Calendar of Events

Founded in 1980, the Center for Women’s Studies is now entering its second quarter-century!

January 17-18	6th Annual Women's Health Policy Conference in Charleston, W.Va. Cosponsored by Center for Women's Studies. Contact Dr. Barb Howe at barbara.howe@mail.wvu.edu or (304) 293-2339 ext 1155 for details.
January 19	Natalia Rachel Singer will read from her new book, Scraping By in the Big Eighties, at 7:30 p.m., in the Robinson Reading Room of the Downtown Library. Ms. Singer’s visit is cosponsored with WVU’s English Department and Council of Writers.
January 20	Natalia Rachel Singer will conduct a writing workshop entitled “From Aesthetics to Politics: Linking Self to World in Memoir,” for creative writing students and other interested parties. 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., WVU Writing Center, 44 Stansbury Hall. For more information, contact Tara Eaton at tarainsummit@yahoo.com.
January 30	Movie Night: Iron Jawed Angels. Introduction and discussion leader: Amanda J. Ray, Esquire, M.A. (history), Master of Liberal Arts (women's studies-directed). This movie recounts for a contemporary audience a key chapter in U.S. history: in this case, the struggle of suffragists who fought for the passage of the 19th Amendment. Focusing on the two defiant women, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, the film shows how these activists broke from the mainstream women's-rights movement and created a more radical wing, daring to push the boundaries of political protest to secure women's voting rights in 1920. G-21 White Hall, 7:00 p.m. Cosponsored with the Morgantown chapter of the National Organization for Women and with FEM.
January 23-24	Seventh Women’s Studies Residency in Honor of Judith Gold Stitzel. Dr. Debra Rolison, research chemist and head of the Naval Research Laboratory's Advanced Electrochemical Materials section, will speak on the topic "A Path Forward: Title IX as a Change Strategy for Science and Engineering." Dr. Rolison is a proponent of the use of Title IX as a strategy to address the disproportionately low retention of female Ph.D. graduates as faculty members in science, technology, engineering and mathematics departments. A reception will follow her lecture, which will take place on Tuesday, January 24 at 7:30 p.m., in the NRCCE (Evansdale Campus) Conference Rooms A&B.
February 9	Judy Norsigian, executive director of the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, will lead a discussion on stem-cell research. She will also give a public lecture on the topic “The Media and Women's Health: Sorting Fact from Fiction” at 7:00 p.m. in G-24 Eiesland Hall. Copies of Our Bodies, Ourselves: A New Edition for a New Era will be available for purchase. A book signing will take place in the ground floor lobby of Eiesland Hall after the lecture.
February 13	Movie Night: Chisholm ’72: Unbought & Unbossed. Introduction and discussion leader: Dr. Katherine Bankole, associate professor of history. This movie is the first historical documentary on Brooklyn Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm and her campaign to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee in 1972. Chisholm’s fight was for inclusion, as she writes in her book The Good Fight (1973), and encompassed all Americans “who agree that the institutions of this country belong to all of the people who inhabit it.” Shunned by the political establishment, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm asked people of color, feminists and young voters for their support to “reshape our society and take control of our destiny as we go down the Chisholm Trail in 1972.” To the surprise of many, voters responded. G-21 White Hall, 7:30 p.m. Cosponsored with the Center for Black Culture and Research (CBCR), the Morgantown chapter of the National Organization for Women and with FEM. .
February 24-26	The Vagina Monologues, G-24 Eiesland Hall, cosponsored with FEM. Shows will be at 7 p.m. on the 24th and 25th, and at 2 p.m. on the 26th. For details and ticket availability, or to help with the show, contact Heather Jewell at hjewell@mix.wvu.edu or Gibran Mancus at gmancus@mix.wvu.edu. You can find FEM on the web at http://www.geocities.com/fem_wvu/.
March 6	Movie Night: Speaking Our Peace. Introduction and discussion leader: Bonni McKeown, activist and barrelhouse blues musician. Filmed in Canada, Britain and the U.S.S.R., this hour-long documentary focuses on local and international peace initiatives by women. Featured in the film are Rosalie Bertell, Marion Dewar, Muriel Duckworth, Ursula M. Franklin, Darlene Keju, Margaret Laurence, Solanges Vincent and Kathleen Wallace-Deering. In interviews and in encounters with Soviet women, they outline their views on war and peace. The film includes scenes of women in mass demonstrations at Litton Systems Canada and at Greenham Common in England, as well as footage of ordinary citizens who must live with the health and environmental problems caused by uranium mining and nuclear weapons testing. National Research Center for Coal and Energy (NRCCE-Evansdale Campus) Conference Rooms A&B, 7:30 p.m. Cosponsored with the Morgantown chapter of the National Organization for Women and with FEM. .
March 9	Teaching Luncheon: “Teaching Gender in Civil Rights History,” featuring Dr. Shannon Frystak, visiting assistant professor of history. Cosponsored with the Center for Black Culture and Research (CBCR) and the Native American Studies department. 11:30 a.m., Hatfields B, Mountainlair.
April 3	Movie Night: Lesbian Grandmothers from MARS: One Couple’s Journey for Marriage Equality. Introduction and discussion leaders: Carrie Ross-Stone (WVU women’s studies certificate recipient, WVU Law School graduate), and Elisia Ross-Stone, the “Rainbow Grannies” and co-founders of the legal services and information website http://www.rainbowlaw.com. This movie is an out-of-this-world story about a down-to-earth lesbian couple who got on their bicycles and rode 3,800 miles across America to rally support for same-sex marriage. From San Francisco to New York City, Elisia and Carrie Ross-Stone, two lesbian grandmothers (from Mars, Pennsylvania!), ride across mountain ranges, through deserts and across prairies, as they struggle through the mud-slinging of election year politics, hateful protests and even death threats to show America that they're not alien life forms. Their mission: to raise awareness about equal civil marriage rights. G-24 Eiesland Hall, 8:00 p.m. Cosponsored with Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Mountaineers (BiGLTM), the Morgantown chapter of the National Organization for Women and FEM, this event is part of Pride Week. For more information about the film, or to view a trailer, click here.
April 6	Take Back the Night rally and march, cosponsored with FEM. The purpose of the annual Take Back the Night rally and march is to bring together organizations, civic leaders, and individuals from the West Virginia University campus and the Morgantown community to protest violence against women and to promote awareness of the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors which perpetuate this specific type of violence. Take Back the Night rallies have been held throughout the United States since 1978. The first Take Back the Night originated in Germany in 1973 in response to a series of sexual assaults, rapes, and murders. Today, marches are held in numerous cities in the United States, Canada, Latin America, India, and Europe. For more information, contact Lauren Wallace at lewwvu@yahoo.com.
April 8	Mom's Turn to Learn Day, cosponsored with the Council for Women's Concerns. This event provides an opportunity for women interested in beginning or continuing their educations beyond high school to meet with representatives from WVU’s Office of Admissions and Records, Office of Financial Aid, Regents Bachelor of Arts Program (for non-traditional students), Office of International Students and Scholars, and other University offices and programs. Morgantown Mall, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
April 11	West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Ireland: Power Up and Vote! 7:30 p.m., 101 Clark Hall
April 22	Women's Studies Visiting Committee meeting, 1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m., 218 Eiesland Hall.
April 22	Center for Women’s Studies Honors and Awards Ceremony in the Mountainlair's Gold Ballrooml, from 7:00-10:00 p.m. Eveldora Wheeler, a member of the first women’s studies certificate class (1986), will speak. Students, parents, and friends are welcome as we honor graduates and scholarship and award recipients. This event will also recognize the 20th anniversary of the awarding of the first women's studies certificates in 1986. A dessert reception will follow the ceremony. For more information, please contact Barb Howe at 304-293-2339, extension 1155.

PLEASE NOTE

All events are free and open to the public. Our events are made possible by the financial contributions of the many friends of women’s studies at West Virginia University through your generous contributions to our Women’s Studies Program Development Fund.

Additional information will be provided as the schedule continues to develop.

The WVU Center for Women's Studies is committed to serving all attendees with disabilities and adheres to the guidelines set forth in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Attendees with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Dr. Barb Howe by phone at 293- 2339 extension 1155 or by email at barbara.howe@mail.wvu.edu two weeks prior to the event. Request may be received up to the date of the event, but these requests may be denied because of insufficient time to plan and respond.

Updates/reminders of specific Center events can be e-mailed to you on a regular basis. For these updates/reminders, please provide us with your e-mail address by contacting the Center at 304-293-2339 extension 1155 or by e-mailing Barb Howe at barbara.howe@mail.wvu.edu