WGSS is Celebrating 50 Years at OSU!
In Autumn 2025 semester, the Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies will be celebrating 50 years at The Ohio State University. To commemorate the milestone as one of the longest-standing WGSS programs, we will host a 50th Anniversary Celebration, including alumni panels, live performances, community art, dance reception, and more! We look forward to the gathering of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and the community to celebrate five decades of contributions to feminist scholarship and the interdisciplinary studies of gender and sexuality. We hope you can join us for this exciting 2-day event!
Event Details
Dates:
- Friday & Saturday, September 19-20th, 2025
Location:
- The Ohio State University campus
Columbus, OH 43210
Registration:
- Be sure to complete registration in order to RSVP for the event.
- Register online at link below or by phone at 800-762-5646.
- If you are a current OSU faculty, staff, or student, login by clicking "Sign in with name.#".
- If you are not a current OSU faculty, staff, or student and already have an account, enter your username and password. If you do not have an account, click "New user registration".
Cost:
- Dinner on Friday evening is $20 per guest. All other sessions and included meals are free of cost.
Parking:
- Find info on how to park on campus through CampusParc. Please note that parking fees are not included with your registration.
- On Friday, 9/19, the Ohio Union South Garage will be closest in proximity to Hale Hall and Ohio Union.
- On Saturday, 9/20, the Arps Garage will be closest in proximity to Curl ViewPoint.
Lodging:
- For guests from out-of-town, there are plenty of lodging options in the Columbus area. If looking to stay close to campus, feel free to reference this list of campus-area hotels to choose from.
Schedule of Events
September 19 (Friday):
8:45-9:15am: Arrival & Registration @ Hale Hall, 1st Floor
9:15-9:30am: Welcome and Opening Remarks @ Hale Hall, 1st Floor
9:30-10:45: Rocking the Academy: WGSS Alumni in Academia Panel @ Hale Hall, 1st Floor
- Participants:
- Srimati Basu 1996, Interdisciplinary PhD in Cultural Studies/ Anthropology/ Women's Studies
- Krista Benson 2017, PhD
- Mahaliah Little 2021, PhD
- Sarah Rainey-Smithback 2009, PhD
- J. Brendan Shaw 2010, MA
- Moderator: Guisela Latorre
10:45-11:45: Graduate Student Research Showcase: New Directions in Feminist Scholarship @ Hale Hall, 1st Floor
- Participants: Current MA and PhD students in WGSS
- Facilitators: Abigail Corcoran and LaVelle Ridley
11:45-1:45: Lunch and Alumni Story Sharing Project @ Hale Hall, 1st Floor
- We invite you—alumni and friends of the department—to share your memories of WGSS @ OSU. We hope to highlight and preserve the histories of our diverse feminist community across 50 years at the university. Your testimonies will contribute to the Reclaiming Our Histories oral history project, so we can learn from our history as we embark on the next fifty years of WGSS!
- Facilitators: Ali Alkhalifa (BA 2022, MA 2024) and Mytheli Sreenivas
2:00-3:15: Live Performance @ Hale Hall, 1st Floor
Mothers of the Movement, Keya Crenshaw 2006, BA
- Mothers of the Movement is a staged reading that brings to life four mothers from different eras who navigate the grief of losing a child to police violence. Their intersecting stories honor their legacy through remembrance, resistance, and a collective call for justice.
- Performers: Keya Crenshaw, Chiquita Mullins Lee, Vicki Thompson Saunders, Patricia Wallace-Winbush.
3:30-5:00: Trailblazers: WGSS Alumni in the Professions and the Arts Panel @ Hale Hall, 1st Floor
- Participants:
- Dana Greenblatt, 1997 BA
- Lisa Lopez, 1976 BA
- Miriam Noble, 2006 BA
- Stephanie J. Peters, 1986 BA
- Liz Shirey, 2005 BA
- Moderator: Linda Mizejewski
From 6:00-10:30pm: Feminist Dining and Dancing @ the Ohio Union, 1st Floor
- Let’s commemorate 50 years of WGSS together! Join us at 6:00 to recognize former faculty and staff, to reconnect with our feminist community, and to hear from former leaders of the department: Jill Bystydzienski, Susan Hartmann, Sally Kitch, Valerie Lee, and Shannon Winnubst. Stay on after the reception for a celebratory dinner and night of dancing!
September 20 (Saturday):
10:00-10:45: Arrival & Light Breakfast @ Curl Viewpoint, 2nd Floor
10:45-12:15: Powered Up: Recent WGSS Alumni in Action Panel @ Curl Viewpoint, 2nd Floor
- Participants:
- Jenna Butler, 2023 BA
- Mia Cariello, 2021 BA, 2023 MA
- Lily Furgeson, 2023 BA
- Mace Hickman, 2020 BA
- Josia Klein, 2017 BA
- Moderator: LaVelle Ridley
12:15-1:45: Lunch @ Curl Viewpoint, 2nd Floor
1:45-3:00: Feminist Mural Workshop @ Curl Viewpoint, 2nd Floor
- Facilitator: Guisela Latorre
- Description: We are living in a difficult era characterized by attacks on feminist and progressive movements and a reassertion of power hierarchies. Please join us for the co-creation of a feminist mural that will help us heal and come together in challenging times. We will go around the room and ask each participant to share one strategy of survival, resistance, and/or joy that they employ at this current moment.
2:45-3:00pm: Closing @ Curl Viewpoint, 2nd Floor
Looking to extend your celebration of feminism?
Join some of our WGSS alumni as they host a rough cut screening of Free Beer Tomorrow! The film explores the relationship between the feminist movement for women’s liberation, alongside the formation of what would later become the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at OSU. A panel discussion of some of WGSS’ earliest leaders will follow the screening. Check out Free Beer Tomorrow’s website for more info and to get your tickets!
- When: Saturday, September 20th, 4:30-7:00pm
- Location: WOSU, Ross Community Studio, 1800 N Pearl St, Columbus, OH 43201
Want to Share Your Story?
Would like to share your WGSS story with our community? All you need to do is please follow the link to the platform Vocal Video below to submit a video or audio recording in response to four short questions about your time as at Ohio State and beyond! We hope to archive these testimonies and feature them on our website to celebrate the extraordinary work of our feminist alumni community. Consider adding to our archive of alumni histories if you have a story to share or if you could not attend the 50th anniversary!
If you have any questions, please email wgss@osu.edu.
Link to Vocal Video Platform or Scan the QR code below. Link: https://go.osu.edu/wgssstories
Link to submit to our virtual yearbook for the 50th Anniversary. Share your written alumni stories! Link: Go.osu.edu/wgss-memories
Questions?
- Please feel free to reach out to us at wgss@osu.edu!