Transdisciplinary, Transgressive, Transformative
The Department of Women’s Studies at TWU offers an exciting multicultural curriculum that integrates diverse perspectives and critically applies feminist/womanist scholarship on behalf of social justice.
TWU is the largest public university primarily for women in the United States and one of the most diverse institutions of higher education in the nation.
Degrees & Certificates
Undergraduate Class for Summer III, 2013
WS 3023.01, Summer III, 2013, (July 8-August 9)
MTWTH, 10:10 a.m.-12:10 p.m.
New Graduate Course for Fall 2013
Art, Activism, and Social Justice, WS 5043.01, Fall 2013
W, 2:30-5:20 p.m.
Why Women's Studies?
Find out why undergraduate students appreciate their multicultural-women's studies courses.
Watch the Why Women's Studies slideshow.
Women's Studies News
Congratulations to Darci McFarland and Daisy Salinas for being recipients of Nancy Johnson Coyle Scholarship 2013-2014!
Women's Studies master's students, Darci McFarland and Daisy Salinas, were the recipients of this year's Nancy Johnson Coyle Scholarship. The Nancy Johnson Coyle Endowment Fund is the first named scholarship for a Women's Studies Degree in the State of Texas and is an appropriate legacy for a memorable woman. She came from a family of "strong women" and was in the process of pursuing her degree at TWU when she took her first Women's Studies course. Family and friends remember her sense of humor, her enthusiasm for the knowledge that she gained in the course, and for the empowerment of women the program endorsed. Friends remember her as someone who encouraged women to return to college for degree work. Jim Damico, Nancy's cousin, embarked on a benefit bicycle ride in April, 2001, to raise funds for her memorial.
Congratulations to Dr. Claire Sahlin, Chair of Women’s Studies, for being the recipient of this year’s Cornaro Award!
Women’s Studies Chair, Dr. Claire Sahlin, is the recipient of the 2013 Cornaro Award for distinguished teaching and outstanding commitment to scholarship and the advancement of learning. This TWU award was established in 1978 and is named for Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia, the first woman in history to receive the doctoral degree (from the University of Padua, Italy, in 1678). It is the highest honor paid to a senior faculty member at TWU.
Ph.D. student in women’s studies, Ms. Lauren Cross, is a recipient of a Third Annual Visionary Award from The Fort Worth Weekly for her multimedia art and for founding a new gallery that exhibits the work of women artists of color. Here is the Fort Worth Weekly description of Lauren Cross and her award: http://www.fwweekly.com/2013/03/20/third-annual-visionary-awards/. She was selected by nearly 30 people, including local curators, artistic directors, gallery owners, and art educators to be one of three artists to win this award.
Lindsay Robertson, Ph.D. student in women's studies, was accepted into the School of Criticism and Theory at Cornell University for their six-week summer seminar in June-July 2013, where she will be studying with Professor Jane Bennett of Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Danielle Phillips, Assistant Professor of women's studies recently presented a paper entitled "In Search of Aunt Jemimas: Irish immigrant and African American Domestic Workers in New York, 1880-1930" at the 10th Annual Collegium for African American Research at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Women's Studies Susan Harper (M.A. student) and Susan Schmitt (Ph.D. student) presented at the Black Transmen Annual Conference (BTMI) in Dallas, Texas. Their presentation was titled, "Teaching Trans*: Pedagogies for Gender Inclusive Educational Spaces.”
Congratulations to Jessica Spain Sadr (Ph.D.student,) who was selected as a 2013 Chancellor's Student Research Scholar. The scholars program honors outstanding achievement by select students in research and creative art endeavors.
Women’s Studies Assistant Professor, Dr. Agatha Beins, received the Travel-To-Collections Funds research grant from Smith College Libraries for her research on feminist activism in the 1970s.
Women's Studies M.A. student, Elizabeth Rodriguez recently participated in a conference for the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies Organization entitled: "NACCS XL Advancing from Sea to Shining Si: Learning from Our Past, Defending Our Rights in the 21st Century." Elizabeth participated in a roundtable presentation titled: Survival is Not Enough: Learning from the Past--Guerrilleras de Amor Re-humanizing, Re-membering and Healing the Self/Community through Decolonial Acts of Love. For more information on the conference: http://www.naccs.org/naccs/default.asp
Dr. Claire L. Sahlin, professor and chair of women’s studies, is a 2013 Women Leading Greater Good honoree, recognized for her “selfless service and authentic leadership in transforming lives and communities.” The Women Leading Greater Good Forum is the Faith & Philanthropy Institute’s new initiative for “exceptional women leaders from all three sectors of society – social, business, and government – working to advance solutions to today’s social issues” (http://www.fpiweb.org/wlggf_honorees.asp).
On February 18, Dr. AnaLouise Keating, professor of women’s studies, was the keynote speaker for the Keynote for the Undergraduate Literature and Creative Writing Conference at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Her talk was titled “Transforming Status-Quo Stories: Gloria Anzaldúa’s Revolutionary Thought.” Dr. Keating also gave a talk on invitational pedagogies for the university faculty.
Women's studies assistant professor, Dr. Agatha Beins co-authored with Julie Enszer an article, "'We Couldn’t Get Them Printed,' So We Learned to Print: Ain’t I a Woman? and the Iowa City Women’s Press," forthcoming in Frontiers: A Journal of Women's Studies.
