About CSWS

 

CSWS affiliates get to know one another at a New Women Faculty Celebration.

Mailing address: 1201 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR  97403-1201
Physical address: Hendricks Hall, 3rd Floor (south end)
Central phone: 541-346-5015
Email address: csws@uoregon.edu

For 50 years, CSWS has funded 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.

An additional gift from Mazie Giustina in 1992 allowed CSWS to begin its Women in the Northwest Initiative to promote and spotlight research on women’s lives in the Pacific Northwest. Over the years, CSWS has been supported by a wide range of schools and departments at the UO, as well as faculty and community members, who recognize the continuing relevance of research on women and gender.

Every year, CSWS awards tens of thousands of dollars to individual graduate students and faculty members, as well as research interest groups, or intentional communities of scholars with shared interests. We make that research available to students and faculty at the UO, to other universities, to schools, and to the public in multiple ways – through lectures, symposia, workshops, films, and videos. We share our activities and our findings on our website, our annual review, and other publications, and through our Road Scholars program, which sends scholars to public venues throughout Oregon to share their research.

CSWS has helped to create a vibrant research culture on gender at UO. We continue to look for new ways to increase our financial support to students and faculty, to make that research available to others, and to improve the lives of women, girls, and their communities.

CSWS affiliates enjoy catching up during an end-of-year Celebration.