Friday, November 06, 2009
Annual conference dedicated to women
The 9th annual Red River Women’s Studies Conference will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The conference is an annual interdisciplinary women’s studies conference about the workplace, community, arts, family, medicine, sports, law, business, science and media.
The keynote speaker will be Dr. Cynthia Norton, professor of biology and women’s studies at the Center for Women, Science and Technology at St. Catherine University.
Her discussion is titled, “Intersections of Science and Gender: Possibilities for Collaboration and Transformation.”
Some of the sessions include: The Barbie Modification Project, Native American Issues and Historical Perspectives on Gender and Sexuality.
Sessions are presented by faculty members as well as previous and current students.
The conference began at MSUM and is attended each year by roughly 200 students from MSUM, NDSU, Concordia, UND, Winona State, St. Cloud State, MSU Mankato, Metro State and other area universities.
The conference rotates each year between MSUM, NDSU and UND.
The event is open to anyone, and attendees should register on the morning of the event, which will be held in the CMU.
The MSUM women’s studies program started in 1971 and provides an interdisciplinary study of women from the perspectives of the arts, humanities, social and
natural sciences.
The conference is centered on something the women’s studies department has been focusing on for quite some time now: women entering scientific fields of study.
A new course at MSUM, titled Inclusive Sciences: Women, Gender and Science, has been approved and is part of the newly proposed certificate in women’s studies.
“Some of the things we focus on include how and why women are fewer in certain fields of study and how gender is constructed,” said. Laurie Blunsom, director of women’s studies. “We look at the images of women, most of which are not positive, and how they could be changed.”
A major or minor in women’s studies can provide many opportunities for graduates.
“Some students go into non-profit work such as First-Link and Planned Parenthood,” Blunsom said. “Others choose to go to graduate school to further their education in different areas of study such as English or Sociology.”