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CSWS members at work, collaborating, presenting, and sharing ideas. 

3 CSWS affiliates reading together huddled over a table.

For five decades CSWS has funded feminist scholarship at the University of Oregon. Our mission is simple: we create, fund, share, and support research that addresses the complicated nature of gender identities and inequalities.

Give to CSWS

A CSWS alumn presents a research poster at the CSWS Alumni Symposium

Research

Our faculty and student affiliates generate wide-ranging research on the complexity of women’s lives and the intersecting nature of gender identities and inequalities. Discover what we are working on.

A stock image of a group of files with a tab labled "grants".

Funding

For five decades, we have funded feminist scholarship at the University of Oregon. Read about our present opportunities and past awards.

A row of alumni at a panel at the Alumni Symposium

Initiatives

Through event programming and special initiatives, we foster networking, collaboration, and mentorship within our vibrant community of feminist scholars. Learn more about how to get involved.

The cover of the 2022 CSWS Annual Review

Media

As a research center, we disseminate new knowledge across media platforms on the complicated nature of gender identities and inequalities with other scholars and educators, the public, policymakers, and activists. 

Upcoming Events

Four women dancing in colorful dresses.
Joy in the City Dance Performance

Hannah Thomas, assistant professor of dance, and the Good Works Dance Theatre present "Joy in the City" in the Dougherty Dance Theatre (Gerlinger Annex 3rd floor) at University of Oregon. The performance will be held 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, with and Artist Q&A and light refreshments to close out the evening. Doors open at 6:30. Tickets are $10 general admission and $5 students. The event was made possible by a 2026–27 CSWS Faculty Research Fellowship.

Oct 16 - 7:00pm
Harvest squash and sunflowers.
CSWS Fall Open House

Join us for our Fall Open House at the Center for the Study of Women in Society!

We’re excited to invite our affiliates, friends, and community members to a special gathering where we can share inspiration, celebrate our collective work, and renew our commitment to advancing feminist research and social change.

Come connect with others who are passionate about supporting CSWS’s mission and to learn more about the impact we are making in the community and beyond.

Nov 06 - 3:00pm
Hendricks 330 (CSWS Jane Grant Room)
A drawer labeled "grants."
Info Session: Graduate Student Grants

On Friday, Nov. 20, Director Sangita Gopal will host a research grants information session for graduate students new to the CSWS grant funding process. In the session, Gopal will explain the grant funding cycle and what kinds of research and creative work related to gender qualify for CSWS funding. 

The info session will be held 12–1 p.m. in the CSWS Jane Grant Room (Hendricks 330).

Nov 20 - 12:00pm
Hendricks 330 (CSWS Jane Grant Room)
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1973
CSWS Established
$3.5m
1983 Harris Endowment Received
$3m+
Given for Gender Research at UO
1,000+
CSWS Research Grants Funded
220+
CSWS Faculty Affiliates at UO

CSWS Impacts

Features

Durba Mitra speaking at the Acker-Morgen Lecture

What If Gathering Together Liberated Us?

reflections by Anu Sugathan, Maia Wellborn, and Nishat Parvez
The Ford Lecture Hall is buzzing as students and faculty chat animatedly, plates of food and drinks in hand. At the front of the high-ceilinged room in the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, guest of honor Dr. Durba Mitra chats amiably with CSWS Director Sangita Gopal. There’s a delay while museum staff work to fix the podium’s microphone, but no one is in a rush. Here in this windowless lecture hall, friends and colleagues catch up, laugh at jokes, and talk excitedly about their latest research. There’s a communal feeling in this space that reflects the focus of tonight’s talk: What if gathering together liberated us?
A still from the short film "That Night", showing art of people in a van blindfolded, sitting, waiting.

"That Night"

by Jenée Wilde, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of English
In 2025, Hoda Sobhani received a CSWS Graduate Student Research Grant to complete her award-winning animated documentary That Night. The short film takes viewers inside Iran’s notorious Evin Prison for political prisoners from the perspective of Neda, a friend who was imprisoned there for protesting the death of Mahsa Jina Amini in September 2022. Neda was among the thousands of protesters arrested as the Woman, Life, Freedom movement erupted across Tehran, resulting in one of Evin’s most congested periods in modern Iranian history. That Night delves into the harrowing experiences of inmates when a major fire broke out in the prison.
Dawn Marlan, right, discusses a photograph from Sally Man’s Family Portraits with her Calderwood Seminar students / photo by Agnese Cebere.

Extreme Domesticity: The Labor of Care in Literary and Visual Culture

by Jenée Wilde, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of English
What did students learn in a CSWS Calderwood Seminar last spring focused on our domestic lives? The experimental course, COLT 399 Extreme Domesticity: The Labor of Care in Literary and Visual Culture, was developed by Dawn Marlan, teaching professor and director of undergraduate studies for comparative literature, as one of our CSWS Calderwood Seminars in Public Writing.

News

A glowing gold star.

Inside the 2026 Annual Review

One of my favorite roles at CSWS—besides putting together this publication—is helping University of Oregon students and faculty to share their funded research with our community. Whether I’m organizing and publicizing Noon Talks, conducting video interviews, or editing articles submitted for the Annual Review, I feel privileged to be one of the first to hear about the incredible research, scholarship, and creative work that our Research Fellows are producing.
Four women dancing in colorful dresses.

Oct. 16 dance performance capstones CSWS Faculty Fellowship

On Oct. 16, Hannah Thomas, assistant professor of dance, and the Good Works Dance Theatre present "Joy in the City," the culmination of a dance residency-to-performance workshop for Black women dance artists in collaboration with UO students, funded by a CSWS Faculty Research Fellowship.
A sign reading grants 2026.

OVPRI professional development grants support career research faculty

The Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation invites applications to the Career Research Faculty Professional Development program, which helps career research faculty access professional development opportunities aligned with the individual’s research position and promotion trajectory. 
Wood blocks spell the word funding.

Faculty fellowship applications now open for 2027–28

Applications are now available for 2027–28 CSWS Faculty Research Fellowships, which provide University of Oregon faculty with one course release for a term of reduced or no teaching to pursue work on any aspect of the study of women and/or gender.

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Videos

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2025 Research Fellows: Audrey Lucero
2025 Research Fellows: Precious Adejumobi
2025 Research Fellows: Ogbonnaya Okoro
CSWS Spotlight: Eleanor Paynter
All Videos

History of CSWS

For more than 50 years, CSWS has supported feminist scholarship at the University of Oregon. Our mission is simple: we create, fund, and share research that addresses the complicated nature of gender identities and inequalities.

Our ability to do this resulted from an incredible act of generosity. In 1983, the hard work and vision of faculty members working in what was then called the Center for the Sociological Study of Women attracted the attention of Fortune magazine editor William Harris. His endowment, the largest single gift ever given to the university at that time, was given in memory of his wife, Jane Grant, an early feminist and co-founder of The New Yorker.

historical photo, group shot
Learn More CSWS History