VOL 1, NO 7

MAY 1995

COORDINATOR'S CORNER

This month we are featuring Robin Wilks-Dunn in the faculty profile. She is our newest member of the Women's Studies faculty and is teaching a course in Theatre this quarter entitled "African-American Women Playwrights." We welcome Robin and thank her for her interest in the program and for broadening our offerings to encompass Performing Arts.

This month Women's Studies joins the frenzy of festivities celebrating spring and the coming end to another academic year. On Thursday, 11 May, we will host an open house for sharing food and frivolities from 2:30 - 5:30 p.m. in the Alumni Center. Please come for some or all of that time and visit with other of the program's students, staff, faculty and friends. Feel free to bring along your friends who might be interested in the program.

Utah NOW will be holding the annual state conference on Saturday, 3 June, from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. The theme for this year is "One Woman, Every Woman: Working Together." There will be registration information available in the Women's Studies office soon. Please call Norma (626-7632) if you would like to receive a copy of the registration form or more information about the conference.

FACULTY PROFILE

Robin Wilks-Dunn is an Assistant Professor in Theatre Arts and has been at Weber State since Spring Quarter 1993. She holds a B.S. in Dance and an M.A. in Theatre from Texas Women's University and an M.F.A. in Theatre from the University of Utah, where her focus was directing and film. At Weber, she teaches classes in directing and acting, as well as general education courses such as Introduction to Theatre.

Robin began directing plays at Weber State while in graduate school with the production "Getting Out" in 1989. Since joining the faculty, she has directed performances including "Top Girls," "Another Antigone" (which had as one of its "stars" our own Judy Elsley) and, most recently, "Quilters." Robin is slated to direct the Jose Rivera play "Marisol" the protagonist of which is a Puerto Rican woman; this is part of her continued commitment to explore theatrical literature with a multicultural emphasis. This quarter, Robin is pioneering a new course, "African-American Women Playwrights," offered in the Theatre Department and cross-listed with Women's Studies, and English. The class is generating an enthusiastic response and abundant lively discussion among Robin and the students (representing juniors and seniors in theatre, English and Women's Studies). This current class has given Robin an opportunity to explore in depth a literature which is often neglected. In her formal training, she had never been assigned a play by an African-American woman to read. Western theatre history classes center on works by white Western males exclusively; their voices are inspirational and educational but singular. She has a continuing strong interest in letting other voices be heard.

Robin was born in Illinois but raised in Louisiana, where her family moved in 1968. As an elementary student, she was a part of the phenomena of attending forced desegregation. She sees a lot of the issues around which she grew up in the plays she's now teaching. Prior to coming to Weber State, Robin worked for the Improv Comedy Club in Texas and Southern California. She moved to Utah from Irvine, California (where, she says, all that sunshine isn't conducive to creativity). Robin is married to Salt Lake filmmaker Sam Dunn and together they like to garden and do stained glass. Their family also includes a toddler named Robert and dog named Rhett.

THANKS to LaVon Carroll and the members of the Emeriti/ae Faculty Association for inviting me to speak about the Women's Studies Program at their April meeting. It was wonderful to see old friends and bring the group up to date on what we have been doing.

CONGRATULATIONS to June HarmonyQ, Kathryn Higgs, and Barbara Southwick, recipients of Phoenix Achievement Awards for the up-coming academic year. We all appreciate the donors' generosity in contributing the money supporting these scholarships for our students.

CALENDAR

4 May - Human Pursuit 7:00-9 p.m. Weber County Library. Discussion of "Little Women," led by Mary Rosa Moraga Barrow.

9 May - "Living Between Cultures" presented by Judy Elsley, Priti Kumar, Wangari wa Nyatetu-Waigwa and Mary Rosa Moraga-Barrow, Weber County Library, 7 p.m.

10 May - Poetry Reading at Thought Continuum by Sally Shigley and Michael Boss, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

10 May - Salt Lake NOW meeting and Feminist Film Night, 7 p.m., Planned Parenthood, 654 S 900 E, SLC. For more information, call Connie at 532-1586 (day) or 539-1748 (eve).

11 May - Executive Council Meeting, 2 p.m.; followed by Open House for all interested friends, 2:30 - 5:30 p.m., Alumni Center.

13 May - JEDI Women Mother's Day Rally, Gallivan Center, SLC. Call 364-7765 for more information.

15 May - "Students Reporting Out" about last year's National Women's Political Caucus, 6:30 p.m., Sage Room, Education Building.

24 May - Thought Continuum Group "Origenes" will read poetry in Spanish and English. Presenters: Hector Ahumada, Marta Acosta, Mary Rosa Moraga Barrow.

29 May - MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY

Next month's Newsletter will be the last for this academic year. If you have any items to contribute, send them to the Women's Studies Office at MC 1217.