Women’s Studies and Feminist Alliance Recognition Ceremony Held

Posted by: admin on May 7, 2013, No Comments

The East Stroudsburg University (ESU) Women’s Studies Program and Feminist Alliance held its annual recognition ceremony in the University Center Senate Chambers last week to honor the best students and the best advocates for activism related to women and gender issues.

The Feminist Alliance awarded four Women of Distinction Awards. Honorees were: Maureen Madden, who has been active in feminist issues, received the Community Award; Dr. Nancy Jo Greenwalt, assistant professor, intercollegiate athletics, received the Faculty Award; and the Student Awards were presented to Felicia Revero, a senior majoring in theatre from Sewell, N.J. and Nico Ramirez, a senior majoring in biology from Dingmans Ferry, Pa.

Student scholarships were awarded to Molly Carson, a social work major from East Stroudsburg, Pa.; and Emily Fox, a biochemistry major from Matamoras, Pa. These students are pursuing a minor in women’s studies and have shown a commitment to women and gender issues and activism during their time at ESU. The criteria for these scholarships include a 3.0 GPA overall and completion of nine credits in women’s studies at ESU.

Women’s studies also held an induction ceremony for the Women’s Studies Honors Society, Iota Iota Iota, at the ceremony. Students who have above a 3.0 GPA overall, high achievement in women’s studies courses, completed over 60 credits and a commitment to social justice were inducted into the honors society. The 2013 inductees are: Carson; Hayley Miller, a psychology major from Tobyhanna, Pa.; and Lauren Gilborges, a psychology major from Philadelphia, Pa.
Women’s studies is an interdisciplinary minor at ESU that seeks to recognize the diversity of human experience and examine the interplay of gender, race, class and sexuality by focusing on the experience of women, the concept of gender, and the cultural productions by and about women within different contexts and across various identities and academic disciplines.

Feminist Alliance is an organization formed by women students at ESU to heighten campus awareness about women’s issues and to support a gender equitable climate. It is actively involved in organizing consciousness-raising events for campus and community, including the “Take Back the Night” and the Women of Distinction Awards ceremony.

For more information about the awards, please contact Andrea McClanahan, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the department of communication studies and interim director of women’s studies at 570-422-3697 or amcclanahan@esu.edu.