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30th Anniversary
In 2010 the Center for Women’s Studies celebrates with a series of events commemorating the advancement of women at WVU, as well as looking ahead to the future of the discipline and the changing gender roles in society.
Founded in 1980, as a program that offered a certificate in women’s studies, the curriculum has evolved into a degree-granting program and a Center for Women’s Studies with nearly 100 faculty associates and 125 courses offered by over 25 departments and programs across the University. Our 30th anniversary is a milestone that represents a generation of women’s studies at West Virginia University.
In 1980, Judith Stitzel and several colleagues at WVU established the Women’s Studies Program in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences to address changes within the academy and society as a whole.
The program became a the Center for Women’s Studies in 1984 and quickly built its curriculum, scholarship, and service to the University and state. As the first director of the Program, Stitzel paved the way for many talented women in diverse disciplines to lead the Center for Women’s Studies and teach courses about women, gender, sexuality, and social justice. (The first women’s studies certificate recipients are pictured at right in 1986: (front row, l to r) Caroline Marrara, Eveldora Wheeler and Kelly Shreve, (back row) Micky Ginsberg, Brad Hutchinson and Judith Stitzel.)
Currently, the Center offers an undergraduate major and minor and several options for graduate certificates in women’s studies. Nearly 100 faculty associates teaching 125 courses in over 25 departments and units across the University participate in our core mission of advancing the status of women and promoting feminist scholarship. (Rebecca Durst, a women’s studies minor and the 2009-10 Mountaineer, is pictured left at the Passing of the Rifle Ceremony in April 2010. Cathy Jasper presented her with one of the Lady Luck statues.)