Robert & Catherine Ward

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Catherine C. Ward Visiting Professorship for Women's Studies

Description

• Title of endowment – Catherine C. Ward Visiting Professorship for Women’s Studies

• Date established – May 25, 2000

• Purpose of endowment – Support for a visiting professorship within the Women’s Studies area

• College/department where housed – Potter College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

• Status – Filled

• Date occupied – August 2001

• Occupant information: Carol Mason was the Catherine C. Ward Visiting Professor for Women’s Studies during 2004-2005:

Dr. Mason is an Assistant Professor of Women's Studies at the University of Las Vegas and an interdisciplinary scholar focusing on 20th century American literature and society. Before arriving at UNLV, she taught literature, women's studies, and American studies at the University of Minnesota (where she earned a Ph.D. in English), Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and the University of Pittsburgh. A postdoctoral fellowship from the Bunting Institute at Harvard University helped support the research for her first book, Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-Life Politics (Cornell University Press, 2002). As a 2002 Rockefeller scholar-in-residence at the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia, Mason began work on her second book, tentatively titled Soul on Appalachian Ice: Gender, Ethnicity and Protest in West Virginia and Beyond. Her scholarly interest in critiquing right-wing movements complements a background in activism and nonprofit development.

Program Information

• Dr. Mason spoke on “The Hillbilly Defense: Gender and Terror at Home and Abroad” on October 27,2004 at 7:30 pm in the Mass Media and Technology Hall Auditorium on WKU’s campus. In this lecture, Mason explores how stories of “hillbillies” shape recent representations of U.S. terrorism, namely the inmate abuse at Abu Ghraib prison and the anti-abortion bombings by the “Davy Crockett of the pro-life movement,” allegedly Eric Rudolph. Alternately demonizing and romanticizing “the hillbilly” have made it possible for the pro-life, pro-war government to deny systematic U.S. terror in both domestic and foreign contexts.

 

• Measurable Student Outcomes - Evaluations of events demonstrate that students appreciate the opportunity to hear and learn from guest speakers.

• Benefits to Kentucky - These are implicit rather than explicit. Greater awareness and exposure to cultural events is a key aspect of education.