertation! Congratulations Alka!
Congratulations to Assistant Professor Sasha Welland and colleagues, who received a Simpson Center Research Award for a research cluster on "Visual Praxis Collective" in 2007-2008.
Two graduate students have also received Simpson Center Awards: Calla Chancellor and colleagues for "Queer Worlds: A Year-Long Project in Queer Cultural Studies," and Dipika Nath, who will be studying "Critical Animal Studies: Thinking Animals in the U.S. Academy in the Twenty-First Century" with her research colleagues.
The Simpson Center Crossdisciplinary Research Clusters bring together faculty and graduate students from different departments to conduct new and vital research. The Simpson Center typically funds only three to five research clusters per year.
Congratulations all!
The Women Studies Evening Salon series kicked off on May 24th with a wonderful reading by Sasha Su-Ling Welland from her book, A Thousand Miles of Dreams: The Journeys of Two Chinese Sisters. The event was held at the Panama Hotel Tea House in the International District.
The Department of Women Studies would like to thank Panama Hotel proprietor Jan Johnson for her generosity in donating $100 worth of food and several hours of labor to the occasion.
Amy Bhatt has won the prestigious Foreign Langauges and Area Studies Award for the fourth year.
"This is a signal achievement," writes Professor Priti Ramamurthy. "It reflects Amy's dedication to the serious study of Hindi. It will enable her to continue her training in language while putting it to use in her dissertation project."
Congratulations Amy!
Chancellor Sims has been awarded a grant from the Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. The aim of the Nancy Bell Evans Center is to enhance the understanding and vitality of the nonprofit and philanthropic sector through research, education, and community engagement. Chance will be using the grant to investigate "The Impact of Nonprofit Incorporation on Child Rights Organizations in Washington State."
Congratulations Chance!
Women Studies graduate student Kristina McMullen has just won one of the scarce and highly coveted AAUW dissertation awards.
"AAUW reviewed almost 400 applications for Women Studies Fellowships, so this is an honor indeed," said Chair David Allen.
Kristina's research interests include feminism, intersectionality and disability studies. Her previous honors include a1998/1999 Fulbright Scholar in Women Studies, Austria; 2003 Master of Arts, Women Studies Practicum, with Communities Against Rape and Abuse & the Disability Pride Project; and a 2005 Doman Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Congratulations Kristina!
We'd like to thank Maureen West-Gannon for her generous gift of $2,500 to Graduate Student education here in the Department of Women Studies. Maureen West-Gannon is a graduate student in the School of Nursing.
Many thanks to Dean Judith Howard, who has established a fund "to support the scholarly activities of Women Studies graduate students". Because it qualifies for matching contributions, when fully endowed the fund will bring an additional $10,000 to Women Studies graduate education. Department Chair David Allen says, "Judy has contributed immeasurably over the years and continues to do so. This new endowment symbolizes beautifully her commitment to the discipline, our department and graduate students."
The committee's citation for honorable mention reads: "Michelle Habell-Pallan's sensitive analysis of comedians such as Marga Gomez, the performer Maricela Norte, Chicana punk musicians, Luis Alfaro, El Vez, and the Latino Theater Group in Vancouver not only contributes new insights into the struggles of the power that Chicano/a texts continue to embody but also expands the canon in Chicano/a cultural studies, always with an emphasis on the transnational circulation of cultural texts and on the heterogenity of Chicano/a subjects and the identities that these texts and performances propose."
Michelle Habell-Pallan is co-editor of Latina/o Popular Culture, and a co-creator of "American Sabor: US Latinos Shaping Popular Music," currently in development for the Experience Music Project. She is also a past recipient of the Rockefeller Foundation Humanities Research Award as well as a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation Award.
The Women Studies departmental graduation celebration will be held at the Center for Urban Horticulture on Sunday, June 15th 2008. More information can be found here.
Religions and Feminisms: Countering Mutual Silence
The conference was a great success with over 100 people in attendance. For more information about the conference please see our webpage at: http://depts.washington.edu/efemrel/ or contact womenst@u.washington.edu.
Last modified: 5/13/2008 11:18 AM