Women's Studies
at

Washington and Lee University

 

What's new in Women's Studies at W&L?


News and Information:

 

SEWSA CONFERENCE, 2008

The 2008 SEWSA Conference will be at UNC Charlotte the first weekend of April, 2008.  The program looks excellent, so consider a road trip to attend some of the sessions!:
 
 

Upcoming Women's Studies Public Lectures and Colloquia:

Women’s Studies:  Upcoming Events

2008

Thursday, February 28, 4-5:30, Commons 345

Poetry and Community in the South: A Reading and Panel Discussion with Jean Anaporte-Easton, Julie Enszer, Ann Fisher-Wirth, Sally Rosen Kindred, Cheryl Pallant, Susan Settlemyre Williams, and Susan Williamson. This event is co-sponsored by the Glasgow Endowment, the Women's Studies Program, and University Lectures; it is free and open to the public.

There will be a catered dinner afterward (5:30-7, Commons 214).  If you would like to attend the dinner, make sure to write to Lesley Wheeler at wheelerlm@wlu.edu by Wednesday, January 23.

 

Thursday, February 28, 7:30 p.m., Commons Stackhouse Theater

Michael Kimmel, internationally-known gender scholar will give a lecture, "'Mars and Venus', or Planet Earth: Women and Men on Campus in a New Millennium." The lecture assesses the state of male-female relationships on campuses today. In particular he discusses a variety of issues such as work, family, friendship and sexuality and the ways men and women together are facing these issues in the 21st century.  He will be making the case that the things women have identified that will make their lives better—balancing work and family, ending rape and sexual violence, ending sexual harassment, etc—are also in men's interests and that men should support gender equality.

Sponsored by Women’s Studies Program, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Office of Leadership Development, Office of Health Promotion, Office of Religious Life, Gender Relations Committee, One in Four, SPEAK, KEWL, IFC, and Panhellenic.

Friday, February 29, 10am-3pm, Moot Court Room

The Journal of Civil Rights & Social Justice, together with the Frances Lewis Law Center, is sponsoring a symposium called "A Queer Definition of Equality: Exploring Major Issues in Sexual Orientation and the Law:

10:00: Prof. Marc Poirier, Seton Hall Law School, speaking on civil unions and same-sex marriage

Commentator: Prof. Caprice Roberts, Univ. of West Virginia Law School

11:00: Prof. Lee Badgett, Economics Dept, UMass-Amherst, Economics of Gay Life

Commentator: Prof. Josh Fairfield, W&L Law School

12:00 (luncheon): Judy O'Kelley, Esq., Lambda Legal Defense, Atlanta, Recent Sexual Orientation Litigation

1:00: Brad Sears, Williams Institute, UCLA, Discrimination on the Basis of HIV Status

Commentator: Prof. Tim Jost, W&L Law

2:00: Kathi Westcott, Servicemembers' Defense Network, Current Status of Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Commentator: Dean Rod Smolla, W&L Law

 

March 5, E hour (12:20-1:15), Elrod University Commons 216

Visiting Professor of Law Qudsia Mirza of the University of East London will give a talk titled “Islam, Scripture, and Feminism.”  Sponsored by the Women’s Studies Program and the School of Law.

If you would like to have lunch, please contact Ellen Mayock (mayocke@wlu.edu) by Friday, February 29.

 

SAVE THE DATES:

March 13-15, Northen Auditorium:  Theater in Academe, International Symposium on Theater.  Professor Domnica Radulescu directs the theater conference, at which dozens of world-renowned theater critics and practitioners will present their work.  Friday, March 14 will be devoted to themes specific to women and theater.

March 31, 4:30 p.m., Northen AuditoriumEnglish Professor Becky Gould Gibson will do a reading from her poetry collection titled Need-fire (2007).  The collection treats the life of Hild of Whitby, a 7th-century abbess in Northumberland. Sponsored by the Department of Religion and Women’s Studies. 

April 28-29 Sociologist Judith A. Levine will give a public lecture and a lunch colloquium on women and welfare.  Sponsored by University Lectures and the Women’s Studies Program.   

  • WST Lunch Colloquium, Monday, April 28, 12:20-1:15 p.m., Commons 216:  Please e-mail mayocke@wlu.edu by April 21 to reserve a lunch.
  • University Lecture, Monday, April 28, 7-8 p.m., Northen Auditorium

 

May 26-27 Hispanist Carla Olson Buck will give a public lecture and a lunch colloquium on the women of Ciudad Juárez.  Sponsored by the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program and the Women’s Studies Program. 

  • Latin American and Caribbean Studies Lecture, Monday, May 26, 7-8 pm, Northen Auditorium
  • WST Lunch Colloquium, Tuesday, May 27, 12:20-1:15 p.m., Commons 216:  Please e-mail mayocke@wlu.edu by May 19 to reserve a lunch.

 

 


Past Women's Studies Colloquia:

 

Monday, January 21, E hour, Commons 216

DESIRE*:  Editor Lisa Solod Warren and Contributors Cathryn Hankla and Sharon Leiter will read and discuss their work.  Sponsored by the Women’s Studies Program.

*A captivating collection of essays, Desire delves headfirst into its subject matter and explores the complexity of desire with essays about the things that women want, crave, lust after, and covet. Within the pages of Desire, women tackle difficult and taboo subjects—from Debra Magpie Earling’s desire to hurt someone to New York Times writer S. S. Fair’s less than diminishing sensual and sexual desire, despite her increasing age, and Julia Serano’s strong emotional impulse to be a woman before she decided to transition from male to female. Many of these essayists examine the feelings and experiences that surround the things they want but can’t—or shouldn’t—have. Desire makes the private public and illuminates the rich and varied yearnings women so often keep secret.

If you would like to have lunch, please let Ellen Mayock (mayocke@wlu.edu) know by Wednesday, January 16.

 

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Special sneak preview screening of the new documentary film, "The Business of Being Born"

The Women's Studies Program, in conjunction with the grand opening of Rockbridge Midwifery Care's birth center in Buena Vista, will present the 85-minute film, followed by Q&A with two local midwives and a doula. 

For more info about the film, which features Ricki Lake and offers a critique of the medicalization of birth in the U.S.:  http://thebusinessofbeingborn.com/about.htm
 
Since this film will open in only a few cities when it's officially released in March, this may be your only chance to see it! 

Date:  Thursday, November 29

Time:  6pm

Location:  Northen Auditorium (Leyburn Library)  

 

 

"Deadbeats, Taxpayers and Dependent Children:  Gender, Welfare and Child Support Policy, 1950-1974" by Professor Molly Michelmore, W&L History Department.
Date: October 29th at E hour in the Women's Resource Room, E Hour with a catered lunch.
Please RSVP to Melina Bell (bellm@wlu.edu) by October 14 for the catered lunch.

 

"Doing Gender in Language " by Ellen Contini Morava from the University of Virginia, a specialist in linguistic anthropology.
Date: October 26th at E hour in the Women's Resource Room, E Hour with a catered lunch.
The event is sponsored in collaboration with Simon Levy from Computer Science

 
Collaborative Poetry: Carolyn Ogburn and Margo Solod
Date: Monday October 30th, 12:20-1:15 (E Hour) in the Women's Resource Room
Sponsored by the Women’s Studies Program and the Office of the Dean of the College
Contact Lesley Wheeler at wheelerlm@wlu.edu or 458-8758 for more information. This event is free and open to the public. Lunch will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
 

 

  • W&L Student on Summer Internship with NOW:
    Check out Jessica Hopper ('08), Journalism major and Women's Studies concentrator, as she does a summer internship with the National Organization for Women in D.C.  On the very first day, the orientation session was disrupted so that the group could go protest the federal marriage amendment. You can see a photograph of Jessica protesting if you visit http://www.now.org and click on the news story about the FMA (Federal Marriage Amendment).

 


Past Events:

Consider participating in the ACS Women's Studies Conference!  Here's the information:

WOMEN'S/GENDER STUDIES CONFERENCE 2006

Plan now to attend the ACS 2006 Women's/Gender Studies Conference at
Centenary College in Shreveport, LA. It's not too early to plan your attendance at the
conference and to start mentoring your students' presentations.

Dates: March 24-25, 2006

Theme: Governing Bodies: Reflections on the Self,
Society and the State Organizers: Kim VanHoosier-Carey,
kvanhoos@centenary.edu and Michelle Wolkomir, mwolkomi@centenary.edu

Contact
Kim, Michelle or Teresa Wise at ACS, twise@colleges.org to get involved.


For archives of ACS publications, please go to:
http://www.colleges.org/palladian/

 

Lecture on January 16, 2006, 7pm, Lee Chapel:

Poet Nikki Giovanni will speak for Martin Luther King Day

 

Reading and Discussion on Naked:  Black Women Bare All About Their Skin, Hair, Lips and Other Parts / January 19, 7:30-9pm, Elrod Commons 345 (Reception to follow):

Ayana Byrd and Akiba Solomon, editors of Naked: Black Women Bare All About Their Skin, Hair, Hips, Lips and Other Parts (Perigree Trade Paperback, August 2005) will give a reading and facilitate a discussion.
 

National Symposium on Theater in Academe (features presentations on women in theater), March 9-11, 2006:

Program Head Domnica Radulescu has organized this three-day symposium on theater and, particularly, on women in theater.

 

Conference on May 9th and 1oth, 2005:
New Medicines: A Festival of Native American Writing at Washington and Lee 
Sponsored by the English Department, the Glasgow Endowment, the Women's Studies Department, and University Lectures.  All events are free and open to the public.

Monday 5/9:
4 p.m., Room 345 in Elrod University Commons.
A Roundtable on Gender and Native American Writing, moderated by Professor Deborah Miranda

8 pm, Northen Auditorium at Leyburn Library
Poetry Reading: Janet McAdams, Deborah Miranda, and Allison Adele Hedge Coke

Tuesday 5/10:
4 p.m., Room 345 in Elrod University Commons
A Roundtable on the Native American South, moderated by R.T. Smith
8 pm, Northen Auditorium at Leyburn Library
Poetry Reading: Ron Wellburn, Karenne Wood, and Linda Hogan
For more information, please contact Professor Lesley Wheeler (540 458-8758) or Professor Deborah Miranda (540 458 8755).
 

Alumni Weekend 2005:
Reunion Seminar: A Generational Perspective of Women's Studies at Washington and Lee (presented by a coed, alumna, and professor). Participants: Karlyn Gold (current student), Carroll Thompson (alumna), and Dr. Ellen Mayock (Associate Professor of Romance Languages and Associate Dean of the College). Friday, May 20th (2:00-3:30 p.m., Commons 216).

 

 

   

Page last modified on 1/2/08.