2000
March
Women's Studies Spring Film Series
"Maria's Story: A Portrait of Love and Survival in El Salvador's Civil War" traces the story of Maria Serrano, a 39-year-old mother of three who is a leader of a guerrilla movement in El Salvador.
"The Righteous Babes" explores the intersection of feminism and popular music, focusing on female recording artists' roles in the 1990s and their influence on the modern woman.
"Wild Swans—Jung Chang" portrays the lives of three generations of Chinese women. This epic film captures the turbulent transformation of China in the 20th century and recounts the women's family history.
April
April 7-9, Appalachian State University sponsored the SEWSA conference "Feminists, Womanists, Grrrls Imagine the Future." The women's studies conference brought educators and activists together to look at a range of women's studies issues.
SEWSA-featured speakers
Dorothy Allison: author of "Bastard Out of Carolina," "Cavedweller," and "Skin: Talking About Sex, Class, and Literature" will speak on "Nothing for Sure and Everything in Question—Where We Go from Here."
Joyce Scott: Scott uses abstract beadwork to create social commentary. She achieves a valuable insight into the worlds of gender and race through her work.
Katha Pollitt: Award-winning Feminist writer, poet, essayist, and contributor to journals such as The Nation, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper's, Mirabella, Ms., Mother Jones, and Newsweek. Pollitt will present on "Feminism at the Millennium."
Campus Speakers:
Leslie Marmon Silko, Native American best-selling novelist and poet, whose work includes "Ceremony," "Storyteller," "Sacred Water," and "Almanac of the Dead" uses her personal heritage of Native American, Caucasian, and Mexican backgrounds to create stories of extraordinary courage as once separate worlds collide.
Demetria Martinez: Author of "Mother Tongue," which won the 1994 Western States book award for fiction, is a poet and a columnist for the National Catholic Reporter. The widely translated "Mother Tongue" is based in part upon Martinez's 1988 trial for conspiracy against the United States government in connection with allegedly transporting Salvadoran refugees into the country, a charge that with others carried a 25-year prison sentence.
July
Dr. Betsy Beaulieu becomes Director of Women's Studies
November
Dr. Maggie McFadden: presented "Virginia Woolf's Way of Knowing in 'Three Guineas' and Women Peace Activists Between the Wars" during the 2000-2001 Humanities Thematic Festival.
Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward: One of the foremost lesbian writers and speakers of feminist theology, Rev. Dr. Heyward received her Ph.D. at the Union Theological Seminary in New York and currently is a faculty member at the Episcopal Divinity School. Rev. Dr. Heyward presented: "Can Christians be sweet-spirited, radically justice-loving folks? A Lesbian Feminist Christian Perspective."
2001
February
Women's issues are highlighted in "Women's Realities: A Series of Five Documentary Films in Celebration of Women's History Month," at Appalachian State University.
February 21, "Two Dollars and a Dream," a biographical film about Madame C.J. Walker, the child of slaves, who became America's first self-made female millionaire. Following the film, Dr. Trudier Harris, J. Carlyle Sitterson Professor of English at UNC-Chapel Hill, will lead a discussion.
February 28, "Love, Women, and Flowers," depicts the story of Colombia's third-largest export–cut flowers. But behind the beauty of carnations and chrysanthemums sold in the United States and Europe lies a horror story of hazardous labor conditions for the 60,000 women who work in the flower industry.
Cyndi Mellon, from the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University, led a discussion following the film.
March
Women's Studies Film Series in celebration of Women's History Month continued.
March 7, "Nu Shu: A Hidden Language of Women in China," about the development of a secret female writing system in China that was a way for women to resist the social constrictions of Chinese Society. Dr. Cathy Silber, a professor of Chinese Studies at Williams College and a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe College, led a discussion following the film.
March 21, "Beauty and the Beach," fun and social comment combine in this lively documentary on the history of women through the evolution of women's swimwear styles. Joanne Arbuckle and Ellen Dobrovier, from New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, led the discussion and offered insight after the film.
March 28, "Step by Step: Building a Feminist Movement, 1941-1977." Proving beyond a doubt that feminism began well before the 1960s, and that its players were not just the white middle class, this inspiring film follows the lives of eight Wisconsin women, six of whom became founders of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Panel discussion with Watauga County women followed.
April
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson addressed "Toward a Feminist Disability Studies" on April 10 at Appalachian State University. Her book "Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature" examines disabled figures in works such as "Uncle Tom's Cabin," "Life in the Iron Mills" and in novels by Toni Morrison and Audre Lorde. Garland-Thomson is an English professor at Howard University.
October
The Appalachian Women's Studies program began in 1976 and is the second-oldest program of its kind in the state. It provides academic leadership to the Appalachian community for the study of women.
Jane Caputi, professor of women's studies at Florida Atlantic University, will present "Everyday Pornography," which looks at a variety of commercials that glamorize rape, murder and battery and promote sexual racism, demonize female sexuality and valorize male sexuality.
Tuesday evenings, Women's Studies held its second annual film series addressing gay and lesbian issues, homophobia and racism. The films are Oct. 9, "Ma Vie En Rose;" Oct. 16, "A Union in Wait;" Oct. 23, "Chutney Popcorn;" and Oct. 30, "Tongues Untied."
A CD-ROM commemorating 25 years of Appalachian Women's Studies was presented.
November
Women's Studies continued its 25th Anniversary celebration with:
November 1: Rev. Jimmy Creech, the former United Methodist Church pastor whose ordination was withdrawn after he celebrated a union ceremony for two men in Chapel Hill, will speak on "Freedom to Love Without Fear."
November 1: Frank X. Walker and Nikky Finney, founding members of the Affrilachian Poets, a small group of young black writers in Kentucky. Walker coined the term "Affrilachian" after reading the definition of Appalachian as "white residents of mountainous regions" in a dictionary.
Walker's first book of poetry, "Affrilachia," was published in 2000 and is a collection of his poems written over the last 10 years. The Danville, Ky., native is now the director of the Kentucky Governors School for the Arts.
Finney has published "Rice" and "On Wings Made of Gauze," both collections of poetry. Finney was born in Conway, S.C., and now lives in Lexington, Ky. She teaches creative writing at the University of Kentucky.
November 5: Karen J. Warren discussed "Ecofeminist Philosophy: What it is and Why it Matters." A philosophy professor at Macalester College, Warren drew on empirical, historical, conceptual, linguistic, literary and religious examples to show the intimate interconnections between the unjustified domination of women, people of color, the poor and children and the unjustified domination of animals and nature.
November 15 and 16: Peggy McIntosh presented "Unpacking Invisible Knapsacks of Gender and Race Privilege in U.S. Society and U.S. Colleges." She is associate director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women and director of the Gender, Race and Inclusive Education Center.
2002
February
The Vagina Monologues – dramatic testimonials of women and their bodies, proceeds used in helping stop violence against women, both locally (with Watauga County's OASIS) and around the world.
Feb. 21: Dr. Annie Stevens, "Creating a Positive Campus Climate for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgender Community Members"
Feb. 26: Film, "The Life and Times of Sara Baartman: The Hottentot Venus" Discussion led by Dr. Betsy Beaulieu.
March
March 5: Film, "Last Call at Maud's." Discussion lef by Dr. Jill Ehnenn and Dr. Kim Hall.
March 19: Film, "Beneath the Veil." Discussion led by Dr. Karen Chancey, Dr. Maria Lichtmann, and Dr. Andy Koch.
March 20: Dr. Gerda Lerner, "Why Women's History Matters": founder of women's history scholarship and author of many books, such as "The Creation of Patriarchy" and "The Majority Finds Its Past".
March 26: Film: "Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony." Discussion led by Dr. Maggie McFadden.
April
"Witchwork" play by Georgia Rhoades, presented by Black Sheep Theatre.
October
Queer Film Series:
Oct. 8: "Mariposas en al Andamio" (Butterflies on the Scaffold) examines issues of gays and transvestites in Cuba.
Oct. 15: "The Laramie Project": docudrama on events surrounding Matthew Shephard's murder in Wyoming.
Oct. 22: "Hermaphrodites Speak!" first documentary by and about intersexed people.
Oct. 29: "Love is the Devil" on English painter Francis Bacon and his younger lover George Dyer
November
Nov. 12: "A Girl's Reality: Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice? A Theory Up for Debate" Panel with Dr. Roma Angel, Dr. Mary Ballard, Mr. Bob White
2003
Dr. Martha McCaughey (IDS and Sociology) becomes Director of Women's Studies
February
The Vagina Monologues
Women's Realities Film Series; post-film discussions led by faculty members
February 24: Film: "Loyalties" –interracial co-workers with a common past of slave and slave-holder.
March
March 1: Women's Leadership Conference
March 3: Film: "Just Mom and Me" about single motherhood.
March 17: Film: "The Female Closet" on the lives of variously closeted women artists
March 24: Film: "Women and War" with footage from the Middle East, Bosnia, northern Uganda, and South Africa
March 27: Poetry Reading, Natasha Trethewey, author of "Domestic Work" and "Bellocq's Ophelia"
March 31: Film: "America's Victoria: The Victoria Woodhull Story" – story of the first woman to run for U.S. President in 1872.
March 31, "The Surprising History of Women and War," Dr. Kristen Neuschel, Duke University
September
Sept. 2: "Stick Together" theme of annual Walk for Awareness, to raise awareness about sexual assault
Sept. 4: Barbara Ehrenreich, author of "NICKEL AND DIMED: ON (NOT) GETTING BY IN AMERICA," selection for freshman reading program.
Queer Film Series:
Sept. 29: "The Times of Harvey Milk" –the documentary about one of the country's first openly gay elected officials in San Francisco
October
Oct. 6: Film: "Paragraph 175" –on the persecution, incarceration, and murder of gay men and lesbians by the Nazi regime
Oct. 13: Film, "You Don't Know Dick: Courageous Hearts of Transsexual Men" explores the motivation to change one's gender.
Oct. 20: Film, "The Trip," an epic gay romance of two men from 1973-1984.
Oct. 27: Film, "Venus Boyz" –a documentary about Drag Kings
2004
The Vagina Monologues, Feb. 12-14: to bring attention to violence against women around the world
Women's Studies sold Super Woman t-shirts as a money maker for the program
Feb.-July: Dr. Maggie McFadden, Fulbright Distinguished Chair of Gender Studies, University of Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria
Women's Realities Film Series in March:
- March 1, "When Women Unite: The Story of an Uprising" – story of rural women's campaign in Andhra Pradesh in India against liquor, leading to Prohibition. Discussion following.
- March 15: "Gloria Wteinem, the Spice Girls, and Me: Defining the Third Wave of Feminism" –current perceptions of feminism. Discussion following led by Dr. Kim Hall.
- March 22: "Womenstudies@vt.edu" documents one of the first online classes in women's studies. Filmmaker Amber Vellenga led the discussion.
- March 29: "Songcatcher" explores the folk music history of North Carolina. Discussion led by Paul Robertson and Julie Shepard.
Apr. 2-3: Women's Old Time Appalachian Music Festival:
- Mary Greene, lecture, "Bessie Eldreth and Ora Watson: Appalachian Women Musicians"
- Potluck dinner and barn dance
- Workshops on banjo, fiddle, flatfoot dance, ballad singing, mandolin
- Concert by women bands "Too Hot to Cook," "The Tobacco Bursts," "The Cacklin' Hens"
Fifth Annual Queer Film Festival; discussion following each showing.
- Sept. 27: "Business of Fancydancing,": best friends Aristotle Joseph and Seymour Polatkin, Native American men, grew up together on the Spokane Reservation. Film documents confronting the past and questing new horizons.
- Oct. 4: "Tipping the Velvet" based on Sarah Waters's novel of lesbian love, betrayal and redemption in Victorian England.
- Oct. 12: "Doin' Time at the Homo no Mo Halfway House" – a one-man show based on various ex-gay ministries.
- Oct. 19: "Keepin' It Real": Greg Walloch is adorable, he has cerebral palsy, he's gay, and he lives in Harlem.
- Oct. 25: "Iron Ladies." Based on a true story of a Thai volleyball team composed mostly of transvestite gays and one transsexuals who competed in the 1996 national championships
Dr. Kathryn Kirkpatrick (English) published three poetry collections: "Beyond Reason" contains poems about the monotonous pattern of a deli worker's day, a woman defying convention in 1910 to become the first to fly an airplane, and strained relationships between parents and children. "The Master's Wife" is a 12-part exploration of the reaction of a 19th –century woman who learns of her husband's affair with the black sharecropper's daughter. "Looking for Ceilidh" is about searching for a lost dog and discovering neighborhood in the process.
2005
Dr. Cheryl Claassen published "Whistling Women: A Study of the Lives of Older Lesbians," Haworth Press
Women's Studies Film Series, Women of the Middle East:
- Feb. 19: "Umm Kultham: A Voice Like Egypt", the life and career of Kulthum, the celebrated diva of the Arab world
- March 19: "Wedding in Galilee": erotic and compelling meditation on two conflicting cultures coming together for a long day of celebration
- April 2: "A Veiled Revolution": Educated granddaughters of early Arab feminists are returning to Islamic dress; Egyptian women speak out.
- April 9: "Iranian Journey" documentary on the first woman long-distance bus driver in Iran.
- April 16: "Divorce: Iranian Style": Several weeks in an Iranian divorce court show Iranian women's lives
Mar. 17: Dr. Pamela Nickless, UNC-Asheville, "Scarlett's Sisters: Spinsters, Widows, Wives, and Free-Traders in 19th Century North Carolina
Oct. 4-5: Rev. Jeanette Stokes, Exec. Dir., Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South, "Women and Spirituality" (Oct. 4), and Video of lifelong pilgrimage of artist Meinrad Craighead and encounters with the divine feminine (Oct. 5).
Sixth Annual Queer Film Series:
- Oct. 3, "Loggerheads" explores love and sexuality and its implications in how people create meaning for their lives
- Oct. 17: "Brother/Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin": the career of Bayard Rustin, a disciple of Gandhi, mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr., founding member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation
- Oct. 24: "Kinsey": the life of Alfred Kinsey, author of "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male"
- Oct. 31: "Ruthie and Connie: Every Room in the House": two Jewish women who live together in Brooklyn, and won domestic partner benefits for NY City employees.
2006
7th Annual Queer Film Series, followed by discussion:
- Oct. 3: "Transamerica" Oscar-nominated film story of male-to-female transsexual Bree and her son
- Oct. 10: "Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema": the history of queer cinema
- Oct. 17: "Unveiled (Fremde Haut)" –a story of the arbitrary violence of exile: an Iranian translator refused asylum in Germany
- Oct. 24: "Brokeback Mountain": the ecstatic and bitter love story of two young cowboys in Wyoming
Oct. 4-5: Rev. Jeanette Stokes, Exec. Dir. Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South, "Women and Spirituality." Oct. 5: Preview of video and discussion of artist Meinrad Craighead and mystical encounters with the divine feminine.
2007
Feb. 8: Kit Gruelle, domestic violence activist and educator, previews her film, "Private Violence: The Movement Against Battering in America." Gruelle is a consultant and community educator for the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and is completing her undergrad degree at Appalachian.
A recital of songs by women composers from Hildegard of Bingen to Amy Cheney Beach
April 14: Friends of Women's Studies reception at the Jones House. $3,500 raised for a semester-long visiting professorship in Women's Studies. Giving levels were 1) Matriarchs, The Mary Wollstonecraft Group, Over $500; 2) Mothers, The Elizabeth Cady Stanton Group, $250 -$500; 3) Sisters, the Ida B. Wells Group, $100-$199; 4) Daughters, The Margaret Sanger Group, $50-$99; 5) Friends, The Betty Friedan Group, $20-$49.
2008
February
February 4: Gloria Steinem spoke as part of the Forum Lecture Series, was introduced by Maggie McFadden. The next day she appeared on "Appalachian Perspective" hosted by Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock. She said, "It's calculated that we lose 6 million women every year because of discrimination against females, whether it's in utero, or letting little girls starve to death or not get enough medical care, but I don't think that has the same level of recognition [as discussions of racism]. . . . I think we have a way to go."
February 8: "The Vagina Monologues"
February 24: Women's History Student Symposium
February 29 – March 3: Women's Leadership Conference
Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner, Exec. Dir. Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation: "Native American Influence on 19th Century Women's Rights"
March
March 17: Dr. Merry Wiesner Hanks on Early Modern Women
March 19: Dr. Chris Cuomo, "Claiming the Right to be Queer." Cuomo is professor of philosophy and director of women's studies at the University of Georgia
April
April 25: Women's Studies Seminar Series
Dr. Jill Ehnenn, "Thinking About 19th Century Women's Literary Collaborations Today: Feminist and Queer Considerations"
Dr. Martha McCaughey, "The Caveman Mystique: How Popular Scientific Claims Shape Men's Consciousness"
October
October 7: Dana Collins, UCLA
October 7: Queer Film Fest
2009
SEWSA at ASU: "Women and Environments: The Ecology of Feminism and the Feminism of Ecology"
Keynoters:
- Dr. Elisabeth Lloyd, "Darwinian Evolution and the Female Orgasm: Explanations and Puzzles"
- Dr. Chris Cuomo, "Climate Change, Ethics, and Local Knowledge"
- Ms. Marilou Awiakta, "Upholding Hope: Our Foremothers' Legacy"
- Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, "Black Feminist Perspectives on Women and the Environment"
- Starhawk, Workshop, "Vision and Action"
2010
March
SEWSA, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina
Dr. Donna Lillian (Linguistics) becomes Director of Women's Studies
2011
March
Hayes School of Music recital, "Donna Voce: A Concert of Women Composers" to celebrate the beginning of Women's History Month
September
Multimedia artist Jewel Castro's "Sail!" exhibit, which draws on Samoan history and identity, Samoan women's art production, and Castro's relationships with her ancestors—the main themes in her artistic practice. Castro's technical expertise is highlighted in the curated exhibition and focuses on two-dimensional paintings and drawings.
2012
Jan. 24: Angela Davis, "An Evening with Angela Davis," delineating social problems associated with incarceration and the criminalization of communities most affected by poverty and racial discrimination. Author of many books, including "Women, Race, and Class."
SEWSA at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
2013
March 27: Dr. Chris Cuomo, "Eco-Feminism and Climate Change" part of inaugural Global Women's Series
April: SEWSA at UNC-Greensboro
April 24: Dr. Birsen Bulmus, "Egyptian women and the paradox of the Arab spring"
April 24: Dedication and exhibit of the Maggie McFadden Collection in Women's Studies, Special Collections, Belk Library and Information Commons
July
Women's Studies becomes a constituent program in the Department of Cultural, Gender, and Global Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences
September
Dr. Maggie McFadden (Professor Emerita) becomes Interim Director of Women's Studies
Women's Studies has 70 Affiliated Faculty in 19 departments and 5 colleges
Participated in Red Flag Campaign to stop relationship violence on college campuses
November
Carol Adams, "The Sexual Politics of Meat" slide show and lecture
Jones House Women's Studies Reception, certificates to WS Faculty and students from previous year
2014
February
28 February: Women's Studies Faculty Panel, "Women's Studies and Transformative Knowledge Building"
The Vagina Monologues
March
3 March: Concert of music by women composers, organized by Dr. Reeves Shulstad
Mar. 24: "Women, Science, and Social Change," Dr. Mary Wyer, NCSU, + Student Poster Session
Mar. 25: "Where Would Science be Without Women?" Dr. Mary Wyer and ASU Faculty
Mar. 25: "Rosi Braidotti vs. Judith Butler: A Feminist Theory Dialogue" Ms. Salla Peltonen, Institute for Women's Studies, Abo Akademi University, Finland, and Duke University Visiting Scholar
27-29 March: SEWSA at UNC-Wilmington. Presentations by Drs. Sushmita Chatterjee, Martha McCaughey, Maggie McFadden, Elaine O'Quinn; NTT Faculty C.C. Hendricks, Victoria Lozano, Beth Hauser; Graduate Certificate Students Meghann Murphy and Samantha Thompson
April
Feminist Coming Out Day
April 25: Reception for WS Grads: Majors, Minors, and Grad Certificate graduates, McKinney Alumni Center
August
Kim Q. Hall becomes the new Director of Women's Studies.
September
A survey is conducted of all students in WS courses. As a result of that survey, a proposal is made to change the name of the program to Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies. Also, as a result of student input, Kim Hall puts together a curriculum task force to review the WS curriculum. The task force consists of Sushmita Chatterjee, Jill Ehnenn, Sarah Greenwald, Elaine O'Quinn, David Orvis and Alecia Youngblood Jackson. The task force reviews GWS curriculum in 37 peer and aspirational peer institutions. As a result of their work, the task force recommends changes to the major, minors and graduate program, including the addition of a 9-hour graduate minor in GWS.
September 17: Jill Ehnenn, Professor of English and WS faculty affiliate, presents "'Poets and Lovers Evermore': Michael Field as Female Aesthetes and Literary Co-Authors" as part of the Fall 2014 Women's Studies Distinguished Lecture Series.
September 24: Brenda Wright, member of ASU's Board of Trustees, presents "Strong, Smart, and Bold Women: Extraordinary Burdens and Blessings" as part of the Fall 2014 Women's Studies Distinguished Lecture Series.
October
WS faculty approve changing the program's name to Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies and the task force's recommendations for curricular revision.
October 8: Robin James, Associate Professor of Philosophy at UNC-Charlotte, presents "Post-Feminist Pop Songs: On Resilience, Gender, and Race" as part of the Fall 2014 Women's Studies Distinguished Lecture Series.
October 22: Sarah Greenwald, Professor of Math and WS faculty affiliate, presents "The Association of Women in Mathematics: How and Why It Was Founded, and Why It's Still Needed" as part of the Fall 2014 Women's Studies Distinguished Lecture Series.
October 29: Sushmita Chatterjee, Assistant Professor of Women's Studies in the Cultural, Gender and Global Studies Department, presents "Transnational Feminism and the Politics of Friendship" as part of the Fall 2014 Women's Studies Distinguished Lecture Series.
November
November 5: Chancellor Sheri Everts presents "Women and Leadership" as part of the Fall 2014 Women's Studies Distinguished Lecture Series.
December
December 3: Alison Gulley, Associate Professor of English and WS faculty affiliate, presents "Gender in the Middle Ages" as part of the Fall 2014 Women's Studies Distinguished Lecture Series.
2015
February
The university approves changing the program's name to Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies and all curricular changes.
March
Reproductive Justice is the theme for 2015 Women's History Month events sponsored by the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Program.
March 5: "Made in India: A Film about Surrogacy "(2010). Sushmita Chatterjee, Assistant Professor of Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies (formerly Cultural, Global and Gender Studies) facilitates discussion of this film.