News and Events
02/25/2025: Upcoming event - Rae Garringer reading and book signing
Please join GWS and the Appalachian Studies program for an evening with author, oral historian, and podcaster Rae Garringer, who will be discussing their recent book Country Queers: A Love Story beginning at 6:00 pm Tuesday, February 25 in the Beacon Heights Room (417) in the Plemmons Student Union. We're looking forward to seeing you there!
02/14/2025: New article by GWS Assistant Professor Annu Daftuar
Congratulations to Annu Daftuar, Assistant Professor in GWS on the recent publication of her article titled "In the Aftermath of the 2015 Surrogacy Ban: Co-optation of Feminist Ideas in the Indian Surrogacy Market," which appears in the Journal of International Women's Studies. The article explicates how feminst ideas about surrogacy as a form of labor have been appropriated by the Indian surrogacy market for very different ends, ones that do not center the lives of surrogates themselves, but rather the business interests of clinics. The article is available for download here. We're so glad to have the opportunity to learn from Dr. Daftuar's important work!
01/29/2025: GWS minor Jaidyn Toomey profiled in The Appalachian
We were delighted to read the recent profile of GWS minor Jaidyn Toomey in The Appalachian, our university newspaper. The profile, written by student journalist Omar Alvarez Valencia, centers on Jaidyn's work as the creative director for another student publication, the fashion magazineThe Collective. In her role as creative director, Jaidyn brings together her thinking as a major in Apparel Design and Merchandising and a minor in GWS, cultivating content that represents the full range of Appalachian's community. She works closely with models of all body types, ethnicities, and genders who get to participate collaboratively in their representation. As Jaidyn points out in the article, fashion has tended to be dominated beauty standards that prioritized certain bodies, but this can be changed: “It’s so important for people to be able to look into the pages of a fashion magazine and see themselves represented as someone who is art, who is fashionable, who is beautiful," she says. Read more about Jaidyn and her collaborators in the article, available at this link.
01/28/2025: Congratulations to the 2025 Triota inductees
On January 28, Appalachian State's newly formed Zeta Theta Chapter of Iota, Iota, Iota (Triota), the national honor society for Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies, inducted its first class of members. These students are recognized for their academic excellence and uncommon commitment to the field of Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies. 2025 inductees were Nbonleah Kaifan Bailey, Iona Blackburn, Taylor Carnevale-Somersett, Charlotte Fuselier, Jean Carlos Gonzalez, Bryan Herpfer, Josie Kelman, Kaitlyn Kitchen, Sydney McDonald, Rachel Merritt, Kayla Norris, Morgan Scarborough, Emma Shelby, Hope Spurlock, Margaret Stoffregen, Jaidyn Toomey, Crystal Wall, Emma Wanner, and Sara Woltz. The GWS progam is proud to recognize the acheivements of all of these students--it has been our sincere joy to support their work! For more on our Triota chapter, including how to apply, follow this link.
01/19/2025: GWS affiliated faculty member Sarah J. Greenwald featured in podcast profiling women in STEM
A recent episode of the podcast "Project Root to STEM" profiles GWS affiliated faculty Sarah J. Greenwald. Project Root to STEM was developed to inspire female-identifying students to enter STEM fields in order to narrow their traditional gender gaps. In each episode, Fiona Schweig, who is carrying out the project for her Girl Scout Gold Award, interviews an inspiring woman in STEM. Her aim is to connect students to positive female role models and create a new generation of female scientists, mathematicians, and engineers who will lead the way to an equal future. You can listen to the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. We're delighted to see Dr. Greenwald profiled--and exicted about Fiona Schweig's project!
01/08/2025: Congratulations to GWS affiliated faculty member Sarah J. Greenwald!
The journal PRIMUS: Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies recently released its "Editor's Picks" from 2024, and highlighted the excellent work accomplished in the special issue on "Promoting Women in Mathematics" (34.5), guest edited by GWS affiliated faculty member Sarah J. Greenwald (Professor, Mathematics) and Judy Holdener. In their assessment, the journal editors noted that "Guest Editors do a lot of exciting work in recruiting high quality papers focused on topical themes for PRIMUS, and we are often spoiled for choice in terms of excellent special issues when selecting papers from special issues that we would like to amplify." Nonetheless, they settled on “Strengthening the STEM Pipeline for Women: An Interdisciplinary Model for Improving Math Identity,” by V. Akin, S. T. Santillan & L. Valentino, which was in Dr. Greenwald and her co-editor's excellent special issue. The article is available here. Congratulations to Dr. Greenwald on this recognition!
09/12/2024: Upcoming event - welcome back pizza party
Please join the GWS program on Thursday, September 12 in 205 LLA (the Great Hall) for a pizza party! We're looking forward to welcoming our majors and minors back to campus, and to continuing to build GWS community. Let us feed you!
07/11/2024: GWS minor Juno Ormond participates in Mellon-funded workshop on feminist, queer, and antiracist advocacy
GWS minor Juno Ormond was selected to participate in SCHEME, a workshop for students interested in organizing and advocacy from feminist, antiracist, and queer perspectives. SCHEME was hosted by the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies program at UNC - Greensboro and funded by the Mellon Foundation's Grant for "Affirming Multivocal Humanities." Read more about the workshop here--and congratulations to Juno!
06/24/2024: GWS major Katie Kitchen awarded Tom Regan visiting research fellowship
GWS BA major Katie Kitchen was named a Tom Regan Visiting Research Fellow at NC State University in Summer 2024--the first undergraduate to ever win this award! The Tom Regan Visiting Research Fellowships are sponsored by the Culture and Animals Foundation. They provides four weeks of research time at the NC State Special Collections Research Center, which house one of the nation's most comprehensive collections of materials on animal rights and animal welfare. Read more about Katie's research project on the history of feminism and animal rights activism here. Congratulations, Katie!
05/11/2024: GWS celebrates 37 Spring 2024 graduates from its major and minors
GWS toasts its graduates! We had 32 students who graduated across our three minors (in GWS, LGBT Studies' and Girls' Studies) in Spring 2024, and six BA majors finish their degrees this academic year: Lily Bryson (a December 2023 graduate), Elizabeth Lassiter, Hallie McCagg, Delaney Rothschild-Ely, Gabrielle Secker, and Max Story, who was selected as our Outstanding Student Award winner this year. In addition, no fewer than four LGBT Studies or GWS minors won this award from other programs! We are thrilled for all of you--and keep us posted on your new adventures!
03/30/2024: GWS students Gabrielle Secker, Trey Best, and Gaea Polanik present at WGS South conference
Three GWS students--major Gabrielle Secker, GWS minor Trey Best, and GWS 2421 student Gaea Polanik--presented work at the WGS South Conference, which was hosted this year by the Center for Women's and Gender Studies at the University of South Carolina - Upstate. Gabrielle presented her work on "The Role of Disability and Feminism in Social Change: A Restful Critique of Nonprofit Labor." Trey delivered a talk titled "Disorientation and Disruption: Queer Phenomenology in the Face of Climate Catastrophe." Gaea workshopped "Disability and Pleasure: Rethinking Sexual Education" as part of the conference's student caucus. Student travel was supported by GWS and IDS, the University Honors College, and a grant from the CAS SAFE Fund.