VOL. VII, NO. 8 MAY, 2001

This year marks the tenth anniversary of Women’s Studies at WSU. Be looking forward to a celebration the first week of October beginning with Mary Daly on Monday, including panels about Women’s Studies during the week, and ending with a Love Your Body Fair on Friday with speakers and info_tables on women’s health and image. Mark it on your calendars now! October 1_5.

The Women’s Studies Program is sponsoring a logo design contest open to everyone. WSU Public Relations suggests that we steer away from traditional designs and go for more of an illustration. Keep them relatively simple and easy to reproduce in a variety of formats, but most importantly, use your creativity and inspiration. Turn your designs in at the Women’s Studies office, Social Science 381, during Fall semester, 2001. The winning logo designer will receive their book of choice from FUN.

The Women's Studies book group met Wednesday to discuss Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks, a 30_year veteran of the feminist movement. It is a wonderful little book that clearly, concisely, and in very few pages relates feminism to every realm of life and demonstrates how far we have come and our responsibility for the many things that still need to be accomplished.

We decided to have our next meeting on Wednesday, May 23, 1:00 at Grounds for Coffee to discuss Isabel Allende' s Daughter of Fortune. Several members have already read this and say it is an interesting historical novel. Come and discuss it with us, even if you have only read the first part (or none at all) and be thinking of books we should read next. Our general preference is for books by or about international women; we usually read non-fiction works, however, during the summer we often explore women through fiction. Hope to see you in May. SP

This issue marks an end and a beginning. As the academic year ends and Women’s Studies tenth anniversary approaches, we have the opportunity to begin a new look for the newsletter, created by our student guest editor, Jason Hurd, who will be at the helm of this "journalistic ship" for the next several issues. I welcome his new ideas and (obviously) his help in continuing to keep you informed of the program's news. So, sit back and enjoy with me! GW

I am honored and excited to take on this task, and many thanks to Gloria for all her committed work on the newsletter for the past six_and_a_half years. This is going to be an educational experience for me and I welcome all of your comments and criticisms.

As part of the tenth anniversary awareness campaign I am collecting comments from employers and graduate schools emphasizing the value of a background in Women’s Studies, and from all of you about what you consider the significant accomplishments and points of development of the program. Please e_mail me any comments or suggestions for the campaign, jhurd@weber.edu

1 The Feminists United Network had a very FUN semester. We focused our efforts on making feminist educational events more FUN and had a Feminist Pursuit game (definitely not trivial!), a feminist poetry slam, a video showing of Jean Kilbournes ‘Killing Us Softly 3’, two days of an equity bake sale (women pay 75 cents on the $1), a visual demonstration to commemorate the anniversary of Roe v. Wade (a cemetery for women who’ve died from illegal abortions), and continued our work with Student Solidarity.

2 We are looking forward to more FUN next fall with our new president Cassi Meyerhoffer and welcome everyone’s involvement and donations of creativity. Contact Cassi to help with the summer planning meetings, cmeyerhoffer@weber.edu.

When people ask me why I chose Women's Studies for my minor, two separate responses typically come to mind. The first is its multi_disciplinary nature. I have learned to relate the dynamics of gender to such varied disciplines as geography, biology, mathematics, linguistics, philosophy, English, Spanish, psychology, sociology, political science, business and communication.

The second reason is its outstanding faculty. I have been exposed to some of the best professors on campus in each of the academic disciplines previously mentioned. The classes are taught by professors who have taken the initiative to become involved in the program ensuring that Women's Studies courses are taught by professors passionate about their subjects and who really care about gender issues and the feminist perspective. Many classes are small which enables students to interact with our attentive professors on a one_to_one basis. I am privileged to have had contact with these professors, many of whom have become mentors and have taken an avid interest in my education.

The Women's Studies Program provides its students with a well_rounded perspective, in combination with a tradition of high expectation and academic excellence. I largely credit the Women's Studies Program with my success as a student and passion for learning. Because of the guidance, encouragement and discipline I have received with my participation in this minor, I have been able to accomplish many things I once thought were out of my reach.

Presenting my research at the NWSA conference was a valuable experience that further cemented my resolve to work toward an academic career. I never would have had the confidence or skills needed to present at professional conferences without my participation in the Women's Studies Program.

Next year I plan to pay off bills while my husband finishes school, after which we plan to join the Peace Corps, hopefully in South America so we can "really learn" the Spanish we've studied in the classroom, but anywhere would be fine. I will also study for the GRE next year with plans to go to graduate school in Sociology, ultimately earn a PhD and teach in higher education. Where? … somewhere outside of Utah where I've lived all my life. Boston would be very nice.

My experience as a Women's Studies minor has been an invaluable one. Not only has the program sensitized me to the diverse experiences of women, it has also provided for me a seemingly graduate-level understanding of both theory and social problems in general. I feel absolutely prepared for graduate-level work and I give the Women's Studies Program full credit for both my confidence and my preparedness. Women's Studies has prepared me for oncoming challenges in the workforce and within other social institutions. By this I mean that the program has provided for me a framework that exists outside the dominant society. This is a tremendous advantage in the real world in that it allows me to see the larger picture and understand how important things like diversity, fairness, equality, peace, and safety are locally and globally. The most important contribution Women's Studies has provided in my education is the knowledge of how to bridge the gap between academia and the implementation of a better society.

I have two major plans in my future. In the next year I will (hopefully) be working for a non-profit organization in Salt Lake City as a Development Officer for the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Utah. Cross your fingers. This fall I will be applying to several graduate schools which I will begin attending in the fall of 2002 working toward a doctoral degree in political science with emphases on international development, human rights, feminist political theory, and political theory in general. With this degree, I hope to get a good job as a professor at a relatively progressive university.

I want to thank all of my professors that I've had over the last four years. All Women's Studies professors have had an individual affect on my academic life and on me as a person. I am extremely grateful that such a program existed on this campus. I would not have gotten near the superior education I have received without it. Thank you.

I have enjoyed many aspects of and feel really fortunate that I found the Women's Studies program. My favorite courses were the introduction to women's studies course taught by Priti Kumar and Judy Elsley --we had the most amazing class discussions; it was a packed class all semester, and we always talked until the very last minute-- and the feminist theories course taught by Eva Szalay and Dr. Wangari --it helped my academic career because I'm really into literature. My only regret was that I never had the chance to take the Asian women writers course --but I made up for it on my own time.

This August I will be off to travel around Europe for two months before ending up in France to teach English. When I return to the States next summer, I will be going to graduate school (I have yet to decide where) to pursue my Ph.D. in literature and ultimately become a professor of literature.

I fell into the Women's Studies Program almost by accident, following a professor whose teaching I knew I enjoyed. I immediately realized the program was exactly what I had been searching for in my education, and I quickly settled on it as my minor. I would have to say that by far the greatest asset in the program is the opportunity to gain such an interdisciplinary education from such a fantastic faculty. I have learned so much from these amazing professors, and I feel that my education has been greatly enriched by taking classes from all of them. I have loved having professors who can get students genuinely excited about their classes, and who have been so supportive of my personal interests and academic leanings. My other favorite thing about the program is the way it teaches its students to think critically, and to actually process the things we are learning, rather than just inputting-outputting information.

After graduation I plan to take about two years off to be a stay-at-home mom, while still keeping my toe in the door with a planned project researching and writing about Utah women's history. I am also excited to get a chance to read more feminist theory and women's literature! In two years I plan to attend graduate school . . . somewhere . . . on some subject . . . that will absolutely involve women's studies . . . somehow. But first, I have to figure out what it is I want to be when I grow up.