CENTER for WOMEN’S & GENDER STUDIES The University of Texas at Austin 2006-2007, Vol. IX, No. 1 Newsletter of the CENTER for WOMEN’S & GENDER STUDIES Director’s Column Gretchen Ritter In this issue: January 2007 Spring Events Calendar!!!3 One of our goals for CWGS this year is to become more involved in community engagement work. There has been Academic News!!!4 a trend in recent years for universities to promote New MA Students!!!5 community engagement and service learning. The trend is borne from a growing awareness that faculty and students 2006-2007 FDP New Faculty Fellows!! ! 6 can learn a great deal from community members engaged Bibliographer’s Corner"""8 in addressing the social problems that concern us. If we want to understand the social and physical challenges that CWGS Affiliate News!!!8 accompany breast cancer, then we might meet with the staff at the Susan G. Komen Foundation, to learn about Apply for Student Awards !!!11 their public education and community support work. If we want greater insight into the challenges facing adolescent girls in low income communities, then we might visit with the troop leader and girls from the Girlscouts Behind Bars Judith Scott, General Counsel of the Service Employees International program – a troop for the daughters of women who are Union gives the keynote address at the Gender & Labor Conference. incarcerated. As a research program at a public university, we also feel a responsibility to give back to the community by making our expertise and understanding available to schools and community organizations that seek to assist girls and women. An example of where this effort has taken us is a recent meeting we held with Jeanne Goka and Aracell Ortiz, the principal and curriculum director of the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders. This new AISD middle school is slated to open in the fall of 2007. (Cont. Page 2) Scott was instrumental in implementing the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in 1979. annual theme Our annual theme for the 2006-2007 academic year is Gender, Politics, and women’s and gender studies Leadership. Our workshops, conferences, colloquia, and film screenings are always open to the entire UT community and the broader public. 2007 http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/cwgs/events/ Director’s Column – Continued It will be an all girls school, which seeks to primarily serve students from low income neighborhoods. As part of the curriculum for this school, the girls will learn about wellness and leadership. The school will also emphasis college preparation, particularly in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. For our meeting, we brought together gender studies faculty from all over campus with expertise concerning the challenges facing adolescent girls, particularly in school. We had faculty from Radio- Television-Film, Sociology, Social Work, Curriculum and Instruction, Psychology, Government, and Public Affairs present at this meeting. We were able to provide assistance and advice, and were quickly signed up as speakers and mentors for the new school. We also explored research opportunities with the school, so that our faculty can study the work they do to learn what’s effective in assisting these young women. There may even be opportunities for some of our students to do internships at the school. We hope to foster more of these relationships in the future – which benefit our students and faculty, and provide assistance to our local community. The opening of this school is testimony to the inspiration and commitment of former governor Ann Richards, who passed away this past September. At the time of her death, Richards was working with AISD to plan and find support for this school. Richards began her public career as a teacher, and she believed strongly that education was key to creating opportunity for people from all communities. (http://www.annrichardsschool.org/) Ann Richards was an extraordinary woman who enriched the lives of many. In addition to being the first woman elected governor of Texas on her own terms, Richards was one of the founders of the Foundation for Women's Resources, Leadership Texas, and the Women's Museum. We were privileged to have Ann Richards teach a course for our undergraduates in 2005 on “Women, Leadership, and Life”. The course considered the particular challenges and opportunities that women face as they assert leadership. The course provided an extraordinary experience for our students. As Stephanie Green, Richards’s teaching assistant, said: "The course was unique--intimate and focused on professional and life skills. As a teacher, Gov. Richards treated the women as equals, as professionals destined to become the future leaders of Texas." Richards was also a supporter of the Center, and one of the original members of the CWGS 300 Club started by Lucia Gilbert on the mid-1990s. Our work with the Ann Richards School is one small step in our effort to honor this great woman’s legacy. Do you (or someone you know) want to make a difference in the world? You can - by supporting efforts to understand the challenges that girls and women face and to create opportunities that will enrich their lives. To help us continue our important work, we hope you will consider contributing to our program. For more information, please go to - http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/cwgs/giving/ More Information on our events can be found on the CWGS Website: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/cwgs/ CALENDAR 23rd & 24th “Comparative Social Models in the US and Europe” CWGS Spring 2007 Events Co-sponsors: Center for European Studies, The UT- France Institute, and the LBJ School January Thompson Conference Center 19th 27th Cindy Menches Katherine Ewing “Women in Construction: A Roadmap for Increasing “Islam, Democracy, and Identity: Women’s Employment in the U.S. Construction Industry” Comparing the Experiences of Muslim Immigrants in New Faculty Colloquium Germany and the US” 12noon, GEB 3.312 Diversity and Religion in American Public Life Series 6–8 pm, LBJ Library Atrium 23rd “Water” (India, 2005) Directed by Deepa Mehta March (Women’s History Month) Claiming Ourselves: Women, Power & Leadership Film Series Reflections: A Celebration of Works Co-sponsors: the Austin Film Society, Panel discussion CWGS Faculty Affiliates present new publications follows screening Date, Time, Location, TBA 7-10pm, CAL 100 2nd 25th James A. Wilson, Jr. Alice M. Agogino, Roscoe and Elizabeth Hughes Professor “The AIDS Crisis in Kenya: Assumptions and Realities of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, about Sexual Norms and Identities” Berkeley, California. New Faculty Colloquium “Beyond Bias and Barriers: Gender Equity in Academia “ 12noon, GEB 3.312 3:30-5pm, Santa Rita room, UT Union 3rd Explore UT February “Great Texas Women” University of Texas at Austin 1st EJ Dionne “Religion, Social Justice and the Welfare State” 6th Diversity and Religion in American Public Life Series "Beauty Academy of Kabul" 6-8pm, Lone Star Room, Frank Erwin Center Produced by Liz Mermin (US 2004) Claiming Ourselves: Women, Power & Leadership Film Series 2nd Panel discussion follows screening Evelyn Clingerman 7-10pm, CAL 100 “Insider/Outsider Team Research With Farmworker Women During Migration” New Faculty Colloquium 20th 12noon, GEB 3.312 Amy Caiazza “The Ties That Bind: Women’s Public Vision for Politics, Religion, and Civil Society,” 5th Diversity and Religion in American Public Life Series Interdisciplinary Grantwriting Workshop 6–8 pm, LBJ Library Atrium Presenters: Mark Hayward, Sharon Brown, Sharon Strover, Richard Flores Noon-1:30pm, GEB 3.312 22nd Nancy Folbre “Valuing Children: Rethinking the Economics of Family 16th Co-sponsor: the Population Research Center Shannon Cavanaugh Time, Location TBA “Gender and Puberty in Adolescence” New Faculty Colloquium (Events continued on Page 4) 12noon, GEB 3.312 3 March 30th Keffrelyn Brown Academic News “Dangerous Liaisons: Exploring the Complex Relationships by Associate Director & Graduate Adviser Susan Sage between Risk Knowledge, Academic Achievement and Heinzelman, Graduate Coordinator Alma Jackie Salcedo Teacher Practice”. New Faculty Colloquium 12noon, GEB 3.312 New Undergraduate Major in Women’s and Gender Studies! April The undergraduate major in Women’s and Gender Reflections: A Celebration of Works. Book Party! Studies was finally approved by the Texas Higher Date, Time, Location, TBA Education Coordinating Board. The new major advising code is:# L96000. This is the code which students and 3rd staff will use to identify the major for registration "Moolaadé" purposes, etc.# Directed by Ousmane Sembene (Senegal 2004) Claiming Ourselves: Women, Power & Leadership Film Students: please remember that you must apply for Series graduation in addition to completing degree and major Panel discussion follows screening requirements in order to receive a Bachelor of Arts with 7-10pm, CAL 100 a major in WGS.# Simply completing the requirements will not result in the award of degree. 5th One of the advantages of belonging to the Women's and Emerging Scholarship in Women’s and Gender Gender Studies program is the individual attention that Studies Conference students our receive. Our staff is still receiving training 8:30am-4:30pm, Campus Club, WWH for advising the new major; however we would like to invite our undergraduate students to come visit our 10th offices in Walter Webb Hall (Campus Club), and get to Judith Weisenfeld know our faculty and staff. “Projecting Blackness: African-American Religion in American Film” Diversity and Religion in American Public Life Series CWGS MA Graduate Program: 6–8 pm, LBJ Library Atrium Creating a sense of community has always been one of our goals. This semester we plan to reach out to our WGS Portfolio students in other departments. In order to 13th foster stronger connections, we have several events Sonia Seeman planned during the semester including the Student “Get Up, Mari Dudu: Reconfiguring Gender through Conference in April and a small reception for our MA Political Discourses among Roman (‘Gypsy’) Women in and Portfolio students where they will have the Western Turkey” opportunity to socialize and present their academic work New Faculty Colloquium together.