Fall, 2010
AWS @ CGU
Applied
Women’s
Studies:
At CGU, the
internship is the
focus of the
applied aspect of
the Applied
Women's Studies
Program.
Students take
classes in their
field of focus and
intern at an
organization that
will best utilize
the skills and
knowledge
gained in the
classroom to
provide them
with real - life
experiences
to make real-life
impacts.
Dr. Linda M. Perkins with Alums, Current and New AWS Students at the Fall Luncheon.
Director’s Comments
This has been an exciting and productive
semester for the AWS family. Our faculty,
students, alumnae and internship sponsors
continue to excel and bring us distinction. This
newsletter highlights these achievements.
Professor Jean Lipman- Blumen was awarded a
Lifetime Achievement Award from the
International Leadership Association in Boston in
October and Dean of the School of Educational
Studies Professor Margaret Grogan co-authored
an important study on women in educational
leadership entitled, Women and Educational
Leadership (Jossey-Bass) that was released in
December.
Two of the women with whom our AWS
students have interned have received national
recognition for their work. Sister Terry Dodge,
the Director of Crossroads in Claremont, a
transitional home for formerly incarcerated
women primarily from the California Institution
for Women in Chino was awarded the Minerva
Award at the Women’s Conference sponsored by
Maria Shriver, First Lady of California in
November. Susan Burton, founder and executive
director of A New Way of Life Reentry Project,
also a transitional program for formerly
incarcerated women in Los Angeles was one of
the ten CNN finalists for the Hero Award
1
announced on Thanksgiving evening. Both Sister
Terry and Susan Burton have supervised our
student interns. Their leadership in the area of
restorative justice for formerly incarcerated
women has brought the needs of this population
to national attention.
This newsletter also features the internship
experiences of some of our students. The
internship is a distinguishing feature of the
Applied Women’s Studies Program at Claremont
Graduate University. Our distinction in this area
has result in a $10,000 grant from the Pacific Life
Foundation to support our internship efforts. To
accompany our Applied Women’s Studies
Masters program, the University has approved a
new Women’s and Gender Studies Certificate
program that is now available to persons in all
disciplines at either the masters or doctoral level
or for individuals who already have degrees and
would like to obtain a specialization in women’s
and gender studies. Please consult our website for
details. http://www.cgu.edu/pages/8604.asp
Finally, I would like to invite all of you to
attend a two day conference on April 1-2, 2011
entitled, Gender, Society and Change. Much has
happened in society as it relates to gender in
many areas – education, economics, the family,
leadership, politics, employment and the question
of gender definitions itself. We will highlight our
distinguished faculty who will discuss these issues
along with invited guests. Beverly Guy-Sheftall,
Ph.D., the founding director of the Women's
Research and Resource Center and the Anna
Julia Cooper Professor of Women's Studies at
Spelman College and outgoing president of the
National Women’s Studies Association will be one
of our keynote speakers.
I continue to work on my book, The History
of Black Women’s Higher Education. This
research is being funded by the Spencer
Foundation as well as the Ruth Landes Memorial
Foundation. I look forward to a wonderful spring
semester.
AWS @ CGU, FALL 2010
A Forum on Formerly Incarcerated Women and
the Children of Incarcerated Parents
Susan Burton, Rosalinda Vint and Tami Reed
“So many
times the
voices that
are forgotten
are the
children's.”
-Tami Reed
Photo
Left: Dr. Linda Perkins,
Tami Reed, Susan
Burton and Rosalinda
Vint
2
By Keeonna Harris
On November 9, 2010 the Applied Women’s Studies
Program presented a forum on formerly
incarcerated women and youth and the children of
incarcerated parents. The featured speakers on the
panel were Susan Burton, the executive director of
A New Way of Life Reentry Project and one of the
Top Ten Nominees for the CNN Hero Award, Tami
Reed, an Advocate for Children of Incarcerated
Parents and the child of a lifer and Rosalinda Vint,
the executive director of Women of Substance, Men
of Honor.
Susan Burton, a formerly incarcerated woman,
presented on the bias against women that are
incarcerated and the trials they face once they are
released from prison. Burton believes that women
that are released from prison need a support system
which is currently lacking through the criminal
justice system. It is her belief that the cycle of
incarceration will not be broken unless these women
receive support, housing and other resources such as
individual drug counseling.
Tami Reed discussed what she coins as the
missing voice in the criminal justice system; the
children of incarcerated parents. Usually children’s
physical and emotional well being are not considered
when their parents enter into the prison system.
These children are left in foster homes and with
relatives who may not be able to take care of them
properly; potentially leaving these children in
“Reentry is a bridge that provides a pathway
and carries people from where they have come
to where they can go. It is a bridge that taps
into human potential instead of confinement
and limits; extends treatment instead of
punishment, economic opportunities instead of
denial; political participation instead of
disenfranchisement.”
-Susan Burton, A New Way of Life
vulnerable situations which may lead to destructive
behavior or emotional problems.
Rosalinda Vint comes in contact with these
children frequently through her program. She
discussed how the cycle of incarceration is like a
domino effect and it not only affects the parents, but
more often usually affects the children in such a way
where they end up in juvenile detention centers. In
her program she creates an environment of hope for
incarcerated youth and gives them support once they
are released.
Although each speaker spoke about different
facets of the criminal justice system we can see that
all of these women have something in common: they
are pioneers making a difference every day.
AWS @ CGU, FALL 2010
Save the Date: April 1-2, 2011
Gender, Society and Change: The Past, Present and Future
This conference will bring together the Applied Women’s Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies faculty and
students of the Claremont Graduate University as well as community organizations and activists as to discuss the role
of gender in society. We will discuss the impact of gender in education, politics, the labor market, religion, leadership
in both profit and non-profit organizations, the notion of the family, sexuality, feminism(s) and maculinity(ies). We will
have recent documentary films on issues of gender and society as well as spoken word performances. Our keynote
speaker will be Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women’s Studies at Spelman College and the
most recent President of the National Women’s Studies Association.
The 2010 Minerva Awards
By Alexandra Fernandez
The 2010 Minerva Awards were held at the Long Beach
Convention Center as the Grand Finale for the annual Women’s
Conference which spanned the course of three days, from October
24-26. The Women’s Conference is an annual event hosted by
California’s First Lady, Maria Shriver, and is a forum designed for
women to become “Architects of Change” in their own lives, their
communities and the world. The women who were honored with
Minerva Awards are shining examples of these leaders, taking
initiative to support their communities through their own
dedication and compassion.
This year, the Minerva Award was granted to Sandra Day
O’Connor, Oral Lee Brown, Carolyn Blashek, Oprah Winfrey and
Claremont’s own Sister Terry Dodge for her work at Crossroads.
Sister Terry Dodge is the Director of Crossroads in Claremont,
CA, a half-way house for women who have been released from
prison. She provides educational services, drug and alcohol
counseling, a family atmosphere and an avenue to create their lives
in the exact fashion they have always envisioned. The Applied
Women’s Studies Program is an avid supporter and has worked in
partnership with Sister Terry Dodge and Crossroads for many
years.
With an uplifting message from Mary J. Blige to open the
awards ceremony and an extremely moving musical performance
by Sarah McLachlan to close it, I was extremely touched to hear
and see each nominees heartfelt and emotional speech.
AWS Student and Alumna News
• Sami Poindexter was one of twenty students selected
nation wide to participate in the 2011 session of the
Commission on the Status of Women as a delegate for the
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom at
the United Nations Building in New York.
• John Erickson was invited by his alma matter to be the
Key note Speaker for their conference and panel series
regarding LGBTQ and Women’s Activism in the Wisconsin
colleges. The title for John Erickson’s speech was “Activism
& You: Changing the World as Students and Activists.”
Earlier in the day he served on a panel regarding the
importance of LGTBQ Activism in NCAA Sports. He was
also selected to present papers at the Feminism in Practice
Conference at Lehigh University, Poetry and Religion:
Finding Religious Realities Through Sacred Verse at
Claremont Graduate University and the American
Academy of Religion’s Western Region Conference.
• Alumna Pammy O’Leary has been selected as the new
Executive Director of PLEN (Public Leadership Education
Network). PLEN is the only national organization whose
sole focus is preparing women for leadership in the public
policy arena.
• Rebecca Spence was selected to present a paper at the
11th Annual Graduate Symposium on Women’s and
Gender History at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign
• Sara Hof was selected to present a paper at the
Reimagining Girlhood Conference at SUNY Cortland.
Her paper was entitled: “Modern Saint?: Exploring the
Connection between Ancient Christian Asceticism and
Today’s Eating Disorders in Young Girls.”
AWS Advisory Board News
Congratulations to AWS Advisory Committee member Jean Lipman-Blumen, Thornton F. Bradshaw Professor of Public
•
Policy and Professor of Organizational Behavior at CGU’s Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management
for receiving a lifetime achievement award from the International Leadership Association (ILA) global conference in Boston in
October. The ILA Lifetime Achievement Award honors an individual’s accomplishments in the development and enhancement of
the field of leadership over his or her lifetime.
Advisory Committee member, Dean Margaret Grogan published a book along with Charol Shakeshaf entitled, Women and
•
Educational Leadership (2010, Jossey-Bass)
3
AWS @ CGU, FALL 2010
Women Thrive Worldwide
“Women Thrive Worldwide
develops, shapes and
advocates for policies that
foster economic
opportunities for women
living in poverty.”
By Alexandra Fernandez
For my AWS Internship, I worked
with Women Thrive Worldwide in
Washington, DC from June-August
2010. Women Thrive Worldwide is a
non-artisan non-profit organizations
which develops, shapes and advocates
for policies that foster economic
opportunities for women living in
poverty.
Women Thrive Worldwide brings
together a coalition of over 50
organizations and 40,000 individuals
who believe that the empowerment of
women is the most effective long-term
solution to world poverty. I was the
Alliance Building Intern, working
directly with the Outreach Department
and more specifically, with the Women,
Faith and Developments Alliance
(WFDA), a sub-program specifically of
the Outreach Department.
WFDA is a network of over 200
leaders and organizations from the
women’s faith and development
communities who are committed to
ending global poverty by empowering
women and girls. WFDA is co-managed
by InterAction, Religions for Peace,
WTW and the Center for Interfaith
Action on Global Poverty (in partnership
with the Washington National
Cathedral).
WFDA targets key U.S. and
international policy makers to raise the
level of attention to gender and women
in the Millennium Development Goals,
Alexandra Fernandez
Photo
Right: Current AWS
Student Alexandra
Fernandez
the United Nations, national campaigns
on global poverty and international
gatherings for ending global poverty.
WFDA’s priority is the expansion of
financial and organizational investments
by bilateral and multilateral donors,
governments and other developmental
organizations. WFDA achieves this goal
through a high profile advocacy and
communications campaign. WFDA has
also established its program in Liberia
and Asia-Pacific.
One of my main tasks during the
summer was assisting our team in making
a decision on where to implement
another program abroad. Through
research and effective communication,
we decided on Indonesia as our next
WFDA endeavor. My internship at
Women Thrive Worldwide inspired me
to continue looking for jobs in the the
non-profit sector after I graduate from
Claremont Graduate University.
Reimagining Girlhood
Conference
By Sara Hof
I recently attended and presented at the
Reimagining Girlhood: Communities, Identities and
Self Portrayals Conference at SUNY Cortland in New
York. This conference focused on different issues
surrounding girl studies in dialogue with academics,
activists, non-profits agencies and artists. The
conference included conversations directed toward the
social, religious, cultural, political and economic issues
that girls face growing up all over the world.
The three keynote speakers, Mary Celeste Kearney,
Catherine Bertini and Sharon Mazzarella, have all been
very influential in the advancement of girls’ studies,
both in the academy and in the non-profit sector.
4
This conference was a great opportunity for me to
get to present my paper entitled “Modern Saints?:
Exploring the Connection between Ancient Christian
Asceticism and Today’s Eating Disorders in Young
Girls” and network with other people in this field and
find out what kinds of research they are doing.
Reimagining Girlhood was, indeed, an apt title for this
conference, as it allowed for a myriad of voices to come
together to discover new ways of understanding and
examining girlhood both nationally and internationally.
AWS @ CGU, FALL 2010
AWS at the National Women’s Studies Conference
John Erickson, Alexandra Fernandez, Jenell Navarro and Dr. Linda Perkins
Moderate and Present on “Difficult Dialogues”
By John Erickson
This November I, alongside current student Alexandra
Fernandez, alumna Jenell Navarro and Dr. Linda Perkins were
able to attend the National Women’s Studies Association’s
annual conference entitled Difficult Dialogue II in Denver,
Colorado. The topics of the conference varied from
Indigenous Feminism: Theories, Methods and Politics,
Complicating the Queer, The Politics of Nations to “Outsider”
Feminisms and The Critical and the Creative. All of these
topics lead to critical and influential conversations that truly
embodied the theme of “Difficult Dialogues.”
The topic of my paper was about the role of men in
feminism, a panel series that was both highly attended and
contested. The panels at the conference allowed for scholars
and activists from across the country to network and
communicate together in the same room rather than via email.
5
Alexandra Fernandez spoke on gender, embodiment and
performance. The title of her paper was “Blood, Bruises,
Bandages and Beauty: The Reincarnation of Saint Orlan as
Disidentified Feminist Utopia.” Alumna Jenell Navarro’s paper
was entitled “Not at Our Expense: American Indian Feminist
Through and Resistance to Colonial Logic.” Director Linda
Perkins moderated the panels: Re-Reading Masculinity in
Relation to Women’s Postionality and Reconfiguring
Archetypes of the Female African American Body.
The conference served as a reminder of the important
work being done today in the fields of women, gender and
feminist studies and the great work that has yet to be done.
AWS @ CGU, FALL 2010
The Doula Project
By Rebecca Spence
I completed an internship with The Doula Project in New York City in June and July of 2010. The
organization has been working for three years to provide support in the form of trained doulas to
low-income pregnant women who are choosing birth, adoption and abortion. The main focus of
my internship was creating a Start Up Guide for other organizations who wish to start similar
“Women have been
projects. Currently there are 5-7 organizations across the country that are doing so. I fleshed out
getting abortions for
a project timelines and created sections on self care, a resource list, and consensus decision
as long as women
making and put all of the documents together and formatted it into a cohesive guide.
have been getting
pregnant. It’s part of
I also assisted with a training that The Doula Project hosted for its new volunteers. I
who we are.”
attended the trainings, assisted with set up, registration, clean up and helped with logistical
aspects such as planning, ordering and pick up of food for training participants.
-Lauren, Doula Project
My internship with the Doula Project was an extremely insightful and valuable experience.
Co-Founder
A pivotal moment for me was when Lauren, the other founder and co-coordinator of the project,
said, “Women have been getting abortions for as long as women have been getting pregnant. It’s
part of who we are.” I learned so much about birth and the political, emotional and physical
aspects of abortion and about ways to support women through these experiences. I am inspired by how
much the women at The Doula Project have accomplished and by their compassion, passion and
effectiveness in do so.
APPLIED WOMEN’S STUDIES
150 E. 10th Street, Claremont, CA 91711
NEWSLETTER EDITOR
John Erickson