“Why This Topic Still Matters”
Event Details:
Wed, Mar 04 2026
2:30pm - 3:30pm
Seerley 120
Contact Information:
Please contact wgs@uni.edu if you would like to be a part of the roundtable panel.
“Why This Topic Still Matters”
The Intersectionalist Society and the Women's and Gender Studies Department are hosting a roundtable discussion “Why This Topic Still Matters” starting at 2:30 p.m., in Seerley 120, as a prelude to the lecture "UNI's 1st Woman Professor: Laura Ensign and the Struggle for Fair Pay, Rank, & Faculty Governance Under Gilchrist and Seerley". This is part of the WGS 50@150 initiative, celebrating 50 years since the creation of the Women's Studies minor at UNI.
WGS History: In 1976, in the midst of the second wave of the U.S. Women's Movement, Dr. Glenda Riley and Dr. Grace Ann Hovet, professors of History and English respectively, sought to change things at UNI. With the signatures of 300 students and 25 faculty, Drs. Riley and Hovet successfully instituted a minor in what was then called Women's Studies, even despite skepticism that Women's Studies was, to quote "a fad, a phase and doesn't belong in academics."
As WGS celebrates 50 years, this is the perfect opportunity for students across campus to discuss the struggles that Laura Ensign faced (fighting for fair pay and acknowledgement among her peers), how many are fighting those same battles today and why this topic still matters.