Women’s & Gender Studies

Graduation

2020-2021

We are so proud of all you've done to achieve this impressive accomplishment during these most challenging times. Periods of crisis and change do sometimes reveal social and political fissures and make space for significant change and upheaval. I hope that what you have learned during your time with us in Women's and Gender Studies has provided you with tools to seize opportunities that come your way, and to create opportunities yourself, as we work toward building equitable communities for all.

– KRISTIN PITT, WGS CHAIR AND FACULT Y MEMBER

Congratulations to Graduates Completing the WGS Degrees and Certificates Spring 2020

Undergraduates

Natalie Bagniefski

Haley Bass

Maggie Bochniak

Alexis Bottomley

Brooke Gardiner

Catherine Hammerel

Lily Khang

Katie Maedke-Hall

Patricia Mendoza

Alondra Mercado

Jessica Rutowski

Hope Williams

Graduates

Molly Bell

Jessica Johnston

c nelson

Megan Orcholski

Gurkirat Sekhon

To our community members upon your graduation – celebrate, feel joy if you can, feel relief, recognize the way you navigated challenges and successes, honor your feminist labors and feel pride in your choice to engage in social justice education during a time when our society needs thought leaders like you!

– MELINDA BRENNAN, WGS ASSISTANT CHAIR AND UNDERGRADUATE ADVISOR

Congratulations to Graduates Completing the WGS Degrees and Certificates Summer 2020

Undergraduate

Susanna Aman

Emil Flores Farley

Katelynn Naud

Blia Vue

Graduate

Sarah Cooke

Abraham Harrison Lincoln Larkoh

M. Estrella Sotomayor

Congratulations! The past year has been difficult, you navigated through it and excelled. I am very proud of you all!!

– XIN HUANG, WGS DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE STUDIES (DGS) AND FACULT Y MEMBER

Congratulations to Graduates Completing the WGS Degrees and Certificates Fall 2020

Undergraduate

Eleanor Clement

Tori Freund

Alexcis Gember

Najwan Hammad

Daizy Liskowitz

Audrey Waln

Graduate

Charmaine Lang

Celebrate!!! To graduate is an amazing accomplishment. Doing it in these extraordinary times is heroic. As much as you can, enjoy the good things that happened. Don't lose touch with your friends and teachers. Be so very proud of yourselves.

– GWYNNE KENNEDY, WGS FACULT Y MEMBER, FORMER WGS CHAIR AND ACTING CHAIR, FORMER WGS DGS

Congratulations to Graduates Completing the WGS Degrees and Certificates Spring 2021

Undergraduate

Dunia Amer

Catherine Beeman

Kendra Bisping

Rebecca Cepek

Sophia Dimmer

Katy Gabryelczyk

Meghan Garvin

Fallon Kennedy

Hailee Losser

Marissa McMiller

Cecelia Murphy

Lindsey Needham

Johanna Nevin

Abdikadir Said

Al Schefft

Alexandra Schloemer

Sarah Ugoretz

Emma Weber

Graduate

Chelsea Embree

Lizzie Hjelle

Katie Klein

Melissa Monier

Jamee Pritchard

John Thurgood

Beth Vigoren

Your community needs you and supports you! -- Nancy Bird-Soto, WGS faculty affiliate

You're better equipped for the world than you think you are. You're exactly where you need to be, and I'm really proud of you. – Nataley Neuman, WGS mentor, alum

KEEP PUSHING FOR WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN AND WHAT YOU THINK IS IMPORTANT. – LIZZIE HJELLE, WGS MA /MLIS

Undergraduate Paper and Project

First Place - Tasha Berillo

Islamic Feminism: Blurring the Lines Between Binaries

Second Place - Meghan Garvin

The Representation of Women in the Media: An Exploration of Gender Expectations in Advertising

Honorable Mention - Annabella D'Amore

Eurocentric Demonization and Sexualization of the Native Woman

You made it!! -- Charmaine Lang, PhD African and African Diaspora Studies, WGS Graduate Certificate

Very proud of you all for persevering and making it through, you deserve to celebrate! -- Lizzie Hjelle, WGS MA/MLIS

You are all amazing and will do great things. There is nothing stopping you in this world and I am so proud of you and everything you have done. – Abby, WGS undergraduate student

FEMINIST STUDIES ARE AT THE CORE OF INTERSECTIONAL LIBERATION. – NANCY BIRD-SOTO, WGS FACULT Y AFFILIATE

Graduate Paper and Project

First Place - Jamee Pritchard

Reading the Black Romance: Exploring Black Sexual Politics in the Romance Fiction of Rebekah Weatherspoon

Second Place Tie - Melissa Monier

Digital Nostalgia: An Analysis of Blackness, Beauty Culture, and Feminized Digital Labor on Instagram Account @rewindbeauties

Second Place Tie - Emily Vavra

The World of Girls: Anger in Representations of Female Friendships

I have kept Maya Angelou's quote in my office where I can see it at my desk: "Nothing will work unless you do." It reminds me when I'm tired or hoping someone else will do something instead, that positive change means not sitting by (even if you want to) but keeping positive and taking action. – Gwynne Kennedy, WGS faculty member, former WGS Chair, former WGS DGS

"Revolution begins with the self, in the self" by Toni Cade Bambara. It is a reminder to always work on self, and to practice my feminist values. -- Charmaine Lang, PhD African and African Diaspora Studies, WGS Graduate Certificate

FEMINIST STUDIES ARE IMPERATIVE IN UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD. – NATALEY NEUMAN, WGS MENTOR, ALUM

Healy Award

Undergraduate

First Place - Elizabeth Charney

Second Place - Olivia Dimmer

Graduate

First Place - Xueyou Wang

Second Place - Alexandra Rodriguez

“There are times when personal experience keeps us from reaching the mountain top and so we let it go because the weight of it is too heavy. And sometimes the mountain top is difficult to reach with all our resources, factual and confessional, so we are just there, collectively grasping, feeling the limitations of knowledge, longing together, yearning for a way to reach that highest point. Even this yearning is a way to know.” ― bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. I always find inspiration and comfort in the writings of bell hooks, especially when my feminist flame is burning low. This book as a whole helped me get through graduate school during the days when I wanted to give up. -- Lizzie Hjelle, WGS MA/MLIS

THIS IS NOT JUST A WOMAN'S FIELD. FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY AND IT IS EVERYWHERE. WE NEED TO LEARN ABOUT THE INS AND OUTS OF IT IF WE EVER WANT TO CHANGE THE WORLD. – ABBY, UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT

Casey O'Brien Award

Undergraduate

Awardee - Hannah Skroch

Honorable Mention - Meghan Garvin

Graduate

Awardee - Katie Klein

Honorable Mention - Xueyou Wang

“Be awesome or don't bother” (Erin Matson, executive director of Reproaction). -- Nataley Neuman, WGS mentor, alum

"None of us are free until all of us are free" - because it's true. -- Chelsea Embree, graduate student

“Men often ask me, Why are your female characters so paranoid? It’s not paranoia. It’s recognition of their situation.” -Margaret Atwood I like this quote because in her books she depicts women as women and men always question why they act like that. When in reality women have the right to be scared and paranoid because of the tragic events that happen when being a woman. It really shows that their is a lot to learn in this society and she is my favorite author so everything she says is powerful to me. -- Abby, undergraduate student

IF YOU WANT TO SHARPEN YOUR ANALYSIS, INVEST YOUR TIME IN FEMINIST STUDIES. – CHARMAINE LANG, PHD AFRICAN AND AFRICAN DIASPORA STUDIES, WGS GRADUATE CERTIFICATE

MPS Essay Contest:Wisconsin Women Making History

High SchoolFirst – Gabriella Hartlaub – Subject: Vel Phillips

Ronald Reagan HS Second –Alexa Romero – Subject: Vel Phillips

Ronald Reagan HS

Middle SchoolFirst – Samia Bell – Subject: Vel Phillips

Grantosa Drive SchoolSecond – Rowan Kennedy – Subject Mildred Fish Harnack

Golda Meir Upper CampusThird – Tuleen Abufares – Subject: Laurel Clark

Victory Italian Immersion School

Honorable MentionsEdwin Longbranch – Subject: Women's History – Ninety-fifth Street School

Taylor Harris – Subject: Kabzuag Vaj – Ninety-fifth Street SchoolAntonio Ramirez – Subject: Sherina Smith – Ninety-fifth Street School

Feminist studies constantly changes, so my feminism is not your feminism is not your feminism, but one thing that connects us, I think, is the conviction that the future can be different and better, however we understand that in our moments. So to future generations: Treasure the interdisciplinarity of feminist studies (these places are rare). Be both critical of and generous to those who came before you. Take the history of feminist studies (its writings, creativity, praxes) with you, as a lineage, not a burden, as you move toward your own future. – Gwynne Kennedy, WGS faculty member, former WGS Chair, former WGS DGS

“WHEN I DARE TO BE POWERFUL, TO USE MY STRENGTH IN THE SERVICE OF MY VISION, THEN IT BECOMES LESS AND LESS IMPORTANT WHETHER I AM AFRAID.” – AUDRE LORDE