Eastern Michigan University
Women’s and Gender Studies
Gazette
Our Philosophy
The Women‟s and
Gender Studies program 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:
News From The
Head Desk
2
Cooperative Learn- 2
ing
Opportunity for
Giving
2
IIntroducing the
GA’s
3
WGSSA Update
3
What’s Happening
We Want to Hear
From You!
3
4
December 2010
Volume 2, Issue 1
New Faces, New Places
WGST Welcomes its First Full Time Faculty Member
35 years of antici- Critical Race Studies. She
pation, the Dept. of Wom- emphasizes intersectionalen‟s and Gender Studies is ity and focuses both her
scholarly work
proud to introand activism
duce its first
on social jusfull time factice.
ulty member,
Professor CurElizabeth Currans was inrans, PhD. Dr.
spired by her
C u r r a n s
aunt
who
comes to us
teaches
Engfrom Denver,
lish and Womvia Colorado
en's Studies at
State UniverBriar
Cliff
sity, UniversiCollege
in
Professor
ty of Oregon,
Iowa.
She
reBeth
Currans
UC Santa Barbamembers seeing
ra and her most
photos
of her cousins as
recent teaching position at
children
at protests wearWilliam and Mary in Wiling
"Pass
the ERA" shirts,
liamsburg, VA. She has a
“My
parents
would have
background in English,
never
attended
a protest,
Folklore and Religious
much
less
taken
me with
Studies steeped in Womthem
so
I‟ve
always
en‟s, Feminist, Queer and
After
looked up to her.”
Encouraging students to
think critically about
things taken for granted
and to analyze how culture constructs norms is
central to Beth‟s teaching
methods. While at EMU
Beth hopes to start
LGBTQ Studies minor
and one day major, while
helping to strengthen the
master‟s in WGST curriculum. She is currently
working on a book titled
*Engendering Publics:
Women's Demonstrations
in the 21st Century US"
and on a collaborative
project documenting and
analyzing the Santa Barbara, CA anti-war movement from 2003-05
Welcome, Professor Currans!
NWSA Update
Eastern Michigan University Well Represented at Annual Conference
The National Women‟s
Studies Association Annual Conference was well
attended by EMU faculty
and students. We were
honored to have seven
presentations given by our
students and faculty this
year. Head Linda accompanied presenters Nicole
Carter, Beth Currans, Tetiana Grytsenko, MaryAnn Kozlowski, Elaine
Martin, Solange Simões,
Kathryn Ziegler. Presentations focused on fat studies, LGBT marriage,
transnational feminism,
gender education in
Ukraine, women judges,
and performance feminism. The NWSA 2011
Conference: Feminist
Transformations November 10-13, at the Sheraton
Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia.
Alumni or friends wishing
to travel with the EMU
contingent in 2011 should
contact Head Linda.
Eastern Michigan University
Page 2
From the Head Desk
Dr. Linda Pritchard
Department Head
Greetings from our temporary home in King Hall.
Due to the Pray-Harrold
renovation, we relocated to
the fourth floor (opposite
WEMU). We have busily
solidified our organizational
structure since we became
the Department of Women‟s
and Gender Studies a year
ago. I was honored to become the first permanent
Department Head („interim‟
was removed from my title,
signifying EMU‟s administrative commitment). Our
first full time faculty member, Dr. Elizabeth Currans,
arrived in August to join Dr.
Solange Simões, õur halftime
faculty
member
shared with Sõciõlõgy. We
reconfigured participation of
faculty throughout the university, resulting in an interdisciplinary WGST governing body of 25 Department
Members and Faculty.
Building on this structural
momentum, we are planning
a full review of our undergraduate and graduate curriculum in March. Thanks
largely to our fabulous instructors, overall enrollment
in WGST classes continues
to climb, giving us more
students each semester than
3 longstanding departments
at EMU. An EMU delegation of eight, including three
graduate students, just returned from Denver where
we participated in the National Women‟s Studies Association annual conference.
A busy and productive first
year, no?!
Come and visit us in our new
digs!
Cooperative Learning Takes Off Into the Community
Come visit us
in our new home
404 King Hall.
Home Sweet Home
until
August 2011!
Several undergraduates are
out in the community making a difference through
Cooperative Learning experiences. Erica Peyton and
Itta Diggs-Taylor are working with the Planned
Parenthood staff attorney.
Janae‟ Griggs is learning
about the daily challenges of
The Corner Health Center,
an Ypsilanti institution serving young people ages 12-
21 with primary care, education and support without
regard to income. Joi Mullins is serving at Safe House,
the Ann Arbor organization
dedicated to ending domestic violence and sexual assault. Nadia Hasah has partnered with the Central Academy, a public school in Ann
Arbor with a strong ELL
program designed to help
children who come from
homes where English is not
the primary language. We
are extremely grateful to our
partners for the opportunities
they have extended to our
students and hope we continue these relationships for
many years! If you would
like to participate in Cooperative Learning , or can
provide such an experience
to our students, please email: dmihaly@emich.edu.
Opportunities to Help WGST Students
Our beloved Margaret (Peg)
M. Smith passed away this
year at 95. May we all have
such a rich and joysustaining life!
Margaret “Peg” M.
Smith
1914-2010
Alumna, Friend of
Eastern Michigan
WGST
When she turned 85, her
friends endowed a scholarship in her name in order to
honor her work on behalf of
women as a librarian and
hostess. The Smith award,
along with the Distinguished
Leaders award in honor of
EMU‟s first generation of
Women‟s Studies professors, provides our only two
(tiny) student scholarships.
The market has not been
kind, so on behalf of our
deserving students, I ask that
you consider donating to
these scholarships.
For contributions made easy,
go to emufoundation.org!
(#00732 for Smith and
#01275 for Distinguished
Leaders). For other giving
opportunities, talk to HeadLinda at 734.487.1177
December 2010
Page 3
Meet the Graduate Assistants
WGST is Pleased to Welcome Four GA’s to the Department This Year
MaryAnn Kozlowski hails
from “lots of locations”, but
home base is Northern
Michigan. She received her
undergraduate degree from
The Evergreen State College
in Olympia, Washington.
She plans to work towards a
PhD when she completes
her Master's at Eastern.
MaryAnn is interested in
philosophical approaches to
understanding media, bodily
autonomy, and issues of
space and power.
Anna
Brogan-Knight,
a
2005 EMU grad, comes
back from academic hiatus
eager to immerse herself in
feminist scholarship. A Toledo native, Anna is committed to advancing the feminist agenda of access to that
which enables a person fully
realize their potential, in
particular the exploration of
intersecting forces of oppression and creative solutions for success.
Lacy Story is focusing on
motherhood and feminism
and women‟s roles in urban
farming. Her undergraduate
studies were in sociology
and women‟s studies at
Oakland University. She
lives (and farms) in Detroit.
Rachel McCready-Flora is a
newlywed from Andover,
MN. She is currently a
Housing and Financial
Counselor at GreenPath
INC. Rachel has a BA in
psychology from Bethel
University in St. Paul, MN
and is focused on gender
and sexuality and feminist
epistemology.
EMU WGST
212 Graduates
35 Years
29 States
WGSSA Update
The Women‟s and Gender
Studies Student Association
is off to a strong start this
year holding meetings every
Tuesday at 4:30 in the lobby
across from the book store .
Members take turns selecting articles relating to women‟s and gender studies in
current events, historical
context and pop culture. The
coming semester will also
add student roundtable dis-
Erika Berhmann, and GA’s M.
Kozlowski and A. BroganKnight tabling for WGSSA
cussion of career and curriculum concerns and interests.
A report will be generated
for the faculty and staff in
time for the planned curriculum review in March.
WGSSA will also publish a
zine and give voice to the
feminists in our EMU community this year. We are
calling for work from EMU
students, staff, faculty and
alumni including poetry,
comics, essays, artwork,
reactions to pop culture,
politics and more. Our goal
is to publish a feminist rag
to help people consider a
different way of considering
the world. If you have any
questions about submissions
or you would like to help
support the zine please email abrogan@emich.edu
23 Dept Members
14 Adjuncts
7 Countries
4 GA’s
3 Faculty
In a nutshell.
All EMU Students are
Welcome in WGSSA!
Want to Get Involved?

Women‟s and Gender Studies will soon have a chapter in the EMU Alumni Association. Be involved from the ground up and help support EMU WGST! Contact GA and
fellow alumna Anna Brogan-Knight at abrogan@emich.edu.

March is almost upon us bringing the Celebration of Women‟s History Month! For
more information, or if you would like to contribute to the programming please contact
GA Lacy Story at lstory@emich.edu.

The Michigan Women‟s Studies Association Conference is March 26, 2010 at Grand
Valley State University e-mail Info@MichiganWomen.org for more details.

We welcome your input! Please pass on any information you have about events, conferences or activities that you think would interest our student body, alumni and friends!
A happy group of Eastern
Michigan NWSA conferencegoers.
The Women’s and Gender Studies
Gazette
Women’s and Gender Studies Department
404 King Hall
Eastern Michigan University
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Eagles Shout Out!
Your Alma Mater is interested in you! Tell us your news!
Name: _______________________________________________________
Class Year: ___________________________________________________
Address: _____________________________________________________
City/State/Zip: ________________________________________________
Email: _______________________________________________________
Phone: _______________________________________________________
_____This is a new address/phone number.
News:
Mail to: EMU WGST 404 King, Ypsilanti, MI 48197
The doors to historic
King Hall, WGST’s New
Temporary Home.
Or e-mail abrogan@emich.edu
Please Inform Us When You Move!
Alumni and friends, please let us know when you move, get married, or change your name.
Contact Anna Brogan-Knight at abrogan@emich.edu.
Check us out on the Web at http://www.emich.edu/wstudies/
Find us on facebook! Search: EMU Women‟s and Gender Studies