Our faculty come to Gender & Women's Studies by various paths and with diverse interests. These women care deeply about what they teach, and inspire and empower students every day.
"I remain convinced today, as I was the day I arrived at Minnesota State Mankato, that this is a great place to do gender & women's studies. The institutional support, the vibrant student culture, and the collegial atmosphere make this a wonderful place for feminists to work, study, and create social change."
Professor & Chair of Gender & Women's Studies
MSU faculty member since 1999
Current research: "Manfood," exploring the depiction of masculinity on the Food Network
Activist: issues include rape crisis advocacy and LGBT rights work
Non-profit: on the board of directors of Committee Against Domestic Abvuse (CADA)
Author: Rape on the Public Agenda: Feminism and the Politics of Sexual Assault (Northeastern University Press, 2000)
Author: numerous articles and book chapters on gender-based violence and LGBT politics
Global student: Los Angeles, Scotland, Michigan, San Francisco.
Innovator: created an educational outreach program about women's lives internationally for underserved communities as a Fellow the International Museum of Women in San Francisco
Researcher: intertwining of the familial and the imperial in the British Caribbean from the nineteenth-century to the present and feminist mothering
Teacher: graduate and undergraduate courses on Global Feminism and international issues
Specialty: global feminist theory and analysis
Essayist: topics include contemporary Caribbean culture and mothering
Co-editor: Before Windrush: Recovering an Asian and Black Literary Heritage Within Britain (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2008); Mothers Who Deliver: Feminist Interventions in Public and Interpersonal Discourse (SUNY Press, 2010)
Ph.D.: English and Women's Studies, University of Michigan
Research interests include the ways in which reproductive technologies intersect with ideologies of race, family formation, and reproductive rights. She has presented her research at numerous conferences, and has published essays on reproduction and representations of motherhood in peer-reviewed journals and an anthology. Her current research project examines the gendered and racialized implications of cross racial gestational surrogacy.
Educational Facilitator: Teaching undergraduate courses like Introduction to Gender, Global Perspectives on Women and Change.
Mentor: Contributing to student growth and development through informal and formal student mentoring.
Research: the combined effects of race, gender, and sexuality on Black same-sex-attracted and gender-nonconforming women's experiences, particularly resilient responses to discrimination
Activism: co-founder of All My Children Project, promoting the health and well-being of Black LGBTQQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning) persons, their families, and communities through social justice research and programs.
Teaching: Black Women, Family and Society; Feminist Pedagogy and other graduate and undergraduate courses Professional Service: 2010-2011 President-Elect for the Southeastern Women's Studies Association (SEWSA); reviewer for the Journal of Homosexuality
Selected Publications: (in press). African American lesbian identity management and identity development in the context of family and community. Journal of Homosexuality; (2009). Reframing the power of Black lesbians' relationships with mothers through Black feminist theory. Special Issue: Examining the Lives of GLBTQ of Color. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, 24(3/4).
Ph.D.: Child and Family Development, University of Georgia with Women's Studies Graduate Certificate
Maria Bevacqua
Jocelyn Fenton Stitt
Laura Harrison
Shannon J. Miller