http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/womens-studies/

Director, 2011-12: Judy Kutulas (History), U.S. Women's History, media, culture

Faculty, 2011-12: David Booth (Religion), theology; Maggie A. Broner (Romance Languages), Hispanic and applied linguistics, Spanish in the U.S. (on leave); Laurel Carrington (History), medieval, Renaissance and Reformation; Karen Cherewatuk (English), Anglo Saxon, medieval literature; Devyani Chandran (Social Work and Family Studies), family studies, social policy, research; Jenny Dunning (English), creative writing; Karen Gervais (Philosophy) philosophy and feminism; Jan C. Hill (English), writing, children's literature, journalism; Abdulai Iddrisu (History), African history, Islam, gender; Anna Kuxhausen (History), Russian and European history, Russian studies; Diane LeBlanc (Interdisciplinary Studies), writing, women's studies, American studies; Naurine Lennox (Social Work and Family Studies), social work practice, field education, Mexico (fall semester and Interim only); Bruce Nordstrom-Loeb (Sociology/Anthropology), gender, family, race and class (on leave spring semester); Dolores Peters (History), France, modern Europe, gender; Rebecca Richards (English), rhetoric, composition, and transnational gender studies; Sherry Saterstrom (Dance), dance/movement technique, somatic studies, improvisation ensemble; Ryan Sheppard (Sociology/Anthropology), family, gender, race/ethnicity, social movements, quantitative research; Corliss Swain (Philosophy), Hume, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, value theory; Nancy Thompson (Art and Art History), art history; Mary Trull (English), 16th- and 17th-century literature.

 

Judy Kutulas

I was born and raised in California, earning my BA at Berkeley and my PhD at UCLA.  I am an historian by training, but also teach in the American Studies and Film Studies programs.  I am writing a book on the culture of the 1970s, with chapters that look at feminism, romance, gay TV, and men's fashion.  I am married to another St. Olaf historian, Michael Fitzgerald, and we have two young adult sons.  In my spare time I run, read, and cook; I am also a member of the Northfield Arts Guild ceramics studio.

 

Jan Hill

I teach courses in writing, journalism, and children’s literature in the English department; I also teach a first-year seminar in story telling.

In my home life, I like to write personal essays, play guitar, sew and crochet. In summer, I would go camping from June to August if possible, ideally with the canoe and bikes, but I’m also happy to tend the vegetable garden and try to put up as much as possible for winter.

I came of age during what was called the women’s liberation movement, and was struck practically speechless by Betty Freidan’s The Feminine Mystique when, as a very young, still-in-college, traditionally brought-up woman, I started raising a family myself. No book has had a more profound effect on my thinking.

I am equally excited by the energy, intellectual passion and earnest caring of young feminists of all genders. Those of us whose ideas are rooted in the second wave have much to learn from third wave feminists—and definitely from all of you, our students, whether you identify as feminist or not. Women’s studies is, among other things, a collaboration across generations that is very much dependent on listening to everyone’s story with an open heart.

Diane LeBlanc

I teach writing, women’s studies, and American studies. I also direct the writing program.

I discovered women’s and gender studies as an undergraduate at St. Michael’s College in the mid-1980s. There were no courses in these areas, so I took many courses with professors who integrated these perspectives into literature and history courses.

My areas of interest include contemporary poetry and poetics, book arts, creative nonfiction, and feminist and gender theory. Women’s Studies seminars have included Third Wave Theory and Feminist Perspectives on Work and Family.

Becca Richards

I am a professor of English, but I also teach courses in Women’s Studies, Media Studies, and the Writing Program. My doctorate is in Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English, meaning that I specialize in written communication and the negotiation of meaning between speaker/writer and audience.

I went to K-12 school in Ohio, college in Indiana (Butler University), study abroad in France (Université de Nancy II), and graduate school in Arizona (University of Arizona). 

I am interested in transnational feminisms, gender and queer theories, women’s political rhetoric and writing, and antiracist feminist coalitional building. I’d have to admit that my interest in women’s studies emerged when I was a child watching Madonna very transparently perform and manipulate gendered identities. Then, as a teenager, I was brought more consciously into feminism through the Riot Grrrl movement and bands like Sleater-Kinney. Because of this background, I use a lot of pop culture references and sources in the women’s studies classroom.