WEBER STATE WOMEN'S STUDIES NEWSLETTER

VOL. V, NO. 2                                                                                             OCTOBER 1998

COORDINATOR’S CORNER

An enthusiastic and thoughtful group of faculty and administrators attended this year’s annual retreat which was graciously hosted by Dr. Angelika Pagel. The first part of the meeting included the announcement of a variety of activities taking place at Weber State this year that are concerned with women’s or gender issues. For the second part of the meeting, small groups of attendees entertained questions associated with curriculum. A major concern that emerged from the large group discussion was what types of changes might be made to core classes now that semesters are in place. We hope to stimulate an on-going discussion of curricular needs with all women’s studies faculty over the course of the year.

I hope that by now each of you has received an invitation to the annual women’s potluck picnic and that you have reserved at least an hour to spend with us next Sunday, October 4, between 3 and 6 p.m. Ask your friends to come along and contribute to the esprit de corps. Barbara West has generously donated a large number of books on women collected over her years at Weber. The Political Science department is also adding to our offerings, in addition to the books we are expecting from friends in attendance. Your support of our activities is essential if Women’s Studies is to continue to grow.

The Video series will begin the week of October 11. We will be focusing on women’s spirituality and the way major world religions both hinder and support women in their spiritual growth. The first video will be on the life of Hildegard von Bingen. Planning is underway for a cross-curricular celebration of her birthday. So far Performing and Visual Arts, as well as History and English are involved. We hope to elicit help from the German department, and, if anyone in health sciences knows of Hildegard’s work on gynecology, we would invite your contribution as well.

FACULTY PROFILE

This month we feature Dr. Diana Page, Associate Professor of Performing Arts, and a former member of the Women’s Studies Executive Council. Diana has been a faculty member at Weber State since 1990 and, as Director of Keyboard Studies, spends most of her instructional hours guiding students through the intricacies of "tickling the ivories" of various keyboards. In addition, she has spread the name of Weber State widely with national and international performance tours, both solo and with other artists.

Diana’s baccalaureate degree in music education as well as her Master of Music degrees were earned at Indiana University, where she was recognized with academic and performance scholarships and the Ruth Tourner Schilling award for outstanding ability in voice and piano. Her Bachelor’s degree was awarded with highest honors and her Master’s, with distinction. Diana went on to earn her Doctor of Arts degree from the University of Northern Colorado, holding the Cadre position in keyboard and studying both piano and harpsichord.

During her professional career, Diana has taught piano students of all ages and has performed solo and with chamber groups, being a founding member of the Yellowstone Chamber Players in Montana. During her post-baccalaureate work, she served as a graduate assistant at both Indiana University and the University of Northern Colorado. She has been on the faculties of Frostburg State University (Maryland), the University of Oregon, and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

Diana has an abiding interest in women’s music and has been supported by WSU research funds to tour Europe and perform some of her favorite (although not widely known in general) women composers. She is dedicated to inclusion of women’s music in her instruction as well. We have our hopes that someday she might teach a course in women’s music for the Women’s Studies program and perhaps participate in planning and presenting a women’s music festival. We will be relying on her expertise and resources as we organize the Hildegard von Bingen celebration for later this fall.

One of Diana’s favorite students recently returned to Weber to join his cello with Diana’s piano in a faculty recital. That student is her son, Chris Grueninger, whom she started giving lessons when he was four years old and often accompanied him during competitions and performances. Chris also studied violin and then switched to cello when he was eleven. He holds degrees in cello performance from the the University of Northern Colorado and the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, and he is currently a doctoral student at the University of Northern Colorado. Diana recently told us that this is "payback" for the years of support she provided during Chris’s training, and she is hoping to exact similar retribution from her violinist daughter, Julie Grueninger, currently working as a musician in Baltimore. We look forward enthusiastically to this reunion as well.

When Diana is not being directly musical, she enjoys "sports starting with s: swimming and skiing" as well as "sports not starting with s: hiking and beach-walking." Camping in her restored (defined as "it constantly needs new parts") VW camper fills more of her leisure time.

We are grateful to have had the chance to interact formally with Diana when she served on the Executive Council and we hope that our collaborations might continue in an effort to "spread the word" about women’s music and support performances by women’s musical groups.

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Peers Educating to End Rape is a campus organization that is in need of student volunteers to help plan and present rape-awareness education. Contact Marissa Black or Margarita Guerra in Services for Women Students (626-6090) to become involved.

CALENDAR

2 Oct. - Consortium of Utah Women in Higher Education Fall mtg., U. of Utah Alumni House, 9 AM-3 PM, for info, call our office.

4 Oct. - Annual Women’s Potluck Picnic and Used Book Sale, Annex by Dee Events Center, 3 - 6 PM.

21 Oct. - Lecture by performance artist, Janine Antoni, Peery Lecture Hall, Room 101, Marriott Allied Health Building, 8 PM.

22 Oct. -Nat’l Young Women’s Day of Action

30 Oct.- Mid-Life Women: Contemporary Issues Conference, Univ. of Utah, 8:30 AM - 4 PM, for info., call 801-581-8755.