Women's Studies program celebrates new home

Mae Carter (left), one of the Women’s Studies program’s first leaders, and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, H. Rodney Sharp Chair in Human Services, Education and Public Policy, take part in the celebration of the program’s move to new quarters.

6:17 p.m., Oct. 2, 2006--Approximately 70 people celebrated at the new home of the UD Women's Studies program at 34 West Delaware Ave. on Sept. 28.

Monika Shafi, director of Women's Studies and Elias Ahuja Professor in the Department of Foreign Language and Literatures, said the program moved in at the end of spring semester. “We love it,” Shafi said. “Everybody's happy.”

Although structurally sound, the building was in need of renovations, so Shafi and program officials were given permission to paint their offices any color they liked. Shafi said the ability to paint their walls, which are now pale yellow and blues, is unusual.

“It's a minor thing but it gives you a sense of ownership,” she said. “To me, it's more than a 'room of one's own,' it's a house of one's own. My colleagues and I like the input we were able to have. We were really able to create it. It's also a recognition of Women's Studies' contribution to the University of Delaware.”

The program, founded in 1974, is one of the oldest women's studies programs in the United States.

Provost Daniel Rich said the move was significant for the program.

“The building is important in its own right in that it has improved the environment of the faculty and students in Women's Studies and it's something that they greatly deserve,” Rich said. “It also signifies the recognition of Women's Studies at the University of Delaware.”

Suzanne Cherrin, professor of Women's Studies, said the house is a wonderful place for the department.

“It keeps us all in one place and gives us a nice environment so we can all work together,” Cherrin said.

Tom Apple, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said Women's Studies is the largest interdisciplinary program at the University.

“Students say the program has transformed them, made them passionate,” Apple said. “With this program, more faculty want to teach than we can have teach. This is a program that has incredible leadership.”

One of the program's first leaders who helped create the program, Mae Carter, came to celebrate the move. According to Shafi, there are currently between 52 and 56 majors and 120 minors. More than 3,500 students are enrolled in women's studies classes, with 50 courses offered each semester.

“The program has expanded. We have fine faculty and the students are some of the top students,” Carter said. “Women say it's changed their lives.”

Article by Julia Parmley '07
Photo by Kathy Atkinson

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