Bolder Voices Spring 2020

From the Chair

Dear Women & Gender Studies Community:

What a whirlwind it has been these last couple of weeks. On March 11, we received the official word that campus would be moving to remote teaching and learning, as well as remote work for most staff. In my case, that gave me 24 hours to turn my in-class midterm into an online midterm. Other WGST faculty and staff have similar stories of having to learn new skills and innovating, often on very short notice and starting from scratch. While it has been stressful, as everyone tries their best to adjust without diminishing our educational mission, I have been in awe of the can-do attitude and the creative teaching plans now in place. Our students have been truly amazing, making the extra effort to keep up with school work as they were also moving out of dorms and apartments and canceling Spring Break plans. Unfortunately, we will not be able to hold our traditional WGST commencement this year and are working to find a good alternative.

A major challenge ahead for WGST and CU will be to address the needs of students facing unemployment, food insecurity, and housing shortages during this period. We know that this will hit some student communities harder—those already socially and economically marginalized.

As always, we would love to hear from you—let us know what you have been up to. And please take care!

Sincerely,
Lorraine Bayard de Volo
Chair & Professor, Women and Gender Studies