SIPA expands the WGSS Council

I’m pleased to share that Columbia University has its own Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) Council. The WGSS Council was originally co-founded in 2013 by SIPA Professor Yasmine Ergas and FAS Dean Alondra Nelson, and the success, popularity and need for the program led to the creation of a university-wide council. While this news would particularly interest those interested in the Gender and Public Policy specialization, it’s an important development at Columbia University that everyone should know about.

Here’s the full press release:

Columbia University is home to numerous centers, institutes, programs, and initiatives engaged in rich scholarship dedicated to women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. Until recently, however, these efforts remained relatively distinct from one another. The Columbia University Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) Council is a new network with the goal of enhancing connections and conversations around these topics by bringing together faculty, students, and administrators. We hope that all members of the Columbia University community working in these areas will become involved and have provided information below to assist you in doing so.

The WGSS Council was founded in 2013 by Yasmine Ergas and Alondra Nelson. Yasmine is Director of the Specialization on Gender and Public Policy, School of International and Public Affairs, and Alondra is Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies and Dean of Social Science for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Under their leadership, the WGSS Council uses biennial meetings to promote more collaboration among faculty and students. The Council highlights the accomplishments of Columbia teachers and researchers in the areas of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies across all schools of the University.

In 2014 and 2015, the Council also co-sponsored seminars with the Center for the Study of Social Difference on “keywords” in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. In the fall of this year, the Council will host a national conference here at Columbia on feminist and LGBT scholarship; the conference will be co-hosted by the LGBTQ Working Group of the Provost’s Advisory Council for the Enhancement of Faculty Diversity, the Program for the Study of LGBT Health, and other units in the Council.

The WGSS Council recently launched a new website that will serve as a hub of information about the many programs and initiatives dedicated to women’s, gender, and sexuality studies across the University’s disciplines, centers, divisions and schools. We encourage all members of the Columbia University community to submit information about events, campus resources, research opportunities, and ongoing scholarship to the website.

The establishment of the WGSS Council was supported by Dennis A. Mitchell, Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity and Inclusion, Merit E. Janow, Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, and David Madigan, Executive Vice President of Arts and Sciences.

The members of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Council include:

Athena Center for Leadership Studies, Barnard College
Barnard Center for Research on Women
Barnard College Library
Butler Library, Columbia University
Center for Gender & Sexuality Law, Columbia University School of Law
Center for the Study of Culture, Politics and Health
, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race
, Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS)
Center for the Study of Religion and Sexuality
, FAS
Center for the Study of Social Difference
, FAS
Center on African American Religion, Sexual Politics & Social Justice, FAS
Department of Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, Barnard College
Division of Gender, Sexuality, and Health, New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) and Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC)
Gender and Public Policy Specialization
, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA)
Gender, Sexuality, Health and HIV Substantive Research Area Group
, Population Research Center
Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality, FAS
Institute for the Study of Human Rights
, FAS
Program for the Study of LGBT Health
, NYSPI, Department of Psychiatry (CUMC), and Columbia University School of Nursing
School of Professional Studies
, FAS
Sexuality, Women, and Gender Project
, Teachers College
Women Creating Change
, CSSD, FAS
Women in Energy Program
, Center on Global Energy Policy, SIPA