Gender Studies program hosts Women’s History Month Celebration
This March, Mississippi State University is spotlighting scholarly activity focused on women as part of Women’s History Month.
The College of Arts and Sciences’ Gender Studies program presents a Women’s History Month celebration each March. In response to COVID-19, this year’s celebration took the form of a virtual brown bag series, inviting lecturers from across the country to share their research on women’s achievements, leadership and political activism.
Lecturers included:
Leigh Soares, MSU Department of History, “Forgotten Founders: Black Women Leaders in Higher Education”
Hilary Levey Friedman, Brown University Department of Education, “Protest Pageantry: Femininity, Race, and Respectability in the Public Sphere”
Shennette Garrett-Scott, University of Mississippi Department of History, “Pigs and Pickets: Black Women and the Fight for Economic Justice”
Katie Acosta, Georgia State University Department of Sociology, “Marriage Equality Didn’t Solve Everything: LGBTQ Parenting Post Obergefell V. Hodges”
All lectures were recorded. For a copy, email Brian Tesch, Gender Studies graduate assistant at bpt78@msstate.edu.
The Gender Studies program was established in the 1970s and has grown to include approximately 30 faculty affiliates. The program now offers an undergraduate minor and a graduate level certificate. The Gender Studies program organizes a variety of community events including an annual Lecture Series, an annual Feminist Film Fest, National Coming Out Day Celebration, Black History Month speakers, and pedagogy panels for faculty and graduate student instructors.
The profile of the annual Gender Studies Lecture Series has risen steadily, featuring speakers such as Gloria Steinem, Anita Hill, Alicia Garza, Patricia Hill Collins, Jessica Valenti, Constance McMillen, and Laverne Cox.
Since the early 2010s, the program has significantly increased its LGBTQ+-focused programming, recognizing it as a critical need area. The program often offers frequent lectures and other events on campus to highlight the unique experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals and provide attendees with information on resources available to them.
The diligent efforts of the Gender Studies program have fostered respect at MSU for all races, genders and sexual orientations.
“Here at Mississippi State, we have a core group of students, faculty and staff who care deeply about gender equality and focus on highlighting and supporting the accomplishments of women, not just in March, but year round,” Director of Gender Studies Kimberly Kelly said. “Their efforts make it possible for the program to make meaningful contributions to discussions about gender and its intersections with race, sexuality, socioeconomic status and so much more.”
MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,000 students, 323 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs, 14 master’s programs, and 27 undergraduate academic majors offered in 14 departments. MSU is classified by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as a “Very High Research Activity” doctoral university, the highest level of research activity in the country. MSU is one of only 120 schools to hold the designation. For more details about the College of Arts and Sciences, visit www.cas.msstate.edu.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.