Spring, 2014
AWS @ CGU
Applied
Women’s
Studies:
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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.
Pictured: 2014 AWS Graduates/Current Students from Right to Left: Andaye Hill, 14’; Corinna Wildner, 14’;
Sydney Bertram, 14’; Ashley Shew, 15’; Director Linda M. Perkins; and Meredith Anderson, 14’.
Director’s Comments
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The Applied Women's Studies Program had a
wonderful and productive Spring Semester! I have spent
the semester on sabbatical working on a book. However, I
have still been around and involved in the administration
of our many activities. As you can see from the various
articles, our students and alums have been extremely busy
and we are delighted to highlight their activities. We want
to welcome three new students into the program for the
Spring of 2014 - Mercy Ajuonu, Shannon White and
Elizabeth Rowan. They are already working and interning
in their respective areas of interest (women and children
with HIV/AIDS for Mercy, girl issues for Shannon and
women and homelessness for Elizabeth (Lily)).
Our current students have had an outstanding year of
winning competitive awards for both their scholarship and
activism . Several of our students have attended the
Feminist Bootcamp in New York City -which is discussed
by AWS student Angela Tilley. Recent alumna Andaye
Hill completed a dual major in Applied Women's Studies
and in Community and Global Health and spend her time
as a student interning and working on behalf of returning
women veterans and bringing the issues of this group to the
campus and beyond. She was responsible for planning the
successful Women's History month event in March with the
screening of the documentary Service: When Women
Come Marching Home Again - which highlights the
challenges of returning women veterans followed by a
discussion of Andaye and her internship supervisor, Ms.
Lisa Raggio from the Glendale YWCA.
We would like to reintroduce Dr. Sallama Shaker who
has served on the faculty in previous years but has been on
the faculty at the Yale Divinity School for the past few
years. Dr. Shaker has been instrumental in her work with
the AWS students and others with her expertise in Global
women's issues. She is an expert on Middle Eastern and
Islamic Studies and is a former Ambassador to Canada
from Egypt. We welcome her to our Advisory Committee.
Finally, I was honored to be invited to participate in a one
day forum at the White House in April, sponsored by the
White House Committee on the Status of Women and
Girls. They convened a group of 100 invitees to spend the
day discussing current research and issues related to girls in
the country. A short report on the day is included in the
newsletter. I hope you all have a great summer and look
forward to the beginning of the Fall semester.
AWS @ CGU, SPRING 2014
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Applied Women’s Studies Student
Angela Tilley Attends Feminist Bootcamp
By: Angela Tilley, 15’
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The Applied Women’s Studies program has granted me with some of the most incredible opportunities and at the end of each semester, I <ind myself thinking “I don’t know what could top that experience.” I have been granted the tools to connect with people and organizations I never thought possible and at this moment, my mind is still reeling from my most recent adventure: Feminist Bootcamp. Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, authors of Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future and Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism, founded Soapbox, Inc. in 2002 which hosts Feminist bootcamp. Since their <irst bootcamp in 2007, hundreds of students have had been expanding their network of feminist colleagues and increasing their knowledge of feminism in action. Bootcamps for undergraduate and graduate students are held twice a year and I was fortunate enough to attend the summer 2014 session. I had never been to New York City, so I was excited that my <irst time would be among like-­‐minded movers, shakers, and troublemakers. The eleven bootcampers gathered for our <irst workshop led by the award-­‐
winning spoken word poet, playwright, and <ilmmaker, Kelly Zen-­‐
Tsai. The <ive day bootcamp was jam-­‐
packed with information on a variety of topics. Each day had a speci<ic !theme such as Feminist Media, Reproductive Justice and Career Day. !From 9:00a.m. through well into the evening, we attended workshops led by professionals who shared their stories and provided us invaluable advice. The most electrifying evening was when we met Gloria Steinem at The Sackler Center for Feminist Art event honoring Anita Hill after the screening of the documentary ANITA (2003.) Other highlights of Feminist Bootcamp included meeting Janet Mock, who was honored at the Sadie Nash Leadership Project’s Annual Garden Party for her advocacy and launching #GirlsLikeUs, a movement that encourages transwomen to live visibly, doing a mini-­‐ internship at The Feminist Press, meeting with The Doula Project, Melissa Madera from The Abortion Diary Podcast, The Sex Workers Project, and workshops with women such as Wagatwe Wanjuki, a feminist writer with a big social media presence focused on sexual assault policy reform as well as Stacey Tisdale, <inancial journalist and author of “The True Cost of Happiness.” Feminist Bootcamp was an incredible experience for all of us. Some may have hoped to delve deeper into issues that have great importance in our lives, but overall, we considered the experience powerful and transformative. I headed home with the longing to return to NYC, a knowing that the connections made through this opportunity would change my life, AWS @ CGU,SPRING, 2014
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Applied Women’s Studies and
Women’s Leadership Initiatives
By: Ashley Shew, 15’
This year, the Women’s Leadership
Alliance hosted several amazing events at
the CMC Athenaeum that Applied
Women’s Studies was happy to be a part
of. On February 4th, Eve Ensler, author
of The Vagina Monologues and founder
of One Billion Rising, gave an inspiring
talk about fighting for justice for women
and girls worldwide.
Ensler shared personal stories of her
own abuse, heartache, and battle with
cancer. She shared her passionate work
with women in the Congo and challenged
the audience to rise and dance on VDAY,
an international day of protest against
violence.
On February 7th, WLA and Applied
Women’s Studies sponsored a Women’s
Leadership Networking Luncheon with
speaker Michelle Bauman. Bauman is a
former attorney and current spiritual
psychologist. She now coaches women to
transform their lives by learning to be
open, free of limitations and thrive under
pressure. After the lecture, the women
attended a leadership networking
workshop with several successful women
from the community, including Ina
Coleman of the Feminist Majority
Foundation and Tina Hossein, of the Los
Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
The event was huge success and
many lasting connections were made.
On February 13th, WLA and Applied
Women’s Studies hosted Kathy DeBoer,
current Executive Director of the
American Volleyball Coaches
Association. DeBoer gave a fun,
informative talk about the differences in
gender and competition. She shared
experiences from her time as a coach that
illuminated our understanding of the
ways men and women can be motivated.
Among them, she shared examples of
coaching strategies in the final moments
of a close game. Singling out men and
adding pressure to perform can get the
results. However, DeBoer argues women
prefer to be collaborative in their
approach, and reminded they have the
support of the team.
The Women’s Leadership Alliance
meets monthly and is a collaboration of
women across the seven campuses to put
on engaging programming and foster
connections for all the women at the
Claremont colleges. Some of our
initiatives for the coming semester include
reaching out to men on campus, driving a
message of personal responsibility, and
encouraging women to consider
international opportunities in an
increasingly global world.
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Pictured - Michelle Bauman and Ashley Shew,
15’
Pictured - Ashley Shew, 15’; Eve Ensler; Caeli
Waldron, 15’; and Angela Tilley, 15’.
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AWS @ CGU, SPRING 2014
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Applied Women’s Studies Alumna Lorraine LaPrade Co-Directs
“Mother Tongue - Monologues for Truth Bearing Women, for
Emerging Sons and Other Keepers of the Flame”
Applied Women’s Studies Alumna
Lorraine LaPrade recently was a codirector of the event, sponsored by
Black Women’s Blueprint, titled “Mother Tongue: Monologues for Truth
Bearing Women, for Emerging Sons and
Other Keeps of the Flame.”
Black Women’s Blueprint is a national
civil and human rights organization
anchored in New York City. Founded in
2008, they are the convener of the first
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
(BWTRC) to focus on sexual assault
against Black women in the United
States. The honorary co-chairs for the
event included Aishah Shahidah
Simmons, Melinda Weekes, Beth
Richie, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Lisa
Anderson, and others. Their male
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participants included Haki
Madhubuti,Tony Porter, Oliver
Williams, Quentin Walcott and Darnell
Moore. The event/performance honored
Black female survivors of sexual assault.
The event took place on Saturday,
February 8, 2014 at the Brooklyn
Museum. The event also included
a reception which honored Melissa
Harris-Perry, self-identified survivor of
sexual assault, African American author,
political scientist and television host on
MSNBC and Barbara Smith, City
Councilor in Albany New York and CoFounder of the The Combahee River
Collective and Kitchen Table: Women of
Color Press.
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Pictured - AWS Alumna Lorraine LaPrade
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AWS @ CGU, SPINRG, 2014
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Applied Women’s Studies Welcomes
Ambassador Sallama Shaker
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We are delighted to have Ambassador Sallama Shaker back on
the faculty at CGU where she is a Professor of Religion, Politics and
Policy, and Applied Women’s Studies. She is our newest member of
the AWS Advisory Committee. Ambassador Sallama Shaker was the
first appointed woman Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for the
Americas in the history of the Egyptian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. She was appointed Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs for Cultural,
Educational Relations, Technical Cooperation, and
Dialogue for Egypt in September of 2004. For four
years prior to that, she was Egypt’s ambassador to
Canada.
In addition to her current postition, she has
held several positions within the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, including Deputy Minister for
North and Latin America, Advisor to the Assistant
Minister of Foreign Affairs on Egyptian/American
Relations and NATO, First Secretary at the office
of the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, and
attaché at the Soviet Desk within the ministry.
From 1985-1990, Dr. Shaker served as the Consul
General at the Egyptian Embassy in Washington,
Pictured - Ambassador
D.C. She has also served as Economic and Political
Sallama Shaker
Counselor at the Embassy in Turkey, as well as
Cultural and Political attaché at the Embassy of
Egypt in Malta.
Dr. Shaker began her education at the American College for Girls
in Cairo, Egypt. She earned a B.Sc. in Political Economy at Cairo
University. She holds two Masters Degrees in Political Economy and
Economics, from Johns Hopkins University and the London School
of Economics/Malta University respectively. In 1993 she received
her Ph.D. in International Development from American University in
Washington, D.C. Dr. Shaker was a Senior Associate at the Woodrow
Wilson Center from 1992-1994, where she did research on the
impact of the first Gulf War on the economies of Egypt and Turkey. Dr. Shaker has published many articles on the issues of peace and
development in the Middle East. Additional papers include “Building
Peace in the Middle East,” “Feminization of Poverty,” “Women in
Islam,” “Diversity in Islam,” and “Inter-faith Respect.” She has
published a book entitled State Society and Privatization in Turkey,
and is fluent in Arabic, English, French, Turkish and Maltese.
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AWS @ CGU, SPRING 2014
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AWS Goes to the White House
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On Monday, April 28th Applied
Women's Studies Director , Linda M.
Perkins was one of 100 nationally invited
scholars and leaders of girls organizations
to attend the White House Research
Conference on Girls, hosted by the White
House Council on Women and Girls.
The conference was convened to discuss
current research, best practices and
research needs for girls’ service providers.
The participants were one third scholars,
one third non-profit organizations
devoted to issues of girls and one third
media and corporations
involved with images of
girls ( e.g. Seventeen
Magazine, Essence
Magazine , Marie
Claire Magazine ,
Disney
Corporation).
In 2009,
President Obama
signed an Executive
Order creating the White
House Council on Women and Girls.
The purpose of the Council is to ensure
that government agencies take into
account the needs of women and girls in
the policies they draft, the programs they
create and the legislation they support.
The Council has as its members the head
of every federal agency and major White
House office, so that everyone shares in
the responsibility of supporting girls.
The first half of the day focused
upon Research , particularly Girls in
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering
and Math), Girls and Leadership and
Girls and Sexuality. These topics were
discussed by Dr. JO Boaler,Professor of
Stanford Graduate School of Education,
Judy Schoenberg, Chief Research
Executive for Girl Scouts of the USA,
and Dr. Catherine Cushinberry, Director
of Research for Girls Inc.
and Dr. Deborah Tolman, co-founder
of SPARK, an online movement for and
by girls that includes a take action page
and a research blog about girls and
sexuality.
The second half of the day included
group discussion and a panel discussion
with Alliance for Girls’ member Rachel
Simmons, founder of the Girls
Leadership Institute, moderated a panel
with Ana Maria Sanchez, CEO of Girl
Scouts USA, Catherine Lhamon,
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the
US Department of Education, Peggy
Orenstein, New York Times bestselling
author, and Jeff Wilcox, Vice President of
Engineering at Lockheed Martin
Corporation. The panel discussed current
research needs and best
practices including:
•The need for
research on girls of
color, particularly
Asian, Latina and
Native American
girls
•The need for
research regarding
the gender spectrum
and how that affects girls
• The need to “keep girls young longer”
and put forth mitigating messages about
girls’ sexuality and definitions of worth.
The conference concluded with
closing remarks from Cecilia Munoz,
Assistant to the President and Director of
the Domestic Policy Council.
The day was very productive and
resulted in networking with individuals
across sectors. Numerous AWS students
are involved with in issues related to girls,
and this is targeted group that we will
continue to work with and have students
intern in organizations related to girls.
AWS @ CGU, SPINRG, 2014
SERVICE: When Women Come
Marching Home Again
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On March 27th, AWS sponsored a screening of the documentary
SERVICE: When Women Come March Home again followed by a
discussion of returning women veterans by recent AWS graduate
Andaye Hill and her colleague Lisa Raggio,the Senior Director of
Community Services, Development and Communication for the
Glendale YWCA.
The documentary highlights several women who are recently
released from the military and follows their lives and their challenges
upon returning home including homelessness, attempting to attend
college, childcare issues and Post Traumatic Disorder and Military
Sexual Trauma. After the screening of this provocative and
informative film the discussion provided the following facts and
statistics:
• Of 141,000 veterans nationwide who
spent at least one night in a homeless
shelter in 2011, nearly 10 percent were
women
• Of that 10%, nearly 53% of homeless
female vets experienced Military Sexual
Trauma. Many women entered into the
military to escape family conflict and
abuse.
• While constituting 14.6% of all military
forces, women account for 95% of
reported sex crime victims
• 60% of transitional housing programs
receiving grants from the Department of
Veteran Affairs did not accept children
or restricted their age and number of
children.
• California is home to a quarter of the nations veterans and is
also home to a quarter of its homeless veterans. In Greater Los
Angeles, a 2011 survey found that 909 homeless women among
them, a 50 percent increases since 2009.
• The Army has the highest percentage of women in active duty,
19%
• One third or 31% of active duty women are black in
comparison with only 16% of men
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AWS @ CGU, FALL 2013
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Applied Women’s Studies Alumni Updates
Amanda Lee, 12’
AWS alumna Amanda J. Lee is currently the
Director of Learning Tree Academy located in
Fullerton, CA. This center provides educational
services to elementary- high school students from
the surrounding Orange County community. She is
also working at a nonprofit organization called Far
East Broadcasting Company in the Korea
Department as their Strategic Planning
Coordinator. Since 2012, Amanda has been the
youngster member on the Board of Directors at the
YWCA of Greater Los Angeles. In the first half of
2013, she helped create their next six-year strategic
business plan and has been an active part of the
oversight and collaboration with the executive staff
for the implementation of this plan. During her
term she has been a key player for their Strategic
Planning Committee, Finance Committee, and
Fund Development Committee.
Andaye Hill, 14’
AWS Alumna Anday Hill graduated with a joint
degree in Applied Women’s Studies and
Community and Global Health. She is
Program Implementer for Choose Health LA
Kids , a county wide obesity prevention initiative
designed to target children ages 0-5 and their
families. The program is in partnership with the
LA County Department of Public Health and
First 5 LA. In her position as Program
Implementer, Andaye assists with the
development, facilitation, and execution of
CHLAkids through the delivery of detailed
programmatic, fiscal, and organizational reports
to the LA County Department of Public Health.
AWS @ CGU, FALL 2013
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Applied Women’s Studies Alumni Updates
John Erickson, 11’
John Erickson, who graduated with a Dual
Master’s Degree in Applied Women’s Studies
and Women’s Studies in Religion in 2011,
was recently promoted to the role of City
Council Deputy for Councilmember Abbe
Land for the City of West Hollywood. He
will be her Chief of Staff and deal with her
policy initiatives, day-to-day activity, and
special events sponsored by her that pertain
to women, girls, and gay-rights issues for
example. Councilmember Land also serves
as the CEO for the Trevor Project.
AWS @ CGU, SPRING, 2014
Applied Women’s
Studies Celebrates
the Recipients of University
Fellowships and Awards for 2013-2014
Congratulations to all the Applied Women’s
Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies Certificates
Student Award winners: Grace Berry Award to Jessica
Valenzuela – For Outstanding Scholarship in Women’s
and Gender Studies;Fernandez Award to Angela Tilley
– which supported her to attend the Feminist
Bootcamp in New York City; Friedman Awards to
Ashley Shew for internship support. Angela Tilley for
support to Attend Feminist Bootcamp in New York
City and Caeli Waldron for support to attend Feminist
Bootcamp in New York City; Maguire Award to
Shannon Shov for a Research Assistantship to work
with Professor Piya Chatterjee, Dorothy Cruickshank
Backstrand Chair of Gender and Women’s Studies at
Scripps College for Fall 2014 and; Pacific Life Awards
to Elizabeth Rowan and Mariam Youseff for
internship support.
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APPLIED WOMEN’S STUDIES
150 E. 10th Street, Claremont, CA 91711
NEWSLETTER EDITOR
John Erickson
Pictured - Mariam Youseff, 15’; Ashley Shew,
15’; and Caeli Waldron, 15’