Welcome to the October Newsletter!  The September retreat went very well; we thank Diane Krantz for her hospitality and Laura Albright for organizing refreshments.  Thanks also to Sandra Powell and Gloria Wurst for their delicious dishes.   Participants initiated a dialogue about the name "Women's Studies" in contrast to "Women & Gender Studies" or "Gender Studies."  Sally Bishop Shigley will work with a committee to look at curriculum and discuss the implications of a name change. Please join the ongoing discourse about this important issue.

October’s exciting events begin with the annual picnic/potluck at the Academy behind the Dee Events Center. (Thanks to Barbara Bernstein for arrangements.) Scheduled for October 12th from 2:00 - 5:00 pm, it includes our annual book exchange to benefit Women's Studies programs.  We will also sell Linda Sillitoe’s Givers, Finders, and Riders to build our scholarship fund. Bring a dish to share, books to donate (and money to buy someone else’s), and your friends, students, Significant Others, and/or children for an opportunity to get (re-)acquainted and celebrate each other. 

On October 15, we (with the Diversity Center and Services for Women Students) will celebrate "Love Your Body Day" to increase awareness of issues surrounding media representations of women.  Azenett Garza and Leigh Shaw are collecting pictures of "real" women to counter those unhealthy images.  Please send them photos of the real women you know or have seen in a magazine to be included in a collage in the UB-SSC Breezeway.  The day culminates with a 6:00 pm showing of "Real Women Have Curves" in the Diversity Center.  A discussion with light refreshments will follow. 

The following day, Professor Joan Jacobs Brumberg will deliver two presentations at Weber State. At 10:00 am, she will speak in the Union Building on Kansas Charley and the history of the juvenile death penalty. At 2:00 pm in the Diversity Center, she will discuss her research on the history of female adolescence and her books The Body Project and Fasting Girls.  For more information on these events, contact Susan Matt, (626-)7325. 

On October 29th, Women's Studies will participate in WSU’s Major Fest (9:00 am - 2:00 pm.) We need a few volunteers during the morning to hand out program information. If you can help for an hour, contact Laura Albright at (626-)7632. 

Laura has redone our bulletin board with pictures and biographies of interesting Latinas to help Women's Studies celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.  If you are aware of other celebrations, or of notable diverse women who have made a significant contribution to society, please let her know so that Women's Studies can join in commemorating those women and educating the passers-by.

Women's Studies continues co-sponsorship (with Services for Women Students) of the Female Directed Film Series - part of their Wednesday FUNTASTICS Program.  Please invite your students to come and enjoy the light refreshments, movies, and discussions at University Village on alternate Wednesday evenings at 6:00 pm.  See the calendar and/or contact SWS for titles and discussion leaders.

Please let us know if you have ideas for Women's Studies programs/activities. Thanks for your dedication and ongoing support.

This month, it is our great pleasure to profile a person who has been making a difference in women’s (and many others’) lives for more than three decades at Weber State. Gloria Perez-Jensen, currently a Counselor in Services for Women Students, has a long list of other positions, some of which interfaced with public schools and community organizations. She directed the Gender Equity Technical Assistance Center, a resource on equity issues for Wasatch Front school districts. She has also been Director of the WSU Adult Education Resource Center, Financial Aid Administrator, and Equity Specialist and Regional Newsletter Editor for the Mountain West Educational Equity Center. In the last position, she traveled extensively throughout our region (which includes the Dakotas, Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming also) working with schools and serving as a Parent Trainer.

In addition to her "real job," Gloria is a board or executive committee member for the Mount Ogden Rotary Club, St. Benedict’s Foundation, Egyptian Theatre Foundation, and United Way. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards and citations. She has been chosen twice as the Ogden YCC’s Adelante Mujer/Woman of the Year and has several citations for Community Volunteer of the Year. Gloria has also been a finalist several times for the Crystal Crest Friend of Students award, although the richly-deserved plaque has not come home to her office wall … yet.

Gloria was born in Bingham Canyon, UT, where her father worked mining copper, before they moved to Ogden. She credits her mother, Maria Luisa, with modeling, as well as developing her childrens’, strength; both parents valued education for Gloria and her siblings and admire their considerable successes. A Ben Lomond High School and Weber State graduate, Gloria’s many accomplishments are inspired by her love of working with students and her knowledge that she is contributing to their success. She intends to continue those efforts as long as "it remains enjoyable." She has been a tireless liaison between Services for Women Students and the Women’s Studies Program, helping to organize collaborations for celebrations such as Women’s History Month. She maintains a list of "The 100 Things I Want To Do Before I Die" and replaces each accomplished goal with a new one, a practice she expects to continue doing into the foreseeable future.

When she’s not involved directly in helping members of the Weber State and larger communities, she enjoys traveling, reading, and movies, as well as visiting with sons Scott and Sean and grandsons Austin, Jacob and Max, who live in Arizona.

The Women’s Studies Program is very fortunate to benefit from Gloria’s many talents and from her friendship with us. We hope that the association will continue in formal, as well as informal, ways for a long time to come.

* * * *

3 Oct. - Fifth Annual Diversity Conference; WSU Union Building, 9 AM – 3PM.

8 Oct. - SWS Funtastics film, "Killing Us Softly," discussed by Maria Parrilla de Kokal; 6 PM, University Village Community Room.

9 Oct. – SWS Wisdom on Wednesdays – "Domestic Violence: What it is; What it isn’t," Lt. Marcy

Korgenski, Ogden Police Gang Unit; noon - UB Lair & 7 PM – University Village Community Room.

12 Oct. – Annual WS potluck picnic & book sale; Academy annex/Dee Events Center, 2 – 5 PM.

15 Oct. - SWS Wisdom on Wednesdays – "AFTERSHOCK: Two lives, too short - The Gage and Paul

Wayment Story," Valerie Burke, Hill Air Force Base; noon - UB Lair & 7 PM – University Village Community Room.

22 Oct. - SWS Funtastics film, "American Psycho", discussed by Jeremy Howell, 6 PM, University VillageCommunity Room.

29 Oct. - SWS Wisdom on Wednesdays – "Profiles of a Rapist," Mike King, Esq., (formerly) Utah Attorney

General’s office; noon - UB Lair & 7 PM – University Village Community Room.