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Greetings, WGS Community & Friends!
Welcome to the first issue of the Bradley University Women’s & Gender Studies (WGS) Newsletter. Our goal is to keep you informed about upcoming events, while celebrating the successes of our accomplished students, alumni, and faculty.
Building on Lydia Moss Bradley’s vision for universal equality in higher education, multiple generations of dedicated students, faculty, and staff have forged the WGS Program into Bradley’s most dynamic and popular interdisciplinary minor. WGS has grown from 11 minors in 2014 to 51 minors in 2023, with students from all five of Bradley’s colleges completing the program.
The vitality and growth of Bradley WGS is rooted in our community's persistent dedication to intersectional approaches to equity and inclusion. Our program strives to promote gender and sexuality studies scholarship by faculty and undergraduate researchers. We are also committed to sponsoring community-based gender justice action projects that create transformative experiential learning opportunities for our students. We hope that the WGS Newsletter will create even stronger connections in support of our activist-intellectual work. We look forward to seeing with you on campus and in the community!
In solidarity,
Dr. Amy L. Scott
Director, Women's & Gender Studies
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WGS Students Win at Scholarship Expo | |
WGS students Karla Valencia, Abbey McComb, and Ky Butler won the College of Liberal Arts Dean's Award in the Humanities category for their WGS 400 Gender Justice Action Project, "Lavender Graduation: The Necessity of Pride Events on College Campuses." Karla, Abbey, and Ky are founding members of Queer Coalition, a student organization that will host Bradley's first Lavender Graduation on May 12th. Team members Karla and Abbey are pictured above with their project mentor, Dr. Amy Scott.
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SHE Speaks Social Justice Poetry Slam | A Student Feature Story by Becca Ruhnke | |
The Social Justice Poetry Slam was a spectacular event which created a safe space for Bradley students to share their creativity. Mara Kleinerman and Daniela Barzallo (pictured) created the first Slam in spring of 2022 for their WGS 400 capstone project with Dr. Scott. The second Slam, which took place on November 30th, 2022, included collaboration with SHE Speaks’ organizers and WGS minors Zoie Roach-King and Ashley Guerrero. SHE Speaks is Bradley's feminist student organization, and was founded in 2019 by WGS minors Kelly Hicks and Lindsay Fischer. SHE Speaks’ organizers spoke of how it felt to perform their poetry. Ashley called it an “act of bravery” and Zoie described the value in noticing that we are “not alone” in our struggles and identities. Daniela has advocated for more courses to include WGS content stating, “In every discipline, there are things that can be done like setting up spaces where those conversations can happen and action can begin.” When asked how her WGS education has impacted her world-view, Mara explained, “I have been able to take off the black and white glasses and see the world in full color.” With such a positive reception, students hope to see the Social Justice Slam continue as a campus tradition! For more feminist programming, check out the SHE Speaks Instagram page @shespeaksBU.
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Beyond Bradley:
Alumni Spotlight on Sojourner White
| Sojourner White (2016) was a star student at Bradley, winning the coveted Bonnie Gordon Memorial Scholarship as well as the Dean’s Award at the Bradley Scholarship Expo for her WGS 400 capstone paper, “Bridging the Cultural Gap: Analyzing the Supportive Role of Doulas.” After earning a degree in Psychology and Spanish from Bradley, Sojourner completed a Masters in Social Work at Washington University. Sojourner's WGS classes taught her qualitative interdisciplinary research skills, which provided a strong foundation for her current position as Director of Evaluation and Learning at UBUNTU Research and Evaluation, a Black woman led, Afrofuturist organization that uses education, evaluation, and facilitation to consult on social justice projects including reproductive health, and restorative justice. Sojourner is a self employed travel writer. Her website, “Sojournies,” provides advice for traveling solo as a Black woman. She recommends more students minor in WGS, “Because having that lens is an underrated skill set. It gives you a deeper understanding of people, in a world where we need more people to understand each other.” For your feminist reading list, Sojourner recommends Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis P. Grumbs. On feminist self care, she advises: “You shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help when you are struggling. This is when we recognize the value of our strong feminist communities." | | |
WGS Library Adds Zine Collection
A Student Feature Story by Brynn E. Gabriel
The WGS Library is home to a collection of student-produced Zines–homemade publications akin to a magazine. The first zine, "Consent" (content warning: contains discussion of sexual and gender based violence) added to the collection was created by Regan Jankovic, Helen Mormino, Kaitlyn Morrison, and Kaylee Wolfe in Natalie Jipson's WGS 200: Intro to WGS class as part of an assignment on preventing gender-based violence. In sharing their stories with each other, author Morrison said, “We eventually realized what all of our stories had in common: our experiences lacked consent. I hope our Zine helps viewers understand that they deserve boundaries.” The Zine collection is searchable on the WGS Library Catalog. In addition to online zines, our WGS Library houses a collection of over 1,000 titles and is managed by WGS Library Interns. Stop by Bradley Hall 325 to check out the WGS Library!
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Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Claire Etaugh
Dr. Claire Etaugh is a Distinguished Caterpillar Professor of Psychology who has also served as a department chair, associate dean, dean of LAS, and is a founder of the WGS program. She is the first woman to earn tenure in the Psychology department. Of her storied career at Bradley, “Teaching the next generation," is her most important accomplishment. "I feel like I am giving something back," says Etaugh. "To me, education is one of the biggest ways we can influence change.” In addition to her impressive list of credentials as an administrator and professor, Dr. Etaugh literally ‘wrote the book’ on women’s psychology. Her book, Women’s Lives: A Psychological Exploration, now in its fifth edition has been a mainstay in psychology classrooms for over 20 years. She describes one of her joys as an educator as helping students develop feminist research skills through her psychology lab. Dr. Etaugh has published 88 papers in professional journals with student co-authors and has sponsored 113 students to present their research at international, national, and regional conferences over her career, with the majority of these presentations centering gender and other feminist issues. As a founder and long-time supporter of WGS, Dr. Etaugh reminds us, “If we want to see gender equity we need to be active in the movement, you can’t just hope or wish. Resources are always needed to advance the cause.”
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Students Advocate for Life-Changing Legislation
A Student Feature Story by Sam Darkow, Sarrah Denton, and Makiya Williams
Hello everyone! Our names are Sam Darkow, Sarrah Denton, and Makiya Williams. We took LAS 101: Social Justice Advocacy with Julie Schifeling this fall. Our final team-based assignment required us to research a topic, choose a piece of legislation, and prepare for a ten-minute advocacy meeting with Congressman LaHood’s District Chief of Staff, Brad Stolter. Our group, which also included Teresa Beltran and Victoria Espinoza, advocated for Bill H.R. 5785, the “Help End Abusive Living Situations Act.” We picked this bill because homeless women are a commonly overlooked population that deals with gendered violence, lack of access to hygiene products, and health complications resulting from medical neglect. Our meeting with Congressman Darin LaHood's district chief of staff, Brad Stotler, was a valuable and rewarding experience for all of us, with Mr. Stotler advising that Congressman LaHood was very interested in our issue! We really appreciated the opportunity to actively participate in meaningful conversations that will hopefully create powerful change in our nation.
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Bradley Hires Dedicated Title IX Coordinator
A Student Feature Story by Becca Ruhnke
Jocelyn Watkins, the first full-time Bradley Title IX coordinator, values creating a welcoming and equitable environment free of gender-based discrimination. Inspired by her mom who faced gender and race discrimination and her observations on gender-violence when working as the Clery Compliance Coordinator on campus, she is excited to work with students and is ready to tackle hard-hitting issues. “Our students are my #1 resource in gaining an understanding of what types of gender-based issues are being experienced on our campus.” Watkins plans to engage students and student groups to further the conversation university-wide. Further she states, “Often in DEI, we talk about how education around these issues is our most powerful tool, but in order to educate, it is important to understand, not only what, but also why people hold certain systems of belief and the emotional ties therein.” Another top priority is to work with colleagues in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to revamp Bradley's Title IX webpage to make the university's policies and reporting procedures clear to all members of the community. Currently, any member of the Bradley community can report gender discrimination or violence anonymously using the Ethics Hotline. Students can also find resources on the Reach Out app.
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Bradley WGS Wants to Hear From You! | | |
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Dr. Amy Scott, WGS Director
Natalie Jipson, Content Editor & Writer
Kylie Kruis, Digital Media Intern
Becca Ruhnke, Digital Media Intern
Brynn Gabriel, WGS Library Intern
Kaitlyn Morrison, Public Relations Manager
The WGS "Strategic Doing" Committee
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Are you applying skills or knowledge that you learned in your WGS classes? Are you interested in mentoring a current WGS student or working with Bradley WGS to establish an internship with your organization? Your success is something we are proud of and can serve as an inspiration to others. We want to highlight your accomplishments and hear your ideas for strengthening our program! News, ideas, or email address updates can be sent to us at WGS@bradley.edu or (309) 677-2500.
Are you organizing an event that you would like to share on WGS social media? Submit a work request to WGS Public Relations Manager, Kaitlyn Morrison.
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