Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies

WGSS Class Creates Collaborative Feminist Publication

WGSS 2204: Feminisms and the Arts students at UConn Hartford display their final project.
Students from WGSS 2204: Feminisms and the Arts at UConn Hartford proudly present their final project - a feminist newsletter publication. (Photo courtesy Luciana McClure and James O'Donnell)

Nearly 80 students enrolled in two sections of WGSS 2204: Feminisms and the Arts at UConn Hartford worked collaboratively to produce a feminist publication as their fall 2024 final class project.

This hands-on learning experience was led by Luciana McClure, a WGSS adjunct professor, with help from John O’Donnell, an associate professor of art and art history. The classes worked with UConn Prints and Counterproof Press to produce a newsletter from start to finish.

Counterproof Press is a unique collaboration between the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Fine Arts. Founded in 2014, it facilitates projects where students, faculty, visiting artists, and scholars can create limited-edition art objects, artifacts, and publications.

As part of the class, students were introduced to the long history of feminist publications and decentralized publishing, gaining context for their work. Students then worked in groups to focus on themes connecting feminism, arts, and other course topics.

The final project comprised both original and historical texts and images, creating a powerful publication that amplifies the discourse and perspectives of feminism at UConn.

Cover of a feminist publication created by students in WGSS2204: Feminisms and the Arts at UConn Hartford as their final project.
Cover of a feminist publication created by UConn Hartford students in WGSS 2204: Feminisms and the Arts as their final project. (Photo courtesy Luciana McClure and James O'Donnell)

WGSS Co-Sponsors Wonderland Puppet Theater Symposium

A group of participants poses in front of a display of puppets at the Wonderland Puppet Theater Symposium.
From left to Right: Katharine Capshaw, CLAS associate dean and professor of English and social and critical inquiry; Jeffrey Ogbar, professor of history and Africana studies; Paulette Richards, curator and puppetry historian; Vibiana Bowman, Rutgers University; John Bell, director of the Ballard Institute of and Museum of Puppetry; Nancy Naples, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of sociology and social and critical inquiry; Khalilah Brooks, puppeteer, Aunty B’s House; Stephen L. Ross, professor of economics; and Jacqueline Wade, filmmaker and puppeteer.

The Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) Area in the Department of Social and Critical Inquiry co-sponsored the Wonderland Puppet Theater Symposium, which took place Oct. 25-26, 2024.

Hosted by the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, the event offered an interdisciplinary exploration of how puppetry in the U.S. has intersected with the Civil Rights Movement, residential segregation, and the Women’s Movement. It featured several panel discussions; a film screening on African American puppetry; and a keynote by curator Paulette Richards, an adjunct instructor in the UConn School of Fine Arts.

The event was attended by scholars, puppeteers, and activists from across the U.S. and abroad. Participants from the Department included CLAS Associate Dean and Professor Katharine Capshaw and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor Nancy Naples.

Mellon Foundation Awards $100,000 to UConn Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to supporting the arts and humanities, has awarded $100,000 to UConn’s Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) program as part of its “Affirming Multivocal Humanities” initiative.

WGSS Director Sherry Zane and Associate Director Ariana Codr co-wrote the grant proposal that netted the program its first major external grant.

“One of Higher Learning’s core aims is to elevate humanities knowledge that informs more complete and accurate narratives of the human experience and lays the foundation for more just and equitable futures,” wrote Phillip Brian Harper, program director for Higher Learning at the Mellon Foundation, in the call for grant submissions. “The study of race, gender, and sexuality is crucial to this objective, particularly at this pivotal moment in the history of the United States. Indeed, research and teaching in these fields epitomizes the essential exercise of academic freedom within the US higher education system.”

“We are incredibly grateful to the Mellon Foundation for putting together this call,” says Codr. “The Foundation understands that we’re facing a political, social, and economic moment where this kind of work is being devalued, if not actively attacked. It is crucial that programs like WGSS at UConn be maintained and supported if this basic principle of higher education is to be upheld.”

UConn WGSS, formally established in 1974 as UConn Women’s Studies, is an interdisciplinary program housing faculty from various schools and colleges. Over 40 students are currently majoring in WGSS, while upwards of 150 students have declared minors (placing the program in the top 11 minors offered at the university).

But the program’s reach extends beyond these metrics. Hundreds of UConn students annually enroll in WGSS classes to meet general education requirements, round out courseloads, or satisfy lifelong curiosities about systems of oppression and theories of resistance.

“Even though we are a small program, we do a great service to the university by teaching students how to build a supportive and critical scholarly community that advances our understanding of the construction and reproduction of inequity, as well as resistance to it,” says Zane.

“WGSS students are incredibly dedicated,” says Codr. “They find something in our program that I think is sometimes hard to find elsewhere – a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, a sense of hope for change. It’s really nice to have a place where this is recognized.”

WGSS course offerings are diverse, ranging from “Gender and Globalization” to “Black Feminist Politics” to “LGBTQ+ Literature.” The program comprises 14 core faculty members and over 50 affiliated faculty.

Academically, it finds a home amongst other justice-oriented programs that sprang up on university campuses in the late twentieth century, like Africana studies, Asian and Asian American studies, and Latinx studies. At UConn as elsewhere, these offerings were brought about by student protest and demand.

Zane says she is particularly excited to use the funding to expand programming in disability studies. This field is currently gaining academic awareness in much the same way as gender, critical race, and ethnic studies did in the 1960s and 70s.

“We are lucky to have two amazing feminist disability scholars in our program — Laura Mauldin and Brenda Brueggemann — who are working on creating a disability studies minor,” Zane says. “Disability is a feminist issue, and our students recognize disability as part of the human experience, not the exception to it.”

More big things are in store for WGSS too, Zane says, like the development of an MA “Plus One” program (which would allow undergraduate students to earn a master’s degree by taking an additional year of courses after receiving their BA), a possible graduate studies partnership with Spelman college, and a WGSS 50th anniversary celebration this coming March (which, in keeping with the program’s tradition, will feature speaker panels and collaborative discussions).

The no-strings-attached funding from the Mellon Foundation will help the program realize all these goals.

“It reaffirms that there is a community of people, both inside academia and outside, who believe in the importance of this work,” says Codr.

Above all, the funding will help the program support more students, as its course offerings and enrollment numbers continue to expand in student-led directions.

Those students “are the beating heart, and they just bring so much,” Codr says. “That’s why we do it.”

A Look Back, A Look Forward With WGSS

Story reposted from UConn Today

Student chat with each other during a seminar course.
Students in Director Sherry Zane's Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies senior seminar and Associate Director Ariana Codr chat during class in Beach Hall on Feb. 5, 2024. (Sydney Herdle/UConn Photo)

For the uninitiated: WGSS, the acronym for Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at UConn, is affectionately pronounced “wigs” by the students. Housed in Beach Hall, where a cozy lounge offers students a place to connect and recharge, the program is beloved by hundreds of students majoring or minoring in WGSS, as well as its faculty.

Thursday, March 21, and Friday, March 22, will see a celebration marking 50 years since the program’s inception in 1974 — the first formal women’s studies program in the state.

And, true to form, this celebration will foreground complex thought, conversation, and coalition-building.

Scholars from institutions across the country will speak on panels addressing the significance of WGSS for the social and political issues facing the world today.

Alexis De Veaux, a multi-award-winning writer, activist, scholar, and biographer of Audre Lorde, will open the celebration. Later in the day, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, the Anna Julia Cooper professor of women’s studies at Spelman College, and M. Jacqui Alexander, professor emeritus of the University of Toronto’s women and gender studies department, will deliver the keynote conversation.

The event will be titled “The Uses of Anger: WGSS at 50,” in a nod to another significant event in UConn WGSS history.

“The Uses of Anger” Then and Now

In 1981, the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) chose UConn as the host site for its annual conference, bringing together scholars from across the then-emerging discipline of women’s and gender studies. The NWSA organized the conference around the theme of “Women Respond to Racism” and invited Audre Lorde, along with Adrienne Rich, to be the keynote speaker.

Behind the podium at Jorgensen Auditorium, Lorde delivered her famous speech “The Uses of Anger.” In it, she argued for the resignification of anger as an appropriate and human response to racism — and as a source of energy for altering the societal conditions that produce it.

“Anger expressed and translated into action in the service of our vision and our future is a liberating and strengthening act of clarification,” Lorde said.

In 2023, sitting in the lounge beneath a painting of Lorde, a WGSS organizing committee brainstormed a theme for the upcoming celebration. Associate professor in residence and WGSS interim director Sherry Zane, WGSS and English assistant professor Briona Simone Jones, and professor of political science and WGSS affiliate Jane Gordon concluded that learning from “The Uses of Anger,” looking back and looking forward, would make a generative focus.

It was an especially apt choice given Jones’s research specialization — she has worked extensively with Lorde’s oeuvre throughout her career, as a scholar of Black Lesbian thought.

“We wanted to conceive a conference around this particular essay to really scrutinize all of our efforts and be honest about whether we see Audre’s teachings as sort of litanies, or as instruction for how to achieve liberation in the here and now, or if it’s just sort of a conceptual piece of writing and we don’t feel as though we have to be committed to her practices,” Jones says.

Jones’s point is especially relevant given the context of Lorde’s original speech. The NWSA conference had been criticized for refusing to waive fees for low-income attendees, meaning attendance was essentially restricted to middle- and upper-class women. The conference was also predominantly white.

Additionally, while white women could choose from various affinity groups (Jewish women, lesbian women, etc.), Black women and women of color at the conference were all grouped together. The conference organizers encouraged them to all “sit together under a tree and talk about race together,” Zane says. Among them were Lorde, Guy-Sheftall, and bell hooks.

Lorde’s powerful speech was in part motivated by anger over the conference’s treatment of women of color. Speaking to the NWSA, she was acutely aware of how the discipline of women’s studies “has historically been violent against women of color, and Black women specifically,” as Jones notes. In the essay, Lorde emphasized the importance of building coalitions for radical change based on honesty and love for one another.

Imagining Anew

With this history in mind, the organizing committee composed of Gordon, Jones, Elva Orozco Mendoza, and Zane, believe that the WGSS 50th anniversary should ask, “How does Women’s, Gender and Sexuality studies, as a discipline, continue to perpetuate those issues – and how can we revive and reVision our praxis?”

WGSS 50’s “Looking Back” panel will include attendees from the 1981 NWSA conference, including Judith Plaskow, professor emerita of religious studies at Manhattan College; Chela Sandoval, associate professor of Chicana Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara; and Holly Smith, archivist at Spelman College.

In the “Looking Forward” panel, Zane says, intergenerational and transdisciplinary scholars V Varun Chaudhry, PJ Di Pietro, Evren Savci, endawnis Spears, and Jaimee Swift will consider how the discipline can continue to evolve.

“We want to bear witness to that past, so we can move toward a new vision, not just for WGSS program, but for the BIPOC students, faculty, and staff who work and live here,” Zane says. “Transformation is our future, and we’re open to all of the possibilities that brings.”

For the organizing committee, planning the 50th anniversary celebration has offered an opportunity to reflect critically about Lorde’s legacy and how future generations of UConn WGSS scholars can continue to strengthen that legacy.

In the future, Jones says, “I’m hoping that we won’t need these separate disciplines” — like WGSS, Africana Studies, and other social justice-oriented programs — “that the disciplines will actually be able to coalesce around differences. We had to create our own separate disciplines because we were excised from knowledge systems that were dominant.”

She would also like to see “the university not be heralded as the ultimate place where learning is done.”

“We can imagine something anew,” Jones says.

The two-day events are listed on the WGSS website and include several powerhouse speakers; a co-curated art exhibit by graduate and undergraduate students Nikki Blumenfeld, Ruba Bouzan, Urvi Kaul, Anh Le, Alejandra Leos, Georgia Poirot, and Christina Young, and Professors Orozco Mendoza, Gordon, and Zane at the Benton Museum of Art; a career roundtable with WGSS alumni; and a concert on Friday featuring American-Peruvian two-spirit, transgender poet, musician, model, and painter Bobby Sanchez.

Zane invites everyone to continue the celebration through the weekend: the Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) program is hosting IndigiPalooza events, culminating on Sunday with a powwow, also listed on the WGSS @ 50 website.

History of WGSS at UConn

The first women’s studies courses at the University of Connecticut were taught and designed in the 1971-1972 academic year by three women-identified professors. While the courses engaged a women’s studies perspective, they were listed in separate departments and not yet recognized as part of a formal university program. Thus, the official formation and funding of the Women’s Studies Program occurred after two years of persistent organizing, activism, and lobbying, all of which included calls for enforcement of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, negotiations with the administration, the federal affirmative action criteria, student demonstrations, community outreach, and a class action lawsuit.

After these various calls to action, the current Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) Program was established as the Women’s Studies Program at the University of Connecticut in 1974. The first formal program of its kind in the state, it was founded as a flexible interdisciplinary academic program devoted to the critical analysis of gender and the pursuit of knowledge about women.

In 2024, the program celebrated its 50th anniversary and joined the newly established Department of Social and Critical Inquiry, a hub for race, diaspora, empire, transnational, Indigenous, gender, and sexuality studies at UConn.

Components of “Our History” were identified from research conducted by Aimee Loiselle '19 Ph.D.

WGSS Recent Placement: Meaghan Davis

About Meaghan Davis (she & they)

Education 

  • BA History, BS Education, MA Education, University of Connecticut
  • Doctor of Education, Educational Leadership & Equity, New England College
  • Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Graduate Certificate
  • Nonprofit Management Graduate Certificate
  • Human Right to Education Graduate Certificate
  • Peace Studies Graduate Certificate

    Post Graduation

    • Director, First Year Experience at St. Francis College
    • Founder of The BRAVE Institute

    Meaghan Davis

    Testimonial

    "Earning the graduate certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at UConn positioned me well to be an effective leader, lifelong learner, and skilled activist within my work in higher education as well as the nonprofit world. The coursework and community I engaged with during my time in the WGSS program challenged me personally and professionally to (un)learn ways of thinking, doing, and being, which all contribute to reimagining the systems and cultures we all co-create. My experience within the WGSS program helped prepare me to show up for ALL of my students and to co-create spaces with my students that lead to transformation and liberation."

    WGSS Recent Placement: Anna Ziering

    About Dr. Anna Ziering (she/her)

    Education 

    • Ph.D. in English (UConn 2022), with a Graduate Certificate in American Studies and a
      Graduate Certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
    • MA in English (UConn 2017)
    • MFA in Poetry (Boston University, 2015)
    • BA in American Studies (Barnard College 2011)

    Post Graduation

    • Assistant Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, affiliated with African American Studies

    Anna Ziering

    Testimonial

    "Completing the UConn WGSS Graduate Certificate made my interdisciplinary work legible and contributed to my being hired by a WGSS program. My engagement with WGSS at UConn included TAing, teaching as Instructor of Record, and serving as a program assistant. I also received awards including the Wood/Raith Gender Identity Living Trust Fellowship (2021), the Excellence in Graduate Teaching in Women’s Studies Award (2021), and the Susan Porter Benson Graduate Research Award in Feminist Studies (2020). I am grateful to the faculty in the UConn WGSS program who served as mentors and advisors both during my time at UConn and beyond."

    WGSS Alumni Spotlight: Castella Copeland-Smith

    About Castella Copeland-Smith (she/they)

    Education

    • Graduation Year: 2017
    • Major: Political Science, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Human Rights
    • Minor: Urban Studies

    Community Involvement

    • Women's Center Worker
    • Windsor Human Relations Commission
    • The National BLACK Cooperative
    • United States Figure Skating Association (USFSA)

    Post Graduation

    • Master's at UConn Neag School of Education, Educational Psychology CILT
    • Doctorate degree at Liberty University for Educational Leadership
    • Current position: Assistant Director of First Year Experience Program, UConn

    Castella Copeland-Smith

    Testimonial

    "I started off in PreK-12 education shortly after earning my bachelor's degrees. My first career path allowed me to apply skills I learned from WGSS in a way that meaningfully impacted student growth and educational success. WGSS taught me to see the whole person, to listen and understand where students are coming from with empathy. As a teacher, I was able to take these communication skills and mentor students to understanding their sense of identity over time. Guiding students towards empowerment and resilience gave them the tools to find that they have strength to accomplish their goals. WGSS was the next step in my academic and personal identity journey the continued growth across a multitude of platforms. Thanks to my WGSS major, I felt welcomed and was able to lean on my peers, mentors, and find community. Without the skills that I developed through internships, research projects, and presentations with WGSS, I would not be who I am today. I can truly attribute much of my success to the applicable growth from this WGSS program. To this day I still use the skills I have learned as I wrap up my doctoral degree and enter new leadership roles."

    WGSS Alumni Spotlight: Adam Kocurek

    About Adam Kocurek (he/him)

    Education

    • Graduation Year: 2016
    • Major: Dual degree in History and WGSS
    • Minor: English

    Community Involvement

    • VAWPP (Violence Against Women Prevention Program) Peer Facilitator at the Women's Center
    • Resident Assistant for the Residential Life
    • Employed with the Writing Center
    • Internship as a TA for WGSS Professor
    • Internship with Appellate Printing Press

    Post Graduation

    • Ph.D. candidate in History at The CUNY Graduate Center
    • Adjunct lecturer at Hunter College

      Adam Kocurek

      Testimonial

      "I work as a Ph.D. candidate in New York City and teach as an adjunct lecturer at Hunter College. WGSS gave me the supportive academic community and critical thinking and research skills necessary for me to enter my Ph.D. program. The faculty, staff, and other students in WGSS, as well as the other resources on campus like the Writing Center, were instrumental in developing my skills as a budding scholar and educator. The critical feminist pedagogical philosophy and analytical skills I honed through WGSS are highly valued in my work as an educator and researcher, and I credit the mentors I had in WGSS for getting me to where I am today. My advice to current WGSS students is to take full advantage of all the resources available to you at the university, take on as many classes and internship opportunities as possible to broaden your mind and professional spheres, and take the initiative to forge community with your peers. Be kind and generous with yourself, as with others."

      WGSS Alumni Spotlight: Holly Crouse (Sansolo)

      About Holly Crouse (Sansolo) (she/her)

      Education

      • Graduation Year: 2011
      • Major: Human Development and Family Studies
      • Minor: Women's Studies

        Post Graduation

        • Director of Client Success, Enterprise at Indeed.com

        Holly Crouse

        Testimonial

        "My background in WGSS continues to play a valuable role in my daily interactions with colleagues and my overall career. As the leader of a department with 50+ employees, I am responsible for upholding Indeed’s mission of creating the best working environment and fostering inclusivity within my team. Recognizing the intersectionality of the individuals I oversee lies at the heart of leading with empathy and ensuring my team's well-being in the workplace.

        In addition to my leadership role, I actively participate in Indeed’s Inclusion Business Resource Group, Women at Indeed. The goal of this group is to establish Indeed as the model for gender equality in both culture and product offerings. This blends together the functional work I do in the business with my own personal passions and ideals.

        My foundation in WGSS has been pivotal in helping me understand my role as a woman in leadership and in supporting other women in my workplace. I consider myself fortunate to work for a company that prioritizes inclusion and places these conversations at the forefront of our work. For students considering WGSS coursework, there are valuable skills that can be applied to career advancement, distinguishing oneself in the workplace, and fostering a better environment for colleagues."