WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S STUDIES NEWSLETTER

VOL. IV, NO. 1

SEPTEMBER 1997

COORDINATOR'S CORNER

Welcome back to all! Each quarter, especially Autumn, we, teachers and staff, create new or different courses, take on new tasks, rethink our philosophies of living and working, and get acquainted or reacquainted with a wide variety of students and colleagues. One way to meet people in Women's Studies is through reading the Newsletter. Past coordinator and journalist extraordinaire, Gloria Wurst has volunteered to continue as editor/principle writer, a task at which she excels; I have agreed to make coordinator-like comments for this corner.

The Women's Studies opening meeting on September 23 from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. will give attendees a different kind of opportunity to meet new faculty and staff. This year we'll focus on defining the roles each of us can play in helping students and each other with semester conversion.

Another opportunity to reestablish our connections is the Women's Studies potluck picnic, October 5, 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. We extend a special invitation to new staff and faculty to join us for this and other Women's Studies activities that might pique your interest. The picnic features wonderful conversation, outstanding food, and a chance to rid yourself of used books (and take home some of someone else's for a bargain price, with proceeds helping to support other program activities.) Don't miss it!

Along with welcoming you, I'd like to suggest questions about Women's Studies for your consideration. We share the dream of its growth, I'm sure. To achieve growth, we need to consider: Why are students in our program currently? How are we meeting their needs? What are the needs of other students at Weber relative to what we have to offer? How can we interest more students in our courses and the program?

Another "growth" goal would be to increase the kinds of courses on women and gender that we offer. Such courses would reflect more and more the diversity of race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, and age that marks women's experiences. To achieve this goal, we need to ask: Why have departments supported Women's Studies in the past? How can we enlist this support from other departments? How encourage those faculty who have already taught our courses and how add new faculty?

Lastly, we might consider growth beyond the university milieu. How does women's studies make a difference for the community? How might it have greater impact?

These questions represent a starting point for issues that engage us. Feel free to email me with your thoughts, suggestions, and concerns, so that together Women's Studies can continue as a strong and visible part of the university and the city community.

FACULTY PROFILE

We begin a new year profiling a faculty member new to Women's Studies. John Lamborn will be team-teaching (with Kathryn MacKay) a new course cross-listed with Honours and Women's Studies - Gay and Lesbian Studies: Theories and Literature. John is an Idaho native, born and raised in Ashton, near Yellowstone National Park. He has lived also in Boise and Moscow, ID, and Tucson, AZ, but, for 20 of the last 22 years, he has called Logan or Salt Lake City "home." His education includes a BA from the University of Idaho and an MA from Utah State University, both in American History. He also holds an MLS in Library and Information Science from the University of Arizona. He has been at Weber State since 1983 and is an Associate Professor of Library Science. Currently, he serves as Systems Librarian; he has also been Special Collections Librarian, Head of Reference and, in 1991-92, Interim Library Director. His prior formal classroom instruction has been limited to PD101, Library Skills, Resources and Research; in addition, he provides informal instruction to anyone who needs to know about reference services or needs a general orientation to library resources. We are delighted that he has joined his talents with Kathryn MacKay to design and offer a course in Gay and Lesbian Studies. His motivation for doing so includes a personal interest in the discipline, his perception of the need for such a course, and his suddenly and unexpectedly finding out that Kathryn actually WOULD take him up on an offer to put the class together. They received an Instructional Improvement Grant from the R.S.& P.G. committee to support course design; funds will be spent to purchase library materials that will enhance the general collection as well as supplement this specific course. John's commitment to the course is a natural extension of his history of being "out" on campus. In fact, he once gave an interview to the Ogden Standard-Examiner on "what it's like to be gay at WSU" and surprised readers with the news that it wasn't much of a factor in his worklife. His significant committee workload is ample proof that he is neither discriminated against, nor provided any perks, for being gay.

John's hobbies include creative writing and he has had a short story published in the "since defunct" Mt. West Magazine. He says that he submitted it to "begin the process of rejection and 'paying my dues'" and, when it was accepted without revision, he was so embarrassed by the thought that others would actually read it that he hasn't submitted anything for publication since (1978!) John was not bashful about revealing what he "hates," namely Christmas and shopping for clothes (and we know that those sometimes coincide, so tread lightly around John at the end of a calendar year.) John has commuted from Salt Lake City for the last fifteen years and says he can't imagine a work day WITHOUT the morning commute to wake up and the afternoon commute to unwind. (His forty minute drive time might change significantly with the I-15 construction, so perhaps we should check in again next year!)

We are delighted that John will expand his teaching horizons this fall to the program's great benefit and we only hope that he'll agree to repeat the experience again in the future.

GET WELL SOON!

All our best wishes go out to Catherine Zublin, recovering from surgery and Kathy Edwards, from a very unfortunate and untimely encounter with a high-voltage electrical transmission line, and to Marta Stone, from an unplanned and abrupt "dismount" from her horse.

REMINDER: Women's Studies Teaching Faculty should be thinking about Winter Quarter schedules. Please contact Norma (7632) and let her know your plans A.S.A.P.

CALENDAR

15 SEPT - Opening of school meetings

17 SEPT - Thought Continuum Bookstore Fall opening; readings by Carol Thornock, Kathleen Herndon, Robert Van Wagoner; light refreshments; 7 - 9 p.m.

23 SEPT - Women's Studies Program Opening Meeting, Smith Cabin, Ogden Canyon, 2 - 6 p.m.

- Book discussion: "84, Charing Cross Road"; Roy Library, 7 - 9 p.m.

29 SEPT - Autumn Quarter classes begin. Welcome Back!