HSH Home: Programs: Women's Studies   

WS Icon

Mission Statement

Program Requirements

Faculty

Scholarships

Organizations & Resources

Research & Teaching Resources

Image Gallery

Psychology

Journals and Magazines

Books & Films

Women's Week Archives

Woman's Studies

Vivian Atwater
Vivian Atwater
Art History
Office: B2121-3
281-283-3371
atwater@uhcl.edu

William B. Boatman
William B. Boatman
boatman@uhcl.edu

Kim A. Case
Kim A. Case

Women's Studies and Psychology
Office: B2617.10
281-283-3338
caseki@uhcl.edu
Coursesite: http://sites.google.com/site/drkimcase/

Why major in Women's Studies: Many people stereotype Women's Studies a path to joblessness, but in many ways it is one of the most useful, flexible, and marketable majors. Majoring in Women's Studies means thinking in new ways, viewing the world through a gendered lens, and critiquing multiple perspectives. This is a major that prepares students to effectively analyze the impact of not only gender, but race, ethnicity, class, religion, ability, sexuality, nation, and more on people's lived experiences. Women's Studies majors go on to careers in everything from health care to law, non-profit work, human resources, and creating social policy.

Why feminism is important: It is important to note, as did bell hooks, that feminism is for everybody. The myths and negative stereotypes associated with feminism have unfortunately caused many people to completely misunderstand not only the history of feminism, but also the current goals. Feminism seeks to empower women and girls through critical analysis of power, privilege, and oppression, as well as through social change actions at individual, community, and institutional levels."

Denise N. Chapman
chapman@uhcl.edu

Gay A. Cummins
cummins@uhcl.edu

Maria F. Curtis, PhD
Maria F. Curtis, PhD
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Cross-Cultural Studies
Office: 2617-13
281-283-3429
curtis@uhcl.edu

I am interested in issues of race, class, ethnicity, and religious expression as they relate to the development of human rights discourses, social movements, and notions of inclusive citizenship and civil society. My areas of research have been Morocco, Turkey and among Turkish and Turkic American communities in North America, as well as African American contributions to American history. I am specifically interested in women's participation at various levels of society and include women's history in teaching my courses. Other areas of interest include the development of feminist, gender and queer theories and invoking these theoretical trajectories as models of writing about cultural phenomena and cultural difference. My current reseach project is centered on Turkish media and the performance of moderate Islamic identities and contestations of modernity.

Arch Erich
Social Work
Office: B2617
281-283-3331
erich@uhcl.edu

Sharon Hall
Sharon Hall
Psychology
Office: B1529
281-283-3436
hall@uhcl.edu
I participate in WMST faculty because of our beliefs about the importance of promoting and enhancing girls' and women's lives by means of feminist pedagogy. My colleagues and I share goals about teaching and learning, broadening our own perspectives, even as we mentor others. We appreciate the necessity of being vocal advocates and activists to do this work, to challenge inequalities and ameliorate oppression. I am supported and enriched by this group of women and men.    
Sharon Perkins Hall
Sharon Perkins Hall
perkins@uhcl.edu

Beth Hentges
Beth Hentges
Psychology
Office: B2617-5
281-283-3308
hentges@uhcl.edu

Angela Howard
Angela Howard
History
Office: B2121
281-283-3369
howarda@uhcl.edu

Heather Kanenberg
Heather Kanenberg
Social Work
Office: B2617-7
281-283-3337
kanenbergh@uhcl.edu

Hilary Karp
Hilary Karp
Psychology
Office: B1529
281-283-3383
karp@uhcl.edu

Elizabeth Klett
Elizabeth Klett
Literature
Office 2121-11
281-283-3445
klette@uhcl.edu

Women's Studies has long been a part of my life. It has formed a crucial part of my teaching (in UHCL classes such as "Gender and Film" and "Early Modern Women Writers") and my scholarship (in my current book project on women's cross-gender performances of Shakespeare). Women's Studies has also transformed the way that I view myself and the world, because it places women's and gender issues at the center of my interests and inquiries. I believe the Women's Studies program here at UHCL can help students experience this transformative power.    
Christine Kovic
Christine Kovic
Convener
Anthropology & Cross-Cultural Studies
Office: B2617-3
281-283-3365
kovic@uhcl.edu

Neneh Kowai-Bell
kowaibell@uhcl.edu

Lillian McEnery
Lillian McEnery
mcenery@uhcl.edu

Gretchen Mieszkowski
Gretchen Mieszkowski
Literature
Office: B2529
281-283-3312
mieszkowski@uhcl.edu
I’m one of the founders of Women’s Studies on this campus. I taught UHCL’s first Women’s Studies course and I’ve invested much of my professional career in Women’s Studies—in my research as well as teaching. But my most immediate commitment to Women’s Studies is clearest in this photo: Katharine and Iris, my daughter and her daughter. We must make this a world women can flourish in!     
Leslye Mize
Leslye Mize
Division Chair
Family Therapy
Office: B2529
281-283-3331
mize@uhcl.edu

Deepa S. Reddy
Deepa S. Reddy

Anthropology & Cross-Cultural Studies
Office: B2617-2
281-283-3331
reddy@uhcl.edu

I have always been interested in women's collectives, activist organizations, and more-and-less political groups for the ways in which they articulate women's concerns as embedded within wider economic, environmental, political, and other struggles. The value of Women's Studies for me is the value of its critique--few other disciplines have developed such incisive critiques of power and inequality; few other approaches are capable of making their critiques of power and inequality relvant to just about all the social issues there are, so that Women's Studies is no longer only about women, but about living in socially just ways. Below is an excerpt from a talk by the Indian academic and feminist, Susie Tharu, of just how women's studies could integrate gender with the issue of something as commonplace and essential as water. It's a bit long, but is (to me) one of the more meaningful statements of the potential of gender critique. It goes to the heart of what Women's Studies ideally has to offer. 

Excerpt from a talk given by SUSIE THARU at the Third World Women’s Film Festival, held in Hyderabad, India, in January 1986:
"If we consider the women’s question as it has been legitimated today, it has by and large been legitimated at levels which exclude the personal. Let me explain. Most people—politicians, planners, social workers—would agree that water is a women’s issue. They would also agree that price and the availability of food is a women’s issue. Or, let me put it another way, and there is a distinction—that water is an important issue for women since women are primarily responsible for the household economy. In fact I’d say that today to speak about women and water, to organize women to demand for water, would by and large be regarded a laudable thing. What the world would seem to be saying is please work on the issue of water, on the issue of price rise. If you do that, the chances are that you will stay within th

The short URL for this program is: http://hsh.uhcl.edu/WS

/portal/page/portal/HSH/HOME/PROGRAMS/WS     Accessibility   Best Viewed   Clery Act   Compact with Texans   Emergency Information   Maps & Directions   Privacy   UH System    oragrid7.uhcl.edu    

Copyright 2008 University of Houston-Clear Lake    2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston, TX, 77058    (281) 283-3333   Contact: stewartre@uhcl.edu