Ketner Emerging Leaders Scholarship Cohorts for 2021-2022

By thomaspr on March 16, 2022 in Announcements, Scholarships & Awards

WGS is excited to highlight the recipients of 2021-2022 Ketner Emerging Leaders Scholarship.

The Ketner Emerging Leaders Scholarship was established to reward students with a record of working to achieve social justice, to encourage students to become integrally involved in activities to promote social justice, and promote leadership that leads to social justice. The intent is to inspire and financially aid students who are actively engaged in creating and promoting social justice locally, nationally, and globally. It is the Donor’s wish that through this scholarship, and the experiences that recipients have at the College, that Ketner Emerging Leaders will be change agents who identify social problems and devise steps to ameliorate those problems. Ketner scholars are not simply volunteers. They are change agents that are committed to making a positive impact locally, nationally, and globally.

Scholarship applications are available from December 1st through February 8th every year. Learn how to apply through CofC’s Cougar Scholarship Awarding System (CSAS) here. Stay tuned for the 2022-2023 cohort announcement!

The College Today Features WGS Director’s Research That Aims to Close the Equity Gaps in Academic STEM

By thomaspr on March 15, 2022 in Announcements, WGS Faculty & Affiliated Faculty

CofC’s The College Today is featuring WGS Director Prof. Kris De Welde’s research which aims to close the equity gaps in academic STEM. Read the article on CofC’s website or below!

Words by Mike Robertson:

A recent report from the American Association of University Women indicates that women make up only 28% of the workforce in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Even though women earn about half of science and engineering bachelor’s degrees, there are still large disparities across areas like computer science and mathematics. And, at the doctoral level, only 5% of doctoral degrees are earned by minority women.

These inequities drive the gender and racial equity gaps in some of the fastest-growing and highest-paid jobs, such as those in computer science and engineering. Kris De Welde wants to address those gaps.

De Welde, professor and director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the College of Charleston, is leveraging a $1.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Education and Human Resources Core Research program (EHR) for her research project, “ADVANCE and Beyond: Understanding Processes of Institutional Change to Promote STEM Equity and Education.”

Building on previous research that documents organizational interventions and strategies to promote gender equity in academic STEM fields, De Welde and research colleagues at the University of Colorado Boulder and Michigan State University are studying the organizational processes that are essential in creating what they call the “scaffolding” for successful change initiatives.

“There have been many, many studies about what it takes to create systemic change, and we know that it requires more than a single intervention,” says De Welde. “Change approaches have to be systemic, because we are really trying to revise institutional culture, as well as policies and practices. Interventions have to happen at multiple levels and using multiple levers.”

“Scaffolding processes” may include things like strategic communication strategies that reach multiple audiences, the use of theory to support change initiatives, and sustainability planning for the long-term viability of the project.

“Our goal is to not just uncover these processes,” says De Welde, “but to also test our understanding of how they work together alongside intervention strategies for institutional transformation.”

Since 2001, the NSF has invested over $270M to support ADVANCE Institutional Transformation program projects in an effort to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers. De Welde says these interventions have had a tremendous impact on many institutions and hence many individuals.

“While the initial focus is on women and minoritized individuals in STEM fields, the impact is much broader,” she says, adding that closing the intersectional equity gaps in academic STEM should be a universal goal. “When you create an institutional change initiative that brings equity to an institution, it benefits everyone.”

De Welde’s four-year research project began last year.

Engaging with Definitions of Southern Matriarchy with the authors of Through Mama’s Eyes

By thomaspr on March 15, 2022 in

Join WGS in partnership with the Avery Research Center for a virtual discussion Engaging with Definitions of Southern Matriarchy with the Authors of Through Mama’s Eyes. Preregister for this Zoom event here.

From the publisher:

Through Mama’s Eyes: Unique Perspectives in Southern Matriarchy looks at the concept of Southern matriarchy and how it has influenced American society. In 2016, the Ernest J. Gaines Center hosted a public program that explored the way women use physical space in literature. That program created many discussions of how the term matriarch is understood and applied, especially in the southern regions of the United States. Southern matriarchy is something that has been idolized and parodied in popular formats, such as movies and film, and the purpose of this book is to explore all of the faceted interpretations of southern matriarchy and its impact on our society. This book contains 17 interdisciplinary essays that each look at the way standard tropes of southern matriarchy are interpreted and challenged through literature, history, and the sciences. Like the program that inspired the book, each essay can be used as an invitation to engage in deeper conversations and research about southern matriarchy and its perceptions as a whole. This book is a compilation of curiosity and intrigue surrounding a societal structure that has influenced so many aspects of so many cultures across America—the Southern Matriarch.

About the editors:

Cheylon Woods is the Head and Archivist of the Ernest J. Gaines Center, which is located at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Mrs. Woods has actively worked to assist in the preservation of rural African American communities and the stories of the Matriarchs who worked tirelessly to hold those communities together.

Kiwana T. McClung is a Baton Rouge, Louisiana native, an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture & Design at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and faculty advisor to the UL chapter of NOMAS, the student organization for National Organization for Minority Architects (NOMA). Kiwana’s research concerns the socio-spatial intricacies of our increasingly globalized and multicultural societies and how they affect the built environment, architectural education, and the profession.

GSEC’s Gender Equity Week Schedule for 2022

By thomaspr on March 14, 2022 in Community Events, Events

Here are some event highlights:

Monday, March 14th – Women on Fire Roundtable: This event will kick-off Gender Equity Week. As outlined on CofC’s Critical Conversations webpage, “During Women’s History Month – celebrated annually each March – the College of Charleston reflects on the myriad contributions women and gender-diverse communities have made, and continue to make, on the growth and identity of the institution.

Wednesday, March 16th – Engaging with Definitions of Southern Matriarchy with the authors of Through Mama’s Eyes. From the publisher: Through Mama’s Eyes: Unique Perspectives in Southern Matriarchy looks at the concept of Southern matriarchy and how it has influenced American society. In 2016, the Ernest J. Gaines Center hosted a public program that explored the way women use physical space in literature. That program created many discussions of how the term matriarch is understood and applied, especially in the southern regions of the United States. Southern matriarchy is something that has been idolized and parodied in popular formats, such as movies and film, and the purpose of this book is to explore all of the faceted interpretations of southern matriarchy and its impact on our society.

Thursday, March 17th – Beyond the Binary: A Facilitated Convo on Gender Expansiveness. This is a student- led dialogue to learn about the current legislative context around anti-truth bills as they relate to gender expansiveness and also to better understand how to support gender expansiveness at CofC from students’ perspective.

We encourage students and faculty to join in on this week of fun, learning, and inclusivity!

Women on Fire

By thomaspr on March 1, 2022 in Events

Please join WGS in partnership with Master of Public Administration and Political Science on March 14th at 4:00pm for “Women on Fire,” an event where we will host a virtual discussion with seven dynamic women leaders in Fire Service, Paramedics, and EMS who are making a difference both in the field and in the greater Charleston region. This will be a unique opportunity to learn more about how these women leaders climbed the ladder to success as well as how they navigated obstacles along the way.

This event will kick-off Gender Equity Week. As outlined on CofC’s Critical Conversations webpage, “During Women’s History Month – celebrated annually each March – the College of Charleston reflects on the myriad contributions women and gender-diverse communities have made, and continue to make, on the growth and identity of the institution.

‘The purpose of Gender Equity Week is to build community and invite reflection on the many ways that gender shapes our identities, experiences and societal structures locally and globally,’ said former GSEC Interim Director Kristi ‘Kaj’ Brian. ‘The events throughout the week are designed to inspire and empower our students and our community. Students will have the opportunity to learn from the authors, panelists and presenters while building the awareness and skills necessary to negotiate for equitable wages, to navigate gender dynamics at work and to explore the importance of gender pronouns and expansive gender identities.’

In support of the College’s mission to create equity in learning and living on campus and beyond, GSEC promotes non-discrimination policies and equal protection for all individuals regardless of ability, race, class, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation or religion. GSEC advocates for a culture of resistance against inequality, judgment, prejudice and bias in all its forms.

Nearly 100 years ago, the first female student, Pierrine St. Claire Smith Byrd (Class of 1922), graduated from the College. It would be nearly half a century, in 1967, before the first Black women, Carrie Nesbitt Gibbs ’72 and Angela Brown Gilchrist ’72, were admitted. Change can be slow, often frustratingly so. Gender Equity Week and yearlong efforts by campus partners ensure it never stalls.”

Trailblazers: Black Women Who Helped Make America Great

By thomaspr on February 18, 2022 in Events

Join WGS on Monday, February 28th at 4PM for a virtual conversation with the authors of Trailblazers: Black Women Who Helped Make America Great. Register for the Zoom chat here.

Excerpts from 2Leaf Press’ TRAILBLAZERS press release:

NEW YORK, NY —Black women have inspired, elevated, and transformed society throughout the ages and across generations. While often breaking through barriers of racism and sexism, with underwhelming recognition or documentation, they managed to achieve greatness. TRAILBLAZERS, Black Women Who Helped Make America Great, American Firsts/American Icons by Gabrielle David shines a light on these historically marked footholds, which often led to widespread cultural change. TRAILBLAZERS is a six-volume series examining the lives and careers of over 400 brilliant women from the eighteenth century to the present who blazed uncharted paths in every conceivable way. The volumes will be released over the course of 2021 and 2022. The first volume is scheduled to publish November 1, 2021 exclusively at University of Chicago Press (http://bit.ly/trailblazers1-ucp), and is available on major online outlets on December 6, 2021. TRAILBLAZERS acquired discretionary grants from the Open Meadows Foundation, The New York Women’s Foundation, Women’s Sports Foundation, and sponsorship from the National Sorority Phi Delta Kappa, Inc., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and The International Association of Blacks in Dance. Their financial aid and partnership,represents this volume’s featured sections, Activism, Dance, and Sports.

Each TRAILBLAZERS volume is organized into three to four sections. Besides providing biographical information written in accessible prose for a broad audience, replete with powerful photographs, David also provides a historical timeline for each section written from a Black woman’s viewpoint that maps out the significance of the featured women that follow. Volume 1 features an assortment of seventy activists, dancers, and athletes. We learn about the significance of activists like Ella Baker, Pauli Murray, and Addie Wyatt, who represent the hundreds of unnamed women who participated in the civil rights and labor movements, and women following their path, like Michelle Alexander, Glynda Carr and Leah Penniman. We re-discover dancers Jeni Legon and Margot Webb, who are honored alongside Josephine Baker, Katherine Dunham, Janet Collins, and a new generation including Cynthia Oliver, Misty Copeland, Dormeshia, and Camille A. Brown. And then Athletes who disrupted the world of sports, including the nearly forgotten tennis champion Ora Washington and Alice Coachman, the first Olympic gold medalist, to Debi Thomas, Maritza Correia McClendon, and tennis phenom Serena Williams. Throughout the series, as David re-introduces many of these women into the public sphere, they are not always in predictable ways. For example, Debbie Allen makes a brief appearance in this volume, not as actress or director, but rather as the dancer she initially trained to be, reminding us that Black women are multifaceted, multitalented, and complex. What binds these women together is that as they persevered, often challenging and shaking-up the status quo. With painstaking research, David created an affordable and visually appealing accessible reference book. From the foremothers who blazed the trail, to the women who followed in their footsteps, TRAILBLAZERS offers powerful and inspiring role models for women and girls from all cultural backgrounds. An importance reference book for people who are intellectually curious and want to learn more about Black women in America. TRAILBLAZERS, a clarion call for recognition of the transformative work Black women’s accomplishments, is a vital reference guide for use in schools, libraries, and homes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: GABRIELLE DAVID is a multidisciplinary artist who is a musician, photographer, digital designer, poet and writer. She attended LaGuardia Community College (CUNY) and New School University. David is the publisher of 2Leaf Press and serves as chair of the board of 2Leaf Press Inc. Over the years, she has participated in and organized poetry reading panel discussions, festivals and workshops, and has published articles and essays in numerous publications. David is co-editor of What Does It Mean to be White in America, Breaking the White Code of Silence, A Collection of Personal Narratives (2016), the editor of Branches of the Tree of Life (2014), and co-editor of Hey Yo! Yo Soy! 40 Years of Nuyorican Street Poetry (2012). She is the author of the poetry chapbooks, Spring Has Returned and I Am Renewed (1996), and This is Me: A Collection of Poems and Things (1994).

ABOUT DR. CHANDRA WARING: Dr. WARING is an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Her research focuses on the growing bi/multiracial population. Her interest in race stems from being raised in a multiracial family in a three very different contexts: Germany, Georgia and Connecticut. Waring’s work has been published in numerous publications and she earned her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Connecticut in 2013, where she was a Multicultural Fellow.

Gender Identity in Second Language

By thomaspr on February 17, 2022 in Events

Join Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies and WGS on Tuesday, Feb. 22nd for Gender Identity in Second Language at 7PM in Arnold Hall or on Zoom! Register at bit.ly/spring22ilanyona.

Ilan Yona is a doctoral student at Middlebury College who researches the relationship between the acquisition of highly gendered languages such as Hebrew and student gender identity. He argues that highly genderized languages represent sexually oppressive structures for students, especially in terms of how they identify themselves in such languages. Hebrew is highly gendered language, and can pose certain problems for students coming to it from less gendered languages. This lecture will explore mutual interactions among the three elements of gender, identity, and second language acquisition.

WGS Intersections: Dyani White Hawk A Conversation

By thomaspr on February 16, 2022 in Events, Intersections

Join WGS and Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art on Thursday, Feb. 17th at 5:30 p.m. for another WGS Intersections! Don’t miss DYANI WHITE HAWK a Conversation. The panel will feature Lisa Collins (Wassamasaw Tribe), Beckee Garris (Catawba Nation), Chief Michelle Wise Mitchum (Pine Hill Indian Tribe), and Dana Muckelvaney (Edisto Natchez-Kusso Tribe). Moderators are Dr. Kris De Welde (Director & Prof. of WGS), Dr. Brennan Keegan (Religious Studies), and Dr. Annette Watson (Political Science).

This is a virtual event. Watch at halsey.cofc.edu/live. Free and open to the public.

About her exhibit HEAR HER (from Halsey’s website):
Dyani White Hawk’s work illuminates the lived experiences of Native Peoples. With her video, photography, and works in other media, she aims to use language of visual art to bring light to the chasm between our understanding of history and the truth. Her work weaves together forms from the canon of Western art along with the visual languages and traditions of Native people. In doing so, her work spotlights Native women, whose strength and fortitude through centuries of colonization have helped their people’s languages and cultures to survive.

On view in Hear Her, White Hawk’s video installation LISTEN presents a series of Native women speaking the language of their people. Each film takes place on the land of each participant’s nation, and viewers hear the respective languages without translation. As such, White Hawk puts a focus not only on the resonance of each speaker, but she also reveals society’s collective ignorance of the people, culture, and language of those native to the land on which we live. Chapter 1 of LISTEN features eight videos and White Hawk plans to continue the series to include 24 videos. The Halsey Institute commissioned White Hawk to create a video to honor the Catawba Nation, located in South Carolina.

White Hawk’s photography installation I Am Your Relative confronts the gross stereotypes and distorted caricatures that dehumanize and commodify Native women. This installation, along with LISTEN, helps White Hawk shine a light on the misrepresentation of Native Peoples while reinforcing the fact that we are all connected as human beings.

Dyani White Hawk: Hear Her is sponsored in part by South Carolina Humanities, a not-for-profit organization; inspiring, engaging and enriching South Carolinians with programs on literature, history, culture and heritage. This exhibition is also supported by the Center for Sustainable Development at the College of Charleston, which provides students with the opportunities and resources to engage in our community sustainably.

Image Credit: @dwhitehawk in Collaboration with photographer Tom Jones, “I Am Your Relative” [detail], 2020, photo sculpture, © Dyani White Hawk. Courtesy of the artist and Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis, MN.

A Conversation with Abby Stein

By thomaspr on February 15, 2022 in Events

Join Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies and WGS on Thursday, Feb. 17th for A Conversation with Abby Stein at 7PM in Arnold Hall or on Zoom! Register at bit.ly/spring22abbystein.

Abby Stein is a Jewish educator, author, speaker, and activist. She was born and raised in a Hasidic family, attended Yeshiva, and completed a rabbinical degree in 2011. In 2012, she left the Hasidic world to explore a self-determined life. In 2015, Abby came out as a woman of trans experience. Since then, she has been working to raise support and awareness for trans rights and those leaving the ultra-Orthodoxy. Her book Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman, is a coming-of-age memoir that examines identity, gender, and religion through personal experience.

From the publisher, Seal Press:

“The powerful coming-of-age story of an ultra-Orthodox child who was born to become a rabbinic leader and instead became a woman

Abby Stein was raised in a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, isolated in a culture that lives according to the laws and practices of eighteenth-century Eastern Europe, speaking only Yiddish and Hebrew and shunning modern life. Stein was born as the first son in a dynastic rabbinical family, poised to become a leader of the next generation of Hasidic Jews.

But Abby felt certain at a young age that she was a girl. She suppressed her desire for a new body while looking for answers wherever she could find them, from forbidden religious texts to smuggled secular examinations of faith. Finally, she orchestrated a personal exodus from ultra-Orthodox manhood to mainstream femininity-a radical choice that forced her to leave her home, her family, her way of life.

Powerful in the truths it reveals about biology, culture, faith, and identity, Becoming Eve poses the enduring question: How far will you go to become the person you were meant to be?”

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