On the heels of last month’s Teach-in for Democracy, Lawrence University will host a Teach-in for International Women’s Day Wednesday, March 8.
The teach-in encourages faculty, staff and students to participate by attending regular course sessions focused on women’s issues and a day-long series of short discussions on a variety of topics presented by panels of diverse community members.
All of the classes and panel presentations are free and open to the public.
“The purpose of the teach-ins is to mobilize Lawrence resources to build better relationships within and beyond our campus to better understand and act on the pressing matters of our time,” said Matty Wegehaupt, instructor of Freshman Studies, gender studies and East Asian studies. Wegehaupt helped organize the teach-in with Sonja Downing, assistant professor of ethnomusicology, and Helen Boyd Kramer, lecturer in gender studies and Freshman Studies.
Among the academic departments offering open courses for the teach-in include Chinese history, education, English, French, gender studies and government. Topics of the classes for the day include Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, French revolutionary Louise Michel, violence against women; Muslim feminism, and one of the founding texts of the feminist movement, Mary Wollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of the Rights of Women.”
The day-long series of panels will feature presentations from both Lawrence students, faculty and staff as well as community leaders. Members of the Fox Valley Literacy Council will discuss immigrant and refugee women. Jenny Van Schyndel, representing the United Steelworks of America, presents “Women and Labor Unions in the U.S.” Irene Strohbeen from the League of Women Voters will lead a session on civic education.
Lawrence presenters will include faculty from the conservatory of music, gender studies and history departments with presentations on Chinese, Korean and African feminist resistance.
Kimberly Barrett, vice president of inclusion and diversity affairs at Lawrence, will discuss black feminist thought while Jenna Stone, executive director of budget and planning, will present on women and leadership in the social sector.
Wegehaupt said globalizing perspectives on women’s lives, struggles and successes was one of the primary goals for the Teach-in for International Women’s Day
“We want to inform ourselves, debate and organize around topics of critical interest to women,” said Wegehaupt. “We want to energize all members of the Lawrence community to take responsibility for educating ourselves about the world and shaping our collective futures.”
A complete schedule of the teach-in classes and presentations can be found here.
About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.
