Women’s and Gender Studies Colloquium
The Women’s and Gender Studies Colloquium has been happening for over 20 years here at Fairmont State University. “The idea of the class and program is to inform the public, in part, of the many ways that women’s and gender issues pervade a variety of disciplines. They’re relevant to any field of study,” said Dr. Elizabeth Savage, a co-director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, alongside Dr. Robin Payne. This year’s topics that will be discussed will put an emphasis on women in the workplace and economics, but there are many other options that will be explored in the program.
Everyone is welcome to attend the presentations, using the link in the Falcon flyer for the WebEx meeting. Students can register for the Women’s and Gender Studies Colloquium, like any other class. It’s a one-credit hour class, with 8-10 scheduled meetings, each semester. After viewing each meeting, students must complete a response paper. Dr. Savage stated, “I’ve had several students say over the years that they learned a lot about writing from the course, too.” One benefit is additional practice with analytical writing.
Dr. Savage expressed the value of the work and effort of the faculty and students participating in the presentations, “I love the opportunity to connect with other faculty members and getting to see how smart and committed my colleagues are.” She appreciates when students tell her how they have applied what they’ve learned to their specific fields from the presentations.
Last fall, Dr. Savage approached the Provost Office about allocating funds for The Women’s and Gender Studies Program. Provost Rick Harvey decided to allow the Program to run with funds starting with the 2020-21 school year. Interim Provost Rick Stephens decided to continue this idea of funding The Women’s and Gender Studies Colloquium. The team for the Colloquium would like to give a special shoutout to the Provost Office for their work in continuing the growth of the program.
