Instructor Co-Director, Undergraduate Studies in the Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program
My academic interests include the history of the women’s movement and feminism in the United States, contemporary global women’s issues, and women and politics. I have a particular interest in providing internships for students that involve having them work in organizations for change and give them experience with women leaders.
I have been teaching Women’s Studies at Boston University since 1996. I received my PhD in Sociology from Brandeis University, and published Sisterhood and Solidarity: Feminism in Modern Times in 1983. I have founded and directed organizations which shaped innovative public policies concerning women and other groups in Massachusetts. I also train women in leadership development in service organizations and public policy initiatives. This includes working with women in the United States, and in many other countries. I have led groups at international women’s conferences.
I participated in planning our program’s 2014 women’s conference, “A Revolutionary Moment: Women’s Liberation in the 1960s and Early 1970s.” There I presented a paper and chaired a forum titled “Women’s Liberation’s Revolutionary Potential.”
I regularly teach courses WGS 213: Sexism in the 21st Century which examines the dynamics of contemporary institutions, WGS 360/IR358: Global Feminism: Race and Gender in International Perspectives which focuses on international concepts of women, race and culture, and WGS 350/PO 309 Women & Politics which explores the key issues of women’s relationship to politics and the processes needed for the empowerment of women. I am also developing a new course, Internships in Women, Gender and Social Change, which will introduce students to the ideas and practices of social change organizations related to women and gender through local internships.