After 32 years of teaching and service at UIS and SSU, Pat is retiring at the end of this academic year. A feminist and a lawyer, she played a significant role in moving Women's Studies from a committee in the late seventies to an academic unit offering a minor in the early 1980s. Long time chair of the Women & Gender Studies, Pat has taught many classes including her most recent and highly popular class on sexual orientation. Over three decades, she has also taught women and social movements, feminist theories, and women and law, to name a few.
Pat also has a long history as the leader of the faculty, first through collective bargaining in the mid 1980s and then the Campus Senate. She has been a strong advocate for faculty, staff and students. When SSU became UIS, Pat represented the UIS campus and faculty as a member and then chair for a year of the University Senates Conference, a three campus body of faculty working with the UI President, Vice Presidents, and the Board of Trustees. Not only does she take with her in retirement a deep knowledge of institutional history, she has created history for the institution. Her career provides an exemplary model for those of us left behind--a model of campus engagement and devoted excellence in teaching. We will miss her greatly.
Women & Gender Studies is delighted to welcome Dr. Michael Murphy to the faculty of UIS. He will help expand LGBTQ studies in the department. Dr. Murphy received a Ph.D. in Art History and Archaeology from the Washington University in St. Louis in 2006 with a Graduate Certificate in Women and Gender Studies with an emphasis on US visual culture, and B.A. from Iowa in Art History. His research and teaching interests include feminist approaches to visual and popular culture; critical men's and masculinity studies; GLBTQ Studies/Queer theory; and rape and sexual assault prevention programs. He has published "Can 'Men' Stop Rape: Gender Ideologies in the 'My Strength Is Not for Hurting' Campaign" in the peer reviewed journal Men and Masculinities and numerous conference presentations. He has worked with students as an advisor and trainer for the student group Men Organized for Rape Education and has been active in "Dialogue on Race."
Dr. Murphy will teach WGS 301: Women, Gender & Society and WGS 460: Masculinities in the Fall 2009 semester. Many students are familiar with 301, but Masculinities is a brand new course for UIS.
WGS 460: Masculinities is an introductory and inter-disciplinary survey of the study of men and masculinities primarily in the contemporary United States. Major themes are gender, power, and male privilege; the utility of the plural term ‘masculinities’; the social construction of masculinities; masculine cultures of sports, war, and violence; masculinity in popular culture; and alternative masculinities.
Heather Dell is going on sabbatical leave for the Spring 2010 semester. As many students know, Heather is an expert on colonialism and globalization. She'll use her sabbatical to study globalization from the capitalist/imperialist side, increasing her knowledge on British history and the spoils of colonialism.
Look for new publications from Hinda Seif and Debbie McGregor coming soon. They've both been busy writing away in between classes.
Kris Bein, graduate assistant, is graduating and leaving WGS this semester. Graduate students--or those starting graduate studies at UIS next year--who are interested in a challenging and rewarding assistantship should contact the Graduate Assistantship Program for information on how to apply.
Congratulations, Mattilou!
Mattilou Catchpole recently was one of 18 recipients of the prestigious President's Call to Service Award, which was presented by Health Volunteers Overseas. One of our emerita faculty in Women and Gender Studies, Catchpole has made 21 trips to 17 developing countries since 1990. She has taught anaesthesia to nurses in countries that are in need of vital health care training and educational support services.
McGregor Delivers Lecture on Ecology of Childbirth
October 2006: Dr. Deborah Kuhn McGregor, in conjunction with the UIS Women's Center, presents a lecture on her work, titled
The Ecology of Childbirth: Vitamin D Deficiency Rickets and Cesarean Section. In this work, McGregor explains the history of obstetric medicine in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when doctors first began developing cesarean section surgery.
Read more about Dr. McGregor>>
