WEBER STATE WOMEN’S STUDIES NEWS

VOL. IV, NO. 3 NOVEMBER 1997

COORDINATOR’S CORNER

Happy Feast of All Saints to Great Hags and Hag-ographers! (Sorry--too much feminist reading.) We are preparing to make next year’s schedule which is due at the start of Winter Quarter, so faculty will be hearing from us shortly as to what you could/would like to teach during the 1998-99 Fall and Spring semesters.

Winter schedule has some new courses, including Feminist Theology in Western Tradition, which I’ve mentioned before, and Gender in Science and Literature: Writing and Re-Writing text. Feminist Theories will include literature by and about women and Women’s Health Issues will be offered at a different time: 5:30-8:30 on Wednesdays.

The video series is being faithfully attended and well received each Wednesday at 12:30 pm. We have three films left including the story of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, an all women’s jazz band of the ‘40’s. The music is great on this one, and you are all invited. We supply coffee, soda, and cake or cookies, plus scintillating conversation.

FACULTY PROFILE

It’s our pleasure this month to introduce to our readers the Rev. Gwyneth MacKenzie Murphy, an adjunct faculty member who first taught for the program three years ago. During Winter Quarter, 1994, she presented her new course in Feminist Theologies. Since that time, we have been hoping that we would be able to avail ourselves of her teaching talents again, and the time is now.

Gwyneth’s roots lie in Metropolitan New York and Roman Catholicism. She went to Barnard College, a pioneering school in the development of Women’s Studies Programs, and she received her A.B. degree in 1976. While at Barnard, she served as student body president and residence counselor and she received the Bryson Prize for outstanding contribution to the college. After graduation, she worked as a Development Officer for two years before attending Fordham Law School, receiving her J.D. in 1981 and spending seven years practicing law in New York and Boston. Her intense interest in and commitment to things spiritual then led her to pursuit of formal ecclesiastical education and service. She found her home in the Episcopal Church and attended Harvard Divinity School, from which she earned a Masters of Divinity in 1991. Her Masters Project evolved from her long-term interest and training in dance, begun when she was 9 years old, and the piece was entitled "For Tommy: An Evening of Liturgical Dance."

Gwyneth moved to Utah in 1993, teaching Ethics and World Religions during that summer at Rowland Hall - St. Mark’s School. She then ministered in several capacities at Zion Lutheran Church, Camp Tuttle, St. Mark’s Hospital, and All Saints Church. She was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1994 and continued to serve as Clergy Assistant at All Saints in Salt Lake City until she assumed responsibilities as Interim Priest-In-Charge for St. Michael’s Episcopal Church (Brigham City) in 1996. In addition to her ecclesiatical duties, she taught at Weber during the winter of 1994 and at Westminster College, the fall of 1994.

Gwyneth has numerous service commitments to add to her busy schedule of professional duties, participating in the annual conference on "Women, Spirituality and Power" sponsored by Westminster College, and serving on various boards and committees for the Episcopal Church, Utah Pastoral Care Association, and the Sacred Dance Guild. She continues her interest in and performance of sacred/liturgical dance.

Her interest in feminist theology springs from her firm belief that "without addressing how the patriarchy deeply imbedded in Christianity has fundamentally influenced the history and present of Western civilization, influencing how all of us think, feel, believe and act, there is no hope of transforming society. ... a God of love would not ordain patriarchy or oppression of any kind."

In April of this year, she married her soul-mate, Rev. Dan Webster, also an Episcopal priest who grew up a Roman Catholic and came to ministry from another career. Gwyneth contacted him in search of a book prior to his moving to Utah in August 1996. By that October, they realized that they had more in common than intellectual pursuits, including a similar spirituality and a similar vision of women in the church. Gwyneth commented that "I could only marry a man who gets it on a very gut level that men and women are equal." Dan continues to work in Salt Lake City, although they make their home in Brigham City, near St. Michael’s. In her "spare(?)" time, Gwyneth enjoys swimming, knitting, reading and walking - especially with Dan.

We welcome Gwyneth back to campus this Winter and we hope that our students (as well as other faculty colleagues) will continue to be able to benefit from interaction with this thoughtful, compassionate, and very spiritual member of our faculty.

A REMINDER

- that World AIDS Day is Monday, 1 December. There will be a campus celebration, sponsored by DLSU (and others) in the Wildcat Theater. Dr. Judy Elsley will present on quilting as text and there are plans to have a portion of the AIDS quilt on display. For more info., check the DLSU home page.

4 Nov. - DON"T FORGET TO VOTE!

5 Nov. - "The International Sweethearts of Rhythm," W. S. video series, 12:30 p.m.,

Rm 9, Stewart Library.

- Readings by Frankie Colton, Richard Jee, Levi Peterson at Weber County Library, 7-9 p.m.; for info., call 773-2109.

- An Evening with Chaim Potok, Ogden Egyptian Center, 6 p.m., sponsored by Ogden School Foundation; for tickets, call 625-8721.

7 - 9 Nov. - "Women in Sports" including free health clinics, Oshman’s SuperSports, Newgate Mall, for info., call 392-5500.

10 Nov. -WINTER QUARTER REGISTRATION BEGINS. Check out the great selection of Women’s Studies Courses.

12 Nov. - "Luisa Capetillo," W.S. video series, 12:30 p.m., Rm 9, Stewart Library.

- Women’s Studies Exec. Council Meeting, 4:30 p.m., SS 115.

18 Nov. - Book Discussion, "One Writer’s Beginnings" by Eudora Welty, Roy Public Library; for info., call 773-2556.

19 Nov. - "Artists in Exile," W.S. video series, 12:30 p.m., Rm 9, Stewart Library.

- Readings by Marta Stone, Carl Porter, & Brad Roghaar, Thought Continuum Bookstore, 7-9 p.m; for info., call 392-3949.

27-28 Nov. - THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY.