Eastern Michigan University
Women’s and Gender Studies
Newsletter
Volume 3 Issue 1
Fall 2011
Engaging in feminism since 1975.
Global Learning Seminar Yields Rich Study Abroad Opportunity
Our Mission
The Women’s and Gender
Studies department of Eastern Michigan University
maintains a commitment to
interdisciplinary perspectives that investigate the
intersections of gender with
race, ethnicity, class and
sexual or affectional orientation, in order to "embrace
the experiences, voices, and
concerns of all those who
have been excluded from
academic tradition."
Inside this
issue:
Note From the
Head
2
WGST on the Road!
2
Full Time
2
Meet the GA’s
3
Alumni and WGSSA
Updates
3
Professors Solange Simoes and
globalized pedagogy content is
Margaret Crouch are in
developed and shared by
their third year of offerprofessors from Socioling the Global Learning
ogy, Philosophy and BiSeminar for faculty to
ology, as well as faculty
internationalize curricufrom
Brazil.
Dana
lum. Participants exCreighton a student who
plore conceptualization
traveled with the proand examine design
gram this year tells us
challenges of infusthat she was “Ill preing courses with a
pared for how life
Dana Creighton and the
Amazon River
globalized perspecchanging a course of
tive. BIOL/SOCL/
this nature would
WGST/PHIL 279/592 Global Enbe. To be able to study about Bravironmental Change and the Consilia, the Amazon, and the Great
servation of the Amazon Rain ForLakes and then to have the rare
est and the Great Lakes is a study
opportunity to actually see them
abroad program bringing initiaand interact with their environtives of the Seminar to life. An
ments was an experience and a
exercise in true interdisciplinary,
privilege I'll never forget.”
Dr. Currans leads us to LGBTQ Minor
Beth Currans is currently
conducting a faculty seminar funded by the Provost’s ABBR Program
Development Initiative to
develop courses for the
pr oposed m inor in
LGBTQ Studies. Coordinated through the Faculty
Development Center, it is
the culmination of 8
years’ work for this minor by many faculty members. This community
allows faculty to create
and fine tune syllabi that
either focus entirely on or
devote substantial time
and assignments to
LGBTQ issues and com-
munities. In addition to
discussing readings addressing the current state
of the field and participants are workshopping
each other’s syllabi. Dr.
Currans will submit the
participants’ new courses
to CAC as part of the proposed LGBTQ minor.
Eastern Michigan University
Page 2
Note From The Head
From my office, again in
Pray-Harrold, I see copper
trees amid pouring rain.
We are glad to be home.
Our seventh floor offices
didn’t rate renovation, but
check out the second
floor of Pray-Harrold next
time you are here!
Department Head
Linda Pritchard PhD
lpritchar1@emich.edu
We have been especially
student-focused this semester. We have concentrated on convening our
WGST Alumni Chapter,
establishing
a
WGST
honor society, and continuing to promote our
active student
group,
WGSSA. We are planning
impressive Women’s History Month activities in
March. Our grad students
continue to be our arms
and legs for this work. We
hope we are giving them
valuable experience for
their career aspirations.
cially struggling students.
We are thrilled that a
benefactor has offered to
match donations to our
two endowed scholarships, Margaret M. Smith
and Distinguished Leaders, up to $10,000. Market declines and a low
starting point means we
don’t have much to give
our promising but finan-
We hope you might help
us with this match. Send a
check to the EMU Foundation, 1349 S. Huron St.,
Ypsilanti, MI 48198, with
the scholarship name in
the memo line, or go
online to emufoundation.org to Ways to Donate. We are the College of
A rt s
a nd
S cien ce s /
Department of Women’s
and Gender Studies. Type
Margaret M (no period!)
Smith or Distinguished
Leaders and enter. Email
or write to me with questions.
difference. Dr. Pritchard
moderated a panel of
Dr. Simoes, Dr. Mihaly
and A. Brogan-Knight
sharing the process
changing from program
to department. Dr. Currans and Lacey Story
presented
their
research on queering normative femininity as
CODEPINK has done,
and queering motherhood practices respectively. Erika Behrmann
shared research on gendered
avatar
play.
Come with us next year
to NWSA in Oakland,
CA, and experience the
mind blowing efforts of
our colleagues and limitless opportunity for
collaboration!
EMU on the Road!
Lacey Story, Mignonette
Chiu (Columbia) and Beth
Currans Queering it up
at NWSA!
The delegation to the
NWSA Annual Conference is back after an
intense weekend of
learning,
connecting
and strategizing. This
year’s theme, Feminist
Transformations, filled
us all with hope as we
examined all the ways
feminist theory and
practice was making a
Dyann Logwood: EMU’s first Full Time Lecturer!
Dyann Logwood, MLS, MA
At long last we
have the pleasure
of announcing that
Dyann Logwood is
the first full time
lecturer for WGST!
After
graduating
from University of
Michigan, Ms. Logwood came to East-
ern for MA’s in
WGST and Communications, then began lecturing and
working on a PhD
at Wayne State. She
has changed directions and is now
working on a doctorate
in Urban
Education here at
EMU. We are proud
to have a dedicated, talented full
time educator demonstrating commitment to activism
and education, and
hope that she is the
first of many.
Volume 3 Issue 1
Page 3
Graduate Assistants: New and Old
Shuli Han comes well
prepared with an MA in
Art History from SUNY
at Buffalo and a Graduate
Certificate
in
Women’s Studies from
the University of Kansas. Her current interests emphasize minority women in America
and women’s status in
a globalized society.
Her longtime research
goal is the interdisciplinary study of the artistic representation of
women and its effect
on women’s role in society. She is Dr. Simoes’ research assistant. Rebekah Ward
joins us from Oxford,
Ohio where she studied
English/language
arts
education at Miami University
(Ohio)
and
worked as a
suicide
hotline advocate with
the Rape Crisis Program. Her research interests are the co modification of social services and how privatization of social services
has impacted service
and care in the United
States and the melding
of class and identity
politics to reach mutually crucial goals and
make the most impact.
She also really
likes shoes, cats, and
baking cheesecake. Rebekah has been assigned the task of orga-
nizing Women’s History
Month. Anna BroganKnight is back and focusing on communications,
student
and
alumni groups. Quinn
Donnay is working
closely with the WGST
Curriculum Committee
serving as key organizer and a unique voice
of graduate students.
Lacey Story is working
as Dr. Currans’ research assistant.
These busy ladies can
regularly
be
found
working away in their
new workspace complete with computer
and locking drawers
thanks to the P-H renovation!
Shuli Han, Chesea Lonsdale,
Anna Brogan-Knight and Jessica Lohmann, WGSSA MTG
The WGST Alumni
Association and the
WGSSA are having a
craft sale in the
Student Center lobby
Dec 14 from 10-4pm
Want to volunteer time
or crafts? Contact
Dana at
dfodor@emich.edu
Alumni and WGSSA Updates! Questions? contact abrogan@emich.edu
The inaugural meeting
of the WGST Alumni
Association was a success! Special thanks to
Mary Alice Truitt, who
volunteered to be chapter secretary joining
other leadership officers
Anna
BroganK night ,
president ,
Nicole A. Carter, vicepresident and Dana
Creighton, treasurer.
We are excited to collaborate
with
the
WGSSA to offer a Fundraising Language and
Tactics Workshop in
early 2012 to enhance
efforts to match the
anonymous $10,000!
Look for a short questionnaire soon so we
can create an alumni
directory and do highlights on our coming
web page.
The WGSSA continues to
collaborate with the
Women’s Resource Center, NAACP, Student
Government and the
newest non profit on
the block: The Minority
Women in Leadership
Commission, founded
by our own senior.
Dorthea Thomas.
The call for submissions for our ‘zine,
Streetwalkers, is out.
Get your brain moving
and write an essay,
poem or recipe, make
some art, snap a shot,
help us make this independent publication a
rockin’ representation
of feminist creativity
and voice!
Head Linda and Dr. Carol
Haddad at the WGST
Alumni Chapter Meeting
Oct 21, 2011
The Women’s and Gender Studies
Newsletter
Women’s and Gender Studies
714 Pray-Harrold
Eastern Michigan University
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
419.487.1177
Eagles and Hurons Shout Out!
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News:
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Please Inform Us When You Move!
Alumni and friends, please let us know when you move, change e-mail, careers or change
your name.
Mail to :EMU WGST 714 Pray Harrold, Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Anna Brogan-Knight at abrogan@emich.edu.
Check us out on the Web at http://www.emich.edu/wstudies/
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