Weber State Women’s Studies News

Happy 2000! With enough students, Introduction to Women’s Studies will be offered this summer (for the first time) at the Davis Center (for the first time). If you know of any high school or Weber State students looking for summer courses that also fulfill general education and diversity requirements, please point them our way. The class will meet on Mondays and Wednesday from 10-12:45 am., leaving time for work or play in those afternoons. Dr. Diane Krantz will teach the course and welcomes help from colleagues who could make one presentation on a field of special interest to them. On the Ogden campus, Maria Parrilla Vazquez de Kokal will offer Psychology of Women and Gender which will be cross-listed in Women’s Studies.

This year Gloria Perez-Jensen, coordinator of the Gender Equity program, will head the committee that plans Women’s History Month. That committee met the last week of January to begin planning, and they would most likely welcome suggestions for programs, activities, and speakers to make the month a memorable one.

Dr. Thom Kuehls is conducting our first Seminar for Women’s Studies minors who are about to graduate. Also, several students are signed up for the Internship and for the Research project. This semester, six cross-listed courses are being offered, including Psychology of Women and Gender which didn’t make it into the course schedule.

The Women’s Studies bulletin board has been augmented with another board and both are filled with announcements of programs on, and helpful information about, women’s issues in general and our program in particular. Please stop by and read them when you get a chance. Anyone planning on graduating this June or December should make an appointment with Dr. Krantz to go over the graduation evaluation and get signed off on the Women’s Studies minor.

Another reminder to faculty teaching core and cross-listed courses this Spring. Our office needs copies of assignments, syllabi, exams, and any samples of student work you (and they) are willing to share. We would especially welcome sample papers that represent a variety of grades. Thank you for all you do for us.

With this issue, we are beginning a new tradition of combining the January and February issues of the newsletter. Because spring semester classes now begin so far into the month, this approach seems more reasonable and slows the hectic pace of late December/early January.

This month, we return to our tradition of introducing a member of the Women’s Studies faculty or Executive Council. It is a great pleasure to feature Dr. Diane Horne, Professor of Microbiology and College of Science representative to the Council. Diane has been on the faculty at Weber State since 1981, having come to us from a research associate position at Rockefeller University in New York. Diane holds a BS in biology from Mundelein College in Chicago, IL, and, following a year’s detour in a biochemistry graduate program at the University of California - Santa Barbara, a PhD in Microbiology from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. Prior to her research associateship, Diane was a teaching assistant and fellow at Santa Barbara and Northwestern, respectively, and a research technician at Northwestern. At WSU, she has taught introductory courses in microbiology and public health in addition to upper division courses in microbial physiology, industrial microbiology, virology and cell culture. Diane has used two sabbatical leaves from teaching at Weber to continue her research at Rockefeller University and at Utah State. In addition to her own efforts, she has involved undergraduate students in her research to the extent that they have made presentations or co-authored manuscripts submitted to, or appearing in, scientific journals. She has also been active in grant-writing, receiving funding to support her research activities.

Diane has been a contributor of service at many levels on the WSU campus and in her professional discipline. She has served on search committees and ranking and tenure committees at the departmental and college levels and she has also chaired the College of Science Curriculum Committee - during the dreaded SEMESTER CONVERSION! As a current member of the Research, Scholarship, and Professional Growth committee, she has the opportunity to continue using skills developed during manuscript reviewing to help make critical decisions about who gets MONEY for professional activities on campus. Diane has also provided service to the educational community at large as a Science Fair judge and by presenting various aspects of science to public school students. Diane is an active member of P.E.O., a group that provides assistance to women for pursuing their educational goals; she was a recipient of one of their loans herself during her undergraduate days.

Diane spends her time away from campus enjoying her three cats - Cosmo, Chloe, and Corky - who must be very intrigued to watch while she pursues her interests in such crafts as counted cross-stitch. She also likes to participate in athletic activities, including swimming, hiking and cross-country skiing with friends. We thank Diane for her participation in the activities that Women’s Studies sponsors as well as for her thoughtful contributions as a member of the Executive council.

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News from the students - current and former- includes the announcement from graduate Natasha Kap that she is beginning a position as a social worker member of a professional team for a project called "The First Steps" at Grays Harbor Community Hospital in Aberdeen, WA. She reports that the job should be exciting, the view (Olympic Peninsula) is breath-taking and there’s a jazz festival coming up in February to which she is inviting any and all who’d like to visit her in her new digs. Closer to home, Women’s Studies minor Emilie Turner won first place in the Writing Center contest for the non-fiction "Ecofeminism"; her poem "Stains Signifiying a Life Lived" won third place.

Copies of the cookbook produced by F.U.N. as a fundraiser are still available in the Women’s Studies office for $12.00 each. The original plans for a trip to India haven’t panned out, the money raised from sales will help send some students to the Boston meeting of the National Women’s Studies Association in June.

Beginning this month and extending through March, Ogden’s Union station will house the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibit "Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions." A concert of gospel music on campus, Tuesday, Feb. 1, heralded the show, which will have its grand opening at Union Station at 7:30 PM, Friday, Feb. 4. A host of related activities both on and off campus throughout February and March features WSU as well as other scholars and performers. An event schedule appeared in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on Friday, Jan. 28.

CALENDAR

4 February - "Wade in the Water" opening; Ogden’s Union Station, 7:30 PM

9 February - Executive Council meeting, SS115, 12:10 PM

FEMINISTS UNITED NETWORK

Are you concerned about women’s issues? Have you felt the need to get involved on campus but weren’t sure how? The Feminists United Network is the perfect place to start. Help us reach our goal of bringing attention to important feminist issues on campus and throughout the global community. This semester we have planned numerous activities and events focusing on such salient issues as domestic violence, rape, teenage pregnancy, negative portrayals of women in the media, and awareness of the Taliban in Afghanistan. If you would like to get involved, please e-mail us at or drop by the Women’s Studies office for more information.

SPRING WOMEN’S REALITIES SERIES

by Emilie Turner

As many of you know, Women’s Realities is a local lecture series that was founded last year by Heather Harris and Jason Hurd. This spring, I have taken over the responsibility of conducting Women’s Realities. In this project’s short history, each semester has had its own theme. During the Fall series the theme was appropriately titled, "A Time for Empowerment." This semester I have chosen the theme, "Our Daily Lives." Upcoming lectures will be on domestic violence in Utah, young and single mothers in Utah, prominent lesbians in the community, and the answering of the question, "Does feminist theory apply to our daily lives?" (which will feature our own Drs. Kathryn Mackay, Eva Szalay and Sally Shigley.)

As of yet, there has been only one lecture this semester. The topic was "Alternative Health Options for Women." The speaker was Natalie Pochynok, a naturopath from Park City. She touched on several things women (as well as men) can do to be healthier beings. Natalie gave excellent advice as to how women can be more empowered through physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental healing, as well as how to use prevention to become and remain healthy. Some of the advice she gave included the importance of our diets. She mentioned how beneficial organic foods, purified water, exercise, lack of artificial chemicals in our food, good posture, and deep breathing can be. She also touched a bit on how Western medicine can be beneficial for women, but is sometimes overused and excessively trusted by women and men in general. Overall, her lecture was enlightening and powerful because her advice was simple, yet extremely effective.

Other F.U.N. members and I have put up flyers all around campus so you can review the upcoming dates and speakers. Please attend all the lectures you have time for and encourage others in your classes to do the same. If you have any questions, comments or ideas please call Emilie at 612-1329, e-mail me at or stop by the Women’s Studies office for more information.

INTERNET RESOURCES

F.U.N. has discovered an excellent web site that offers such resources as a feminist newsletter and a feminist library. Check it out at www.feministcampus.org.

STATISTICS ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

by Carrie Wagner

In light of our upcoming Women’s Realities lecture, we felt it would be a good time to review and report on the national statistics concerning domestic violence. We found an excellent web site as a source for this information. Please visit it at to learn more. According to the U.S. Department of Justice statistics compiled in 1994, women in the U.S. are most often violently attacked by an intimate, relative or acquaintance. During the years of 1987 through 1991, 527,032 women were attacked by an intimate, 117,201 by another relative, 796,067 by and acquaintance, and 71,114 by a stranger. According to the Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey Report, almost 6 times as many women victimized by intimates (18%) as those victimized by strangers (3%) did not report their violent victimization to police because they feared reprisal from the offender. An estimated 1,432 women were killed by intimates in 1992 according to FBI crime statistics. About 86% of victims who were killed by spouses were murdered at home. Of those in large urban areas convicted in 1988, spousal murderers were less likely than non-family murderers to be convicted of first-degree murder or other types of murder ( 47% vs. 58%) and more likely to be convicted of voluntary/non-negligent manslaughter (43% vs. 29%).

Another web site found at stated that "Battered women seek medical attention for injuries sustained as a consequence of domestic violence significantly more often after separation than during cohabitation; about 75% of the visits to emergency rooms by battered women occur after separation (Stark and Flitcraft, 1988). About 75% of the calls to law enforcement for intervention and assistance in domestic violence occur after separation from batterers. One study revealed that half of the homicides of female spouses and partners were committed after separation from batterers (Barbara Hart, Remarks to the Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect, April 1992). Each year, medical expenses from domestic violence total at least $3 to $5 billion. Businesses forfeit another $100 million in lost wages, sick leave, absenteeism, and non-productivity. (Domestic Violence for Health Care Providers, 3^rd Edition, Colorado Domestic Violence Coalition, 1991)."

Please join us for our next Women’s Realities lecture entitled, "Real Issues in Domestic Violence and Rape." It will be held Wed. Feb. 9^th at 7:00 p.m. at Your Community Connection (2261 Adams Ave.) Our guest speakers will include Kelsey Johnson-Strong, the Domestic Violence Coordinator for the Davis County Attorney’s Office and Kristine Tremp, a survivor of domestic violence.

9^th Women’s Realities @ 7:00 p.m. @ YCC

9^th Women’s Studies Executive Council meeting @ 12:10 in SS115.

24^th F.U.N. table in front of the Social Science building. We will be handing out information dealing with teenage pregnancy and young motherhood. According to a recent story in the Standard Examiner, downtown Ogden has a teenage pregnancy rate of over four times the state average with 39.3 births for every 1,000 teens.

25^th F.U.N.’s February Feminist Film Forum @ 7:00 p.m. @ WSU. We will be utilizing feminist theory to view and analyze two different movies, one produced by mainstream Hollywood and the other by independent film makers. Watch for flyers around campus for the film listings and exact location of the event.

1^st Women’s Realities @ 7:00 p.m. @ YCC.