Along with this move, the Women’s Studies Program also experienced changes in curriculum. In 1998, the women’s studies graduate certificate was approved, and since 2004, has been offered as both an online and face-to-face program. The online certificate program has been enormously successful and allows for students across the country to research and discuss feminist literature, theory, and film. In 1999, the Women’s Studies Program also received funding for a full-time graduate assistant and a faculty fellow. The Program’s last three graduate assistants have earned the certificate. Olivia Smith is currently finishing her Ph.D. in women’s studies at Emory University. Farrah Ferriell is is a Community Educator and Trainer at The Center for Women and Families, and Heather Bridges is finishing her MA in English (TESOL). Farrah became the first full-time women’s studies instructor in 2003, and now, Molly Kerby has the first renewable instructorship and is finishing her Ph.D. in higher education. Charles Bussey, a professor in the Department of History, became the first faculty fellow and held the position for four years. Barry Brunson (Math) became faculty fellow in 2003, and is now in his third year. And last but not least, we have been blessed with outstanding student assistants, including Shelly Glorioso who has been working for the program for the past two years.

Besides these additions to the program’s curriculum and staff, the program has raised money, and generous donors have stepped forward to provide even more opportunities for students: two undergraduate scholarships and one graduate scholarship. Inspired by Val Scott’s early and crucial support of Women’s Studies, Katie Ward became a major donor. She established three endowed funds: a $100,000 gift whose proceeds support supplementary initiatives of the Women’s Studies Program, an undergraduate endowed scholarship, and a second $100,000 gift to establish the Catherine Coogan Ward Visiting Professorship. Gail Martin, the first chair of the Fundraising Council, followed suit and directed the drive to raise another $100,000 to create the Faculty Development and Lecture Series. Gail and Cornelius Martin funded this series, which helps faculty professionally, supports guest speakers, and funds the genderations colloquia luncheon series twice a semester. In 2003, the original Fundraising Council, after its success in fund-raising for the At Home Project, morphed into Friends of Women’s Studies, which is driven by membership rather than solicited funds. The Women’s Studies Program has also brought many wonderful speakers to campus, often co-sponsoring with other departments and programs and the Rodes-Helm Lecture Series. Our guest speakers have included Angela Davis, Winona LaDuke, Riffat Hassan, The Guerilla Girls, Wilma Mankiller, Sena Jeter Naslund, Susan Faludi, and Laurie Garrett. This spring the Program is helping Premiere Performances bring Barbara Ehrenreich.

The Women’s Studies Program is unique in its committee structure, which has been in place since Price was director. (See “people” for a list of committees.) The steering committee serves as the advisory board regarding our activities and the direction of the Program. Current members are long-time women’s studies advocates Mary Ellen Miller, Judy Owen, and Katie Ward, as well as more recent advocates Kathryn Abbott, Barry Brunson, Lynne Holland, Aaron Hughey, and Trish Jaggers.

In 2001, the Program raised funds for At Home: A Kentucky Project with Judy Chicago and Donald Woodman, a semester-long collaborative project of the Women’s Studies Program, Art Department, and Folk Studies and Anthropology. The 25 participants of At Home turned each room into an artistic expression of positive and negative connotations associated with the idea of “home.” Individual rooms covered such issues as aging parents, child abuse, rape, sibling rivalry, prejudice, and marital conflict and compromise.

Summer 2006: Women's Studies, in a joint venture with the Bowling Green Housing Authority, put together the highly-successful "Women & Kids Learning Together Summer Camp" for low-income women and their children, a free week-long day-camp in which 14 women and 17 children participated.

Workshops were offered on a variety of subjects, including photography, poetry, theater, dance, cooking, and beading, among other activities that encouraged creativity and self-expression. The WKLT camp also provided practical living workshops on self-defense, finance, financial aid, fitness, and more.

The women took a field trip to Loucon Retreat Center where they took part in ropes courses and team-building exercises designed to encourage cooperation and self-empowerment.

Many people from across the campus and community came together to make this camp happen. We are particularly grateful to the student volunteers/counselors.

Women's Studies is grateful for the funding support from Dawn Bolton, Dollar General Corporation, Fort Campbell Credit Union, Kentucky Foundation for Women, and the Provost's Initiative for Excellence. Valuable support also came from vendors who donated ,or offered at a significant reduction, food and other supplies. Please check back in a few days for a complete list of the sponsors, counselors, and other volunteers from the Women & Kids Learning Together Summer Camp, as well as photos and excerpts from some of the women participants.

Women's Studies plans to make this camp an annual event.

Pictured clockwise: Long-time women's studies advocates Mary Ellen Miller, Karen Schneider, and Kathryn Abbott; director Jane Olmsted; former instructor Farrah Ferriell; former graduate assistant Olivia Smith; student worker Shelly Glorioso; former faculty fellow Charles Bussey; instructor Molly Kerby; faculty fellow Barry Brunson.

Pictured clockwise: Gail Martin with Dawn Bolton, both long-time donors; Leigh Johnson, instructor; Saundra Starks, committee member; Jane Olmsted and Elizabeth Oakes, co-founders of the Kentucky Feminist Writers Series (Oakes is a long-time women's studies advocate and English professor at WKU); Jeff Herron, women's studies minor.