UNH alumna Nicole Brother said she "fell into women's studies" after she transferred to UNH from Northeastern University. It soon became her second major, in addition to English teaching, and eventually affected her life and career. Currently a high school English teacher, she may teach an entire women's studies course next year, and women's studies is something she always tries to incorporate in her classroom.
"I always incorporate various gender perspectives," she said.
This weekend, Brother, along with other alums, current students, and members of the UNH community, will gather to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of the UNH women's studies program. The celebration will have discussion panels, a dinner and reception, and a keynote address delivered by Cynthia Cohen, a UNH alumna who is now executive director of the Slifka Program in Intercommunal Coexistence at Brandeis University.
Marla Brettschneider, coordinator of the women's studies program, said the purpose of the event is to "celebrate and mark where we are, where we're going, and where we've been."
According to Brettschneider, women's studies and the women's movement have gone a lot of places over the past few decades.
"Compared to 30 years ago, it's not at all the same world," she said.
Brettschneider said women's studies arose out of the women's movement of the seventies and the resulting attention to issues of gender and gender identity. This caused a drive to bring women's studies into academic life. In terms of campus environment, Brettschneider said that general social movements of the time, like the women's movement, needed to be brought to campus. For example, women undergraduates used to have curfews and dress codes, and fewer women faculty were hired. Brettschneider said these "protectionist gender differentials [were] affecting women's capacities to work on campus."
In 1977, UNH became one of the first universities in the country to offer a minor in women's studies. A women's studies major was approved in 1991.
Brettschneider said one of the functions of the women's studies department at UNH is to work with other departments and be a part of the whole university because women's studies is interdisciplinary.
Alumna Angela Borges said women's studies helped her integrate what she was learning in the program with what she was learning outside of it. Now she is enrolled in a Ph.D. program in counseling psychology at Boston College and works as a counselor at a women's college. She said women's studies has become integrated with her passions and is a part of her everyday life.
Undergraduate Brittany Fecteau, who is majoring in women's studies, said her women's studies classes have helped her bring perspectives about gender to her other classes, even if they are not gender focused. She said she has also learned about cultural and class perspectives through the program.
Brettschneider said when interviewing potential keynote speakers, many interviewees said they wished there had been a more structured place for them to do work in women's studies when they attended college.
"The creation of an academic unit is to say, 'These are matters worthy of scholarly attention,'" said Brettschneider. "Gender issues in our lives require scholarly attention."
Cohen said a formal women's studies program "creates a place for women who are working in the world to come back and reflect on what they're doing." She also said people in women's studies programs are strengthened in a context where gender studies are taken seriously.
She also said gender bias is "deeply embedded in our culture" and women's studies plays a role in putting those biases into perspective.
"If students want to think as clearly as possible, they need to become aware of that bias," she said.
Today, women's studies programs have improved and expanded.
"Women's studies programs have become stronger and more stable," said Cohen. She said now there is a "connection between women's studies and other studies in a robust way." She has noticed this in her area of study, which is economic development and sustainability.
"The impact of women's studies is being felt in the international field very strongly," she said, noting it plays a role in refugee and human rights issues.
Brettschneider said over time more people have brought attention to the issues women's studies examines; also, success in the academic field has drawn people to it. But most of all, women's studies remains interesting, dynamic work, she said.
"It continues to be cutting-edge," she said. "It builds on itself."
This can be seen in diversity studies, which is closely connected with women's studies. The recently added queer studies minor was originally created within women's studies, and the two areas remain closely linked. Also, the women's studies department offers the most courses that study issues of race and racism, according to Brettschneider. She said this inherent interest in queer studies, race, and diversity issues in general marks the future of women's studies.
Although women's studies has grown and improved, the journey is not over yet.
"We have a lot more work to do in these areas," Brettschneider said. "You have to keep doing that work, because society isn't static. Society keeps developing and changing."
The anniversary celebration begins today and continues through Saturday. For more information about the celebration, including a schedule of events, and the women's studies program, go to www.unh.edu/womens-studies.
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