Dear alumni and friends of Gender and Women’s Studies,

As we come to the end of another year – another pandemic year – I want to thank each member of our community for your part in sustaining the Gender and Women’s Studies department in 2021. Whether you made a gift, attended an online (or in person!) event, offered to be of service to the department, or discussed feminist futures with your friends and family, we appreciate you, your commitment, and your generosity.

The 2021-22 academic year is a milestone for us. Fall 2021 marks the 30-year anniversary of the establishment of the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at UC Berkeley (it seems that the 20-year celebration was only yesterday!) as well as the 45-year anniversary of the Women’s Studies Program from which our department evolved. We have some exciting plans to celebrate and recognize these histories, including a lecture series this Spring semester and a gathering next fall – in person, we hope! We can hardly wait to celebrate with you. Stay tuned for details, and check our department website for updates.

In recent years we have welcomed three new faculty members: Eric Stanley, a scholar focused on trans and queer social movements and issues of security and state violence; Courtney Morris, an anthropologist and visual artist who specializes in race, gender, and environmental politics; and our most recently-hired colleague, Patrice Douglass, whose scholarship looks at the relationship between sexual violence, the history of slavery in the US, and contemporary racial oppressions. I encourage you to learn more about their work (as well as the work of our longer-standing colleagues) on our website.

It is no secret that our ability to attract and recruit the brightest academic talents depends on the generosity of our alumni. We are one of the smallest and therefore least-funded departments in the social sciences division, but our goals are ambitious and we need your support.

Gifts from donors like you provide essential support for the following areas:

• Start up packages for new faculty
• Graduate student support for students in the Designated Emphasis on Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• Undergraduate support
• Public programs
• Planning for a new PhD in women, gender and sexuality studies

Please help sustain the future of Gender & Women’s Studies at UC Berkeley. 

With gratitude,

Laura C. Nelson
Chair, Department of Gender & Women’s Studies
College of Letters & Science
UC Berkeley