Women's & Gender Studies Consortium

2020 Session 6

6A: Pyle TBA~Intersectional Identities in Teaching and Publishing

Living What We Teach: Faculty Women’s Experiences of Gender

This panel will explore the ways in which the faculty member panelists experience gender in their day-to-day lives in higher education and will engage the audience with strategies to address gender inequality for faculty and staff. There is a growing body of research on the gender- and race-based structural inequality in higher education, stereotypes students bring to the classroom, teaching evaluation protocols, the subtle but often unnamed dynamics of faculty interactions, and the persistence of under-representation at the top and over-representation at the bottom of faculty hierarchies for women and people of color. All of us are highly trained social scientists who understand gender in the abstract, but we recognize that the academy rarely holds up a mirror to itself with respect to gender. Among the four of us, we have experienced students challenging our competence and/or treating us as if we are their mothers, colleagues mansplaining or taking our emotional labor for granted, being excluded from male-based networks, and having our research taken less seriously. Our intersectional identities and our disparate fields contribute to the ways that gender connects to other systems of privilege and inequality in higher education.

  • Jodi Vandenberg-Daves (She/Her/Hers), Professor and Chair, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
  • Erica Srinivasan from the Psychology Dept. here at UWL
  • Nabamita Dutta, Professor, Economics, UW-LaCrosse

Prairie Architecture: A Reading and a Meditation on Queer Collaboration

I am proposing a hybrid presentation of poems from Prairie Architecture, a Spring 2020 book to be published by Golden Antelope Press and prose meditation on queer collaborations in editing and publishing.

The book, Prairie Architecture, is poems made in and about the intentionally, knowledgeably, but sometimes accidentally, designed and built structures of life on the prairie whether the structures are physical environments, or emotional/intellectual make-ups. Sometimes the poems question organizing structures like time and the relationship between the prairie quotidian and writing. Changes of location catalyze emotional/intellectual movement. But, as so many prairie people know, the prevailing winds, the torrential rains, the poisoned soil, and the plagues of cicadas are not for the weak.

Making rural queer lives, ideas, and literary products simultaneously visible is labor that dignifies. The meditation part of the presentation seeks to articulate how a queer poet learns the editing and publishing trade—only some of it book trade—by working in a feminist editorial collective that publishes with a Big 10 Press (University of Illinois), for a social justice digital publication (wordpeace), and at conference book exhibits.

  • Monica Barron (She/Her/Hers), Professor, English and Women’s and Gender Studies, Truman State University

6B: Pyle TBA~Feminist Storytelling and Identity Formation

The Three Generation Project

The 3 Generation Project studies autobiographical storytelling by three generations of women—grandmother, mother, and daughter—to examine the mothers’ methods of narrating their life experiences and the impact their stories have on their daughters’ lives. In this ethnographic inquiry, the women’s tales were collected in interviews and an intersectional, anti-racist, feminist approach was used to perform the rhetorical analysis. The study finds that each mother’s social location, the information she reveals about events in her life, and her interpretation of those events dictates her childrearing practices and, in turn, fundamentally shapes her daughter’s values, her relationship with her mother, her self-confidence, and ultimately the daughter’s own story. For example, as a young woman, the grandmother was strictly controlled by her father, but she taught her daughter to be fiercely independent and she transmitted this lesson to her own daughters. Thus, the granddaughters’ sense of self is a product of the older woman’s need to survive and their mother’s desire for her daughters to be autonomous and self-realized. This demonstrates the importance of strong bonds between mothers and daughters—biological and “of choice.”

  • Madeline Clement, Undergraduate Student, English Literature, Purdue University Northwest

Strength and Autonomy in Liminal Spaces: Stories of Vietnamese Women

Much of Vietnamese history is overshadowed by the Vietnam-American War, and conventional perspectives are male dominated. In this presentation I examine my mother’s past and uncover stories of the survival of Vietnamese women. I present a nuanced perspective of civilian life during times of conflict and recreate a layered past of these memories based on oral histories and memories of their lives in and around Sai Gon to their immigration to the U.S. I capture stories beyond the war and focus on women, whose lives support a strong matriarchal presence in South Vietnam albeit still bound by filial obligation. Classic Vietnamese literature invokes memories of a matriarchal society that existed prior to Chinese rule and the Confucian ideology that followed. Upper-class families upheld many values of a patriarchal society, although, it was less common among poor and rural families in the South. As a contract, I reconstruct a layered and nuanced past which unifies my knowledge of my mother’s life and collective memories to better understand how Vietnamese women’s identity was shaped and impacted their decisions during this contentious period of Vietnamese history.

  • Jessica Montez, Graduate Student, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, UW-Madison

Dragon Ladies

Dragon ladies. They’re pushy, nosy, strict, assertive, and bossy. They’ll speak their minds and will do anything to get what they need, but why do we associate these qualities as negative traits? Throughout this narrative, I explore my relationship to dragon ladies growing up and also my own transformation into a dragon lady. From the stories my parents told me about their motherland to my own lived experiences in Madison, Wisconsin, I’ve learned to bare my fangs, breathe fire, and spread my wings to stretch beyond both social and physical borders. The harsh realities of being a queer, gender-nonconforming, Hmong person in education surely takes its toll, but through personal reflection, I strive to bring to light the power of dragon ladies as an integral piece of society.

The reclamation of the dragon lady identity is but a stepping stone in empowering women and nonbinary folks of color to reestablish their identities as valid and valuable. Doing so through narrative bridges understanding beyond Euro-centric ideals of education to build empathy across groups of people.

  • Chundou Her, Teacher, English, Middleton High School

LGBTQ+ Oral Histories of Northeastern Wisconsin

This project is based on oral history interviews from individuals living in the Northeastern Wisconsin area who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. We gathered individualized information about coming out narratives: where they started, how they developed, and the larger effect of coming out. We used these narratives to evaluate an overarching connotation surrounding people’s perceptions of human sexuality during the mid-20th century. This presentation is a roundtable discussion format, where we can discuss our process and findings, as well as its historical impact within our society.

  • Abbigail Wagaman (They/Them/Theirs), Undergraduate Student, UW-Green Bay
  • Kayla Probst, Undergraduate Student, UW-Green Bay

6C: Pyle TBA~Activist Pedagogy and the Socially-Engaged Classroom

Disrupting University Culture: Unpacking Identity and Activism in the Classroom

Activism has always been pertinent for change on college campuses; oftentimes, diversity and inclusion initiatives are derived by activism brought on by marginalized students. While free speech is being threatened across universities, inclusive spaces are not accessible for students to have a voice, navigate oppressive systems, and feel empowered. Social movements and activism has always been central in feminist studies and therefore, this field of study serves as a safe place for students to unpack their identities and activism. Inspired by bell hooks, Audre Lorde, and Sara Ahmed, my course, Introduction to Women’s, Gender and Sexualities Studies: A Social Movements Perspective, centers identity and activism within the classroom through anti-colonial, anti-racist and queer pedagogies. This paper focuses on ways to disrupt the classroom by challenging power dynamics, establishing community, elevating marginalized voices, and breaking down feminist movements.

  • Christina Nelson (They/Them), Graduate Student/Associate Lecturer, UW-Milwaukee

Offering Introduction to LGBQTIA+ as a Social Justice Issue

This presentation details my Introduction to LGBQTIA+ course and focuses on the advocacy projects created by my students as well as their reflections, thus demonstrating its necessity in a Liberal Arts curriculum. Too often, members of the LGBQTIA+ community in America are subject to “symbolic annihilation,” which is the silencing, erasure and misrepresentation of an underrepresented population (Caswell, Cifor and Ramirez). Inadequate representation has led to dire consequences. According to the CDC’s 2007-2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, “[f]or every variable explored in this report, lesbian, gay, or bisexual students were at significantly higher risk than heterosexual students” and this includes experiencing bullying at school (33% LGB as compared to 17.1% of heterosexual youth), bullying online (27.1% versus 13.3%), and forced sex (21.9% versus 5.4%). This negative climate results in serious mental health issues including increased depressive thoughts and self-harm plans or actualization. Education, via diversity curriculum and the presence of support groups, helps mitigate negative experiences. Therefore, offering an Introduction to LGBQTIA+ course becomes a social justice issue.

  • Valerie Murrenus Pilmaier (She/Her/Hers), Associate Professor, English and Women’s and Gender Studies, UW-Madison

The Politics of Citation: An Exploration of Feminist, Queer Pedagogy and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

In this presentation, we will discuss two key issues: the relationship between feminist and queer pedagogical practices and the erasure of these practices in broader conversations about inclusive and relational pedagogy. Within Women’s and Gender Studies, we have observed a shift in naming pedagogical practices as queer rather than feminist. To unpack this shift, we will examine the development of the fields, shared practices, and unique practices to these interconnected perspectives. Parsing out the connected and disparate aspects of feminist and queer pedagogical practices is particularly important when engaging broader interdisciplinary conversations about pedagogy. Recently, in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, scholars have begun touting inclusive pedagogy, relational pedagogy, and the pedagogy of belonging. Yet, these same scholars do not cite the ample literature within Women’s and Gender Studies on these issues, particularly rendering perspectives from anti-oppressive pedagogical practices and women of color feminists invisible. Our second aim in exploring feminist, queer pedagogy is to map out the literature to use as a response to the work produced in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

  • Ashley Barnes-Gilbert (She/Her/Hers), Lecturer, Women’s and Gender Studies, UW-Whitewater

The Feminist Toolkit: How to Live a Bad Feminist Life

Being a feminist means critiquing structural inequalities, reflecting on our praxis, and often embodying the standpoint of a feminist killjoy. Being a feminist killjoy is two-fold: i) to take joy from others because you are a feminist and; ii) to be perceived as causing your own unhappiness because you are a feminist. Living a feminist life is an alienating experience yet Ahmed offers her killjoy survival kit, a collection of feelings, materials, and relationships as a form of resistance. I also draw inspiration from Bad Feminist. Roxane Gay illustrates the messiness of living a feminist life, particularly when you enjoy things that do not align with feminist theory. The ways in which Ahmed and Gay both rely on their memoirs shows how lived experiences embody and shape feminist theory, and vice versa.

During this workshop, I will provide theoretical concepts embodied in Living a Feminist Life and Bad Feminist. Then participants will reflect on their experiences of living a feminist life through an individual writing exercise and a small group discussion. After sharing, we will come back as a large group to invent our own feminist toolkit as a form of resistance.

  • Kayla Kuo (she/her/hers), Graduate Student, Urban Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, UW-Milwaukee

6D: Pyle TBA~Creating Autonomous Spaces of Health, Wellbeing, and Survival

Patriarchy in Medicine: Restoring Our Autonomy

This presentation will educate participants on violent and coercive practices that take place in medical spaces, and link these practices to the broader system of patriarchy. Storytelling and group discussion will promote the development of solutions that reflect the values of the community rather than medical institutions, moving us closer to restoring autonomy for all. Using the medium of video, we will share stories from community members who have faced violations of their bodily autonomy in medical spaces. We will then use historical evidence to examine the overlapping systems of patriarchal oppression that make medical coercion and violence prevalent and profitable in the US. Finally, we will use the tenets of the reproductive justice movement and a nursing model of patient-centered care to reimagine medical care in a way that preserves bodily autonomy for people of all identities. Participants will be prompted to offer their reactions to the materials, share their perspective, and discuss potential solutions. The formats of storytelling and group discussion will promote the development of solutions that reflect the values of the community rather than medical institutions, moving us closer to restoring autonomy for all.

  • Katherine Reinemann (she/her/hers), Undergraduate Student, Nursing, Gender and Women’s Studies, UW-Madison
  • Payton Udo (She/Her/Hers), UW-Madison School of Nursing

Sanando mi Cuerpo, Mente, y Alma: Considerations for College Mental Health Professionals Supporting Latina Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

Latina college students are at risk of experiencing mental health problems yet are less likely to utilize counseling services on college campuses. Unfortunately, Latinas are also at risk for stalking, sexual, and physical violence by a romantic partner in their pursuit of a higher education (Coker et al., 2008). Although IPV is an issue for Latinas, the process of recovery and growth is virtually nonexistent in the higher education literature (e.g., Barrios, 2017; Torres, 2017). The combination of underutilization of services, mental health, and risks of IPV calls attention to ways that college mental health professionals can take more active steps to support Latinas. However, the methods by which college mental health professionals can best support Latina college students who are also survivors of IPV are non-existent. As such, this paper discusses cultural considerations and presents a Latina-empowerment-based model (ELLA) that college mental health professionals can implement to support the healing of Latinas. In particular, the approach considers the role of endemic racism in higher education and the importance of taking a holistic approach to supporting Latinas’ bodymindspirit.

  • Nancy Herrera (ella/her/hers), Doctoral Candidate and Co-director of the Greater University Tutoring Service, Department of Counseling Psychology, UW-Madison
  • Dr. Alberta M. Gloria (Ella/Her/Hers) Department of Counseling Psychology, UW-Madison

No One Heals Without Dying: An Exploration of Absolution from White and Male Spaces

This short film focuses on healing from abuse, particularly abuse of women whose ancestors were chattle. The film examines how a culture’s development around a lack of physical autonomy for any citizen can foster shame, silence and repression. This examination allows space for methods of healing that develop out of transitions like birth death and other emotionally indelible rights of passage. Like the #MeToo movement the post film conversation encourages audience engagement and will be guided towards certain topics: Black women’s ability to possess themselves, healing in congruence with the need to inform and fight, the media’s responsibility in certain forms of PTSD and the importance of woman centered healing community.

  • Olamma Oparah (She/They), Graduate Student, School of Film, Media, and Theater, Georgia State University
  • Colleen Gardner, Cinematographer

News Coverage of Domestic Violence in Nigeria

In this presentation, I examine which national newspapers in Nigeria report on domestic violence cases. Domestic violence continues to be an epidemic in developing countries due to the uneven enforcement of human rights, stigma and shame. To compound these issues, cultural practices also compel women to remain in abusive relationships for many reasons. The media is charged with the responsibility of reporting domestic violence issues, with the ultimate goal of drawing the attention of the government, psychologists, advocacy groups and non-profit organizations to helping victims of domestic violence. My study uses a qualitative content analysis of four national newspapers in Nigeria to reveal that coverage of domestic violence led to minimal interventions. News coverage mostly blamed women in cases of domestic violence, and, if they made it that far, judges commonly dismissed cases in court. There were no follow-up stories, the frequency of coverage was small, the stories were brief, and the sources remained unidentified. I argue that the media needs to increase the coverage of domestic violence in developing countries by adopting the functional elements of investigative journalism.

  • Diane Ezeh Aruah, PhD Student, Communication and Journalism, University of Florida

6E: Pyle TBA~Transcendence and Transformation: Art and Acts of Reclamation

Portraits of Fictional Disabled Femmes

The words and images that surround us influence how we think about and move through the world. Movies and television shows, advertisements, books, magazines, social media, news media. The narratives presented by these media, whether we pause to think about them critically or not, all inform how we treat each other, how we choose to build our lives, and how we envision the future. Through this project I celebrate narratives that uplift disabled femmes that depict disabled femmes as powerful agents in their own lives and others’. Too often, narratives, if they include disabled femmes at all, portray them as pitiable, treat them as inspiration porn, use them as a way to demonstrate a protagonist’s morality, kill or cure them by the end of the story. This leads people to view disabled femmes as archetypes rather than whole people. But disabled femmes ARE whole people, and we deserve to be represented as such. Using watercolors, acrylic paint, and ink I create portraits of powerful, fully fleshed out disabled femmes from fictional narratives. For example: Lauren Olamina from Octavia Butler’s Parable series, Margo Hanson from SyFy’s The Magicians, Breq/Justice of Toren from Ann Leckie’s Radch Trilogy.

This talk concludes with an exhibit walk of Nash’s art on the second floor of the Pyle Center.

  • Laura Nash (She/Her/Hers), Graduate Student, Critical Studies and Applied Craft + Design, Pacific Northwest College of Art

TRANSCENDING BARRIERS. TRANSFORMING FINE ART.

Rae Senarighi is a cancer survivor inspiring self-compassion, activism and gender resilience via unapologetic portraiture of vibrant transgender and non-binary power and joyful presentations.

Sharing our stories is our path to understanding ourselves and to helping others understand us. Transgender people are constantly told to not take up space, and in fact, to hide in order to remain safe. Transgender life is rarely represented in the fine art world and that which does often simplifies our complex stories to a limited narrative of struggle and/or centers genitalia. Rae’s work is reclamation of space, in the fine art world and beyond. Trans and nonbinary people experience heightened risk of violence, discrimination and houselessness so it’s essential these voices be amplified and young trans people -especially those of color- are shown life-affirming images of themselves in revered art spaces.

Rae’s talk will focus on stories of gratitude, self-acceptance and compassion. How do you align with your path and respect your life’s work? How can you use your creativity to connect with and uplift your community?
This talk concludes with an exhibit walk of Senarighi’s art in the Lee Lounge of the Pyle Center.

  • Rae Senarighi (he/him or they/them), Fine Artist

6F: Pyle TBA~ Activist Artist Roundtables: Reimagining Resistance, Gender and Change Through the Arts

This is imagined as an activist artist roundtable over two back to back sessions (assuming there is room in the schedule). Made up of visual artists and creative writers/poets, each artist will be asked to do a 5-10 minute presentation on their activist art and how it fits the conference themes. Timed to allow at least half of each session for Q&A from the audience, the moderators will have back-up questions ready to insert or supplement audience interactions developed with the presenters to give them a chance to highlight key conference themes. In addition to the moderators/educators Helen Klebesadel, and Alison Gates; potential presenters will offer a diverse range of cultural approaches, media, and feminist art actions related to the conference themes. Participants TBA. We inquiries out to a number of artists, confirmations from some, and will have confirmations before you do the review.
Co-Facilitators:

  • Alison Gates, artist and Chair of the Art Department, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, https://alisongatesart.com/alison-gates/about/
  • Helen Klebesadel, artist and Emeritus Director, Women’s and Gender Studies, Madison, WI, http://Klebesadel.com

Participants:

  • Finn Enke, graphic artist and Professor of History, Gender and Women’s Studies, UW-Madison. Forthcoming publication includes a graphic memoir, With Finn and Wing: Growing Up Amphibious in a Nuclear Age, https://finnenke.com
  • Angela Trudell Vasquez, Madison Poet Laureate, writer, editor, activist, author of three collections of poetry, the latest, In Light, Always Light, Madison, WI. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/angela-c-trudell-vasquez
  • Gabrielle Javier-Cerulli, mixed-media artist, workshop facilitator, and author of the book Art Journal Your Archetypes, Madison, WI. https://about.me/GabrielleJC
  • Leslee Nelson, fiber artist and organizer of the Memory Circles Project, Emeritus Professor of Art, UW-Madison, WI. Author of the book Memory Cloths, http://www.lesleenelson.com, lesleeathome@gmail.com
  • Sirinda Pairin, poet/writer, author of poetry collection, Blood and Belonging, Madison, WI, https://bloodandbelonging.wordpress.com
  • Melanie Herzog, artist, art historian, and Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Edgewood College, Madison, WI. Publications include, Imaging History, Memory, and the Raced and Gendered Body: The Legacy of Elizabeth Catlet. https://finearts.edgewood.edu/art-department/faculty/melanie-herzog
  • Introducing the art of Haitian American artist Babette Wainwright. https://www.babettewainwright.com

6G: Pyle TBA~Women, Wellbeing, and the World

It Takes a Village: Partnering with Civic Organizations and In-country Partners to Address Menstrual Hygiene for Adolescents in Ghana

4W teamed with Rotary clubs in Madison, Wisconsin, and Ghana to reach 16,000 junior high school girls in Ghana with menstrual hygiene information and free kits with washable sanitary pads. The over all goal of the 3-year project is to remove one of the barriers to girls’ consistent school attendance. This session will discuss the challenges and outcomes of the project including school attendance, cultural and public education practices and barriers, and Ghana- and US-based partnerships. Project sustainability and participatory training and evaluation methods will also be reviewed.

  • Linda O’Hern, Rotary Club of Madison

4W Internships with Global Impact

The UW-Madison International Internship Program (IIP) partners with the 4W Initiative leadership to connect undergraduate students with internships with artisans and community organizations that support women and well-being around the world. Since 2017, 4W and IIP have sent nearly 30 interns to Ecuador, Ghana, Mexico, India, Kenya and Nepal. With support from a 4W faculty mentor, coordination from IIP and funding from 4W and IIP, these students apply skills and engage in new communities to gain a global perspective on challenges. We will share this model and best practice ideas for local to global internships.

  • Michelle Kern Hall (She/Her/Hers), Director, International Internship Program, UW-Madison

Research with Mujeres Emprendedoras in Peru: Reflections on Women’s Empowerment

Mujeres Emprendedoras translates to women entrepreneurs. It is also the name of a business development program run by a small NGO working to empower women in a rapidly urbanizing community on the outskirts of Lima. This presentation will explore multiple ways of conceptualizing empowerment and consider what the experiences and perspectives of women who have participated in the Mujeres Emprendedoras program can tell us about these meanings and critiques. Of particular interest are transformations related to self-confidence and self-perception, friendships and familial relationships, and perceptions of gender roles.

  • Erin DeMuynck, she, her, hers, Assistant Professor, Geography, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh – Fox Cities

Wisconsin Without Borders Marketplace (WWBM): A student organization partnering with women artisans to promote income generation and personal empowerment

Wisconsin Without Borders Marketplace is a UW-Madison student organization, tied to 4W and the Global Artisans Initiative, that partners with women’s artisan groups in three communities across the globe: La Calera, Ecuador; Presa de Barajas in Jalisco, Mexico; and Katmandu, Nepal. These women create beautiful, hand-made products using traditional techniques but need help expanding markets for their work. Thus, WWBM offers a market in the US, buying inventory directly from the artisans so they can generate income for themselves, their families and their communities. This presentation will reflect on the personal experiences of the women that have led to our partnership, as well as touch on how students collaborate with the artisans to design new products and the various positive social impacts our collaboration has created.

  • Anna Whisler (She/Her), Undergraduate Student, Wisconsin School of Business and SOHE, UW-Madison
  • Bridget Motiff

6H: Pyle TBA~Art as Feminist Pedagogy

Mythology and Feminism: The Connection Between Myths and Feminist Thought

How were concepts and ideas conveyed before the Internet, the printing press, or even written language? Through oral storytelling, which is how ancient myths were first shared before being written down. Mythology is an art form that was used in the ancient era to explain everything from the seasons to the origin of the universe to life and death. This includes ideas related to gender that we now study in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. This presentation discusses how myths from Greek, Roman, and other ancient mythologies from around the world represent women, gender, and sexuality and socialize audiences into the norms these express of that period. Each myth examined will be discussed in depth, with special emphasis on how it incorporates one or more beliefs about women, gender and sexuality. The talk concludes by drawing attention to how these beliefs relate to modern feminist views.

  • Marisa Gorski, Undergraduate Student, Behavioral Sciences, Purdue University Northwest

Women Who Dare! Women in the Performing Arts

This talk provides a brief summary and context for Women Who Dare, a recorded live lecture that I gave as part of a series of women’s lecture topics at UW-Green Bay. It is based on findings of Women in the Performing Arts, a class I have been teaching at UWGB for 30 years. I give the profiles of 4 outstanding international women performing artists from different genres of the performing arts including Hildegard von Bingen, Clara Schumann, Isadora Duncan, and Marian Anderson. I then discuss the factors which constrain and further women’s creativity and the patterns and obstacles that exist in the lives of women performing artists from genres of dance, conducting, singers, actresses, filmmakers, etc. The talk ends with a live performance and talk with Jiebing Chen, Chinese erhu player, and the first woman to play this instrument with an international orchestra. This lecture was recorded for Wisconsin Public Television and has been shown several times on University Place. The most recent showing was at the Music Academy, Bydgoszcz, Poland, in where I was teaching in May of 2019. The full film is on display during both days of conference in Room 112 of the Pyle Center for those interested in seeing the entire lecture.

  • Sarah Meredith, Professor, Music/Women and Gender Studies/Global Studies, UW-Green Bay

Women Speak: Art as Feminist Pedagogy?

Panelists will explore women’s voices in four different creative contexts of medium and focus, ultimately to explore the critical, fundamental question, whether and in what ways feminine voices differ with those of their male counterparts. Are women’s perspectives distinctive?
Discussion will focus on women writers on the early Industrial Revolution; anthropologist Ruth Benedict; Impressionist painters Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt; and women writers in science fiction.

  • Elizabeth A. Harry, Adjunct Professor, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN
  • Gretchen R. Harry, Retired Social Worker and Teacher, Minneapolis Public Schools
  • Barbara B. Kirby, Artist and Teacher, Madison Metropolitan School District,
  • Scott M. Ryan, Freelance Writer and Technician, The Good Guys, St. Paul, MN

6I: Pyle TBA~ Outreach and Leadership Committee: Students’ Educational, Professional, and Community Impact

Undergraduate college students, the panelists, will express their experiences of participating in an Outreach and Leadership Committee. The panelists are based on members of a student-led committee. This committee hosts professional self-care workshops to other college students as well as youth-driven self-care workshops to youth girls who identify as at-risk and underrepresented. To advance the experience, the committee has developed a post-survey for the youth and such results have been and will be used for program evaluation.

Indirectly, the committee is hopeful that their presentation efforts will inspire the youth to consider advancing their education, including attending Alverno College. Alverno is nationally known for their unique curriculum that often excels at serving women as well as students who identify with minority races and first generation.

The panelists identify as women, with minority races, and are in a social work program. They will share the impact of this committee experience on their educational and professional futures. They will process social justice’s impacts on the specific at-risk, female youth groups.

  • Crystal Aschenbrener, Department Chair of Social Work, Alverno College
  • Elizabeth C. Rivera, Social Work Student, Alverno College
  • Alyssa M. Peterson, Social Work Student, Alverno College
  • Janet Avendano, Social Work Student, Alverno College