VOLUME X1, NUMBER 1 OCTOBER 2004

COORDINATOR’S CORNER

Welcome back to Fall semester! We are ready for another year in Women's Studies. Our opening social is coming up soon, on October 27th, and Executive Council member Kay Rawson has generously offered her home for this celebration. Be sure to mark your calendar! We hope to create an opportunity for current Women's Studies faculty and supporters to meet others with a potential interest in joining our efforts in the program. Contact the office (626-7632) for more information.
This fall, we are wishing Laura Albright good luck with her future in a new position. Laura was our secretary for the past year, giving much time, enthusiasm and commitment to the program, and she is a great loss. Although we can never replace her, we welcome the chance to get to know our new secretary, Vicky Koop, and work together with her for what we hope will be our mutual benefit. We will be introducing you to Vicky Koop in more detail in the next newsletter.

This school year we are eager to get plans under way for Women's History Month and have already begun the assembly of the Women's Studies committee. Members will join assigned staff from Services for Women Students in planning the 2005 celebration.

Major Fest will be held on November 3rd from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm in the Student Union Ballroom. We still need volunteers to support Women's Studies by sharing information about the program with interested students at our table.

We are pleased to announce Michael Kimmel's return to our campus on November 15th; he is a sociologist who has done significant work in the area of gender, more recently, on masculinities. Michael presented two exciting lectures at WSU in February, 1997. Co-sponsors for this event include Honors and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. We have tentative plans for a noon presentation for classes and a 6:30 pm presentation in Stewart Library's Special Collections. Look for posted announcements or call the office for more information

INTRODUCING ….

With this first issue of the 2004-2005 school year, we would like to introduce Desaray Brown, a senior minoring in Women Studies and spearheading the student group, F.U.N. Born and raised in Utah, she graduated from Bingham High School, (South Jordan) in 1999 and went to the College of Eastern Utah on a debate scholarship. She earned her associate of science degree in 2001, then took a break from school and worked as a loan officer, a job which brought her face to face with the precarious state of the economy. She returned to school at WSU in 2003. Currently the Captain of the Weber State debate team and the President of Feminist United Network (F.U.N.), she is pursuing a Psychology major and Women Studies minor. After graduation, she plans to attend graduate school in psychology at the University of Utah.

When she declared her minor in Spring 2004, she had very limited involvement with the program. She was asked to serve as president of F.U.N. and accepted the exciting challenge of revitalizing the organization. Joining her on the F.U.N. executive council are Natalie Struhs (vice-president) and Paige Huff (secretary/ historian); the academic advisor is Maria Parrilla De Kokal. This semester’s activities started in the first week in October. Running through the end of the semester, the “Faces of Feminism” campaign is an attempt to deconstruct myths and stereotypes about who and what a feminist is/can be. Other activities are still in the planning stages; more information will be forthcoming. F.U.N. meets every second Wednesday of the month in the Union Building, Room 423A. Interested folks please feel free to contact desaraybrown@hotmail.com or stop by the F.U.N. office in UB 423. Desaray says, “The women’s studies program at Weber has wonderful advisors. I encourage anyone and everyone to take a [Women’s Studies] class… ; I am positive it will open your eyes to current problems that plague our society.” Desaray also serves on a subcommittee of the WS Executive Council charged with investigating the feasibility of organizing a Women's Studies conference, starting locally and, ultimately, moving to regional participation.

Thanks, Desaray, for bringing your mind and heart to bear on women’s issues and for your efforts to improve society in general.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

(Editor’s Note: Because the newsletter will be appearing less frequently, this section will replace the “CALENDAR” of previous issues. Please email gwurst@weber.edu if you have items for inclusion here.)

WW05 (Women's Worlds 2005: 9th International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women) will be held at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea, from June 19 - 24, 2005. More details are available on the Congress web site at: http://www.ww05.org. You can participate by submitting a paper (deadline: December 31, 2004) on a broad range of material comprising the subject of Women's Studies. Proposals may address coalition building, collaboration and connectivity, particularly across barriers that proved significant in feminism's past, such as those of race, ethnicity, nationality, class, age, sexual identity, and religion. Proposals that investigate the application of Women's Studies beyond the classroom, such as internships, service learning, and community activism are also welcomed.
Those interested in participating in WW05, should fill out the form provided at: http://www.ww05.org/english/congress_paper.html>http://www.ww05.org/engl.

In October, the Aerospace Museum at Hill AFB opened a new exhibit honoring WASPs - the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots - who served non-combat flight duty during World War II. Tickets are free; information is available at 777-6868.

Congratulations to Catherine Zublin, who received the Theater Award from Ogden major Matthew Godfrey during the third year of a program “to recognize those who are doing so much for the arts in Ogden.” Other WSU faculty honored included Karen Lofgreen, Erik Stern, and Michael Palumbo.

The 9th Annual WSU Storytelling Festival will be held on campus and at Peery’s Egyptian Theater 8-10 November; for more information, visit the website at: www.weber.edu/storytelling.

The Women’s Studies reading group will meet next on 3 November to discuss “The Dance of the Dissident Daughter” by Sue Monk Kidd. We will gather at 2:30 pm at Wisebird Bookery, south of campus on Harrison Blvd.

DON’T FORGET TO VOTE ON NOVEMBER 2ND!!!!