Feminist Futures
Past Lessons, Future Visions: CSWS 50th Anniversary Alumni Symposium
by Jenée Wilde, Senior Instructor, Department of English
On May 10, 2024, three panels of faculty affiliates, former grant fellows, and friends of the Center for the Study of Women in Society participated in our 50th Anniversary Alumni Symposium.
Campus Collaborations
A Fruitful Collaboration
by Margaret Hallock, Director, Wayne Morse Center
The Center for the Study of Women in Society has been a big part of my career at the University of Oregon. I had the honor and pleasure of working with nearly all of the center’s directors—Joan Acker, Cheris Kramarae, Sandra Morgen, and Carol Stabile in particular.
CSWS Origins: Jane Grant
For Love of a Feminist: Jane Grant, William Harris, and the “Fund for the Study of Women”
CSWS Documentary
A Documentary Experience: Reflections on Weaving 40 Years of Feminist History into a 52-minute Film
Agents of Change: A Legacy of Feminist Research, Teaching, and Activism at the University of Oregon
Directed by SOJC Professor Gabriela Martinez, Agents of Change chronicles the development of the University of Oregon Center for the Study of Women in Society and the UO Department of Women’s and Gender Studies within the broader context of the women’s movement. By 1970, women faculty members across universities in the United States were beginning to teach the first women’s studies courses, while also taking on the fight for pay equity and affirmative action in hiring. Through a combination of archival footage, photographs, documents, and interviews, Agents of Change provides new insights into the efforts and challenges women faculty across the nation faced in their efforts to draw attention to women’s histories, issues, and concerns and to create a program for the study of women.
CSWS Alumni Spotlight: Envisioning Feminist Futures
The Center for the Study of Women in Society celebrated 50th years of funding and supporting feminist scholarship in AY 2023–2024 with a year-long program of invited speakers, panel discussions, exhibits, screenings, performances, and more. We invited our alumni to give testimonials about the impact of CSWS for their lives and their careers, and to answer the question: What do Feminist Futures mean to you?
Being a Part of Radical Change: A Conversation with Joan Acker
"I felt very alienated in the soc department. When I first came there were some faculty members—they were all men, of course—who were very supportive, and some who weren’t. One professor said in class one day that he didn’t think the department should take any women as graduate students because they would just get married and have children. It was outrageous."
Promoting and Diversifying Leadership at UO
In March 2008, CSWS was awarded a Ford Foundation grant from the National Council for Research on Women (NCRW). The aim of the grant, “Diversifying the Leadership of Women’s Research Centers,” was to promote the leadership of women of color from historically underrepresented groups in the United States within NCRW and within its women’s research, policy, and advocacy member centers. The project specifically designed for CSWS was to address the current and historical absence of women of color in leadership positions at the center and the University of Oregon more broadly. This article details the origins of the CSWS Women of Color Project, which continues to this day.
Highlights: CSWS in UO News
CSWS featured in Oregon Quarterly winter issue
From the Winter 2024 Oregon Quarterly—Coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the UO Center for the Study of Women in Society, the Winter issue of Oregon Quarterly celebrates women who have overcome gender stereotypes and paved roads of equity for others to travel: the Mighty Women of Mighty Oregon.
OVPRI features CSWS in Research News
The Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation (OVPRI) will be featuring the Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS) in its upcoming Pursuit newsletter. The article, "Gender Research Opens Pathways for Feminist Futures," will help to broaden awareness of the CSWS mission, anniversary events, and DuckFunder campaign to benefit undergraduate research and skill-building in the region.
Anita Hill Sees Peril and Promise for Feminism
Highlights: CSWS History
UO alumnus Thomas A. Beaumont remembers CSWS Founder Joan Acker, who was his undergraduate advisor in sociology.
Professor emerita Barbara Corrado Pope remembers the early development of CSWS and the women's studies program at University of Oregon.