Campus plans Women’s History Month series

03/05/2024 

During Women’s History Month in March, SUNY Cortland plans a series of events on the theme of “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.”

“The theme celebrates women everywhere in the world who have worked for a future where bias and discrimination have no place,” said this year’s Women’s History Month coordinator, Bekeh Ukelina, history and Africana studies professor and director of the university’s Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies.

Women’s History Month events, which start on Tuesday, March 5, will celebrate local heroines, both past and present, who blazed a trail for progress, he said. Their tireless efforts secured stronger protections, policies, and laws that champion equality. Following decades of discrimination, the university is proud to celebrate women who work for basic inclusion, equality and fairness.

“Speakers were carefully selected to not just spark discussion but ignite action on the critical socio-political factors shaping women’s lives,” Ukelina said. “This year’s line-up will provide a global perspective, addressing gender issues in both the north and south.”

Lectures, a film screening and information tables are free and open to the public.

• Assistant diversity officer Charlotte Wade will present “Trans Women Activists to Know and Love” from 3 to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5, in Corey Union Fireplace Lounge.
  
  
• “Sociologists with NYT Obituaries” will be presented by a panel from 12:30 to 1:20 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6, in Old Main Colloquium. Panelists include criminology major Emily Fedrizzi, sociology major Madison Hanford, School of Professional Studies student Thomas Ellison, and Assistant Professor of Sociology/Anthropology Lily Liang.
  
  
• International Women’s Day is Thursday, March 7. International Programs will celebrate with flowers and information outside their office in Old Main, Room 219, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Following Spring Break, which runs from March 11 to 15, the following talks are planned:

• M. Nicole Horsley, a distinguished visiting scholar at University at Buffalo, will present “Devouring Refusal: Black Women’s Lineages Revisited from Combahee to Cunt,” from noon to 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 21, in Old Main Colloquium.
  
  
• Film “Picture a Scientist” will be screened from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 26, in Old Main Brown Auditorium.
  
  
• Jessica Marie Newman, visiting assistant professor from Cornell University, will present “Developing Reproductive Justice from Cairo to Casablanca,” from 12:30 to 1:20 p.m. on Wednesday, March 27, in Old Main Colloquium.
  
  
• Zillah Eisenstein, emeritus professor of anti-racist feminist theory at Ithaca College, will deliver the talk “Feminism in a Time of Covid and Genocidal Racism” from noon to 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 28, in Old Main Colloquium.
  
  

• A Women's History Month panel discussion titled "Women in the Food System: Health and Well-being" will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 28, in Old Main Colloquium. The panel presenters include local health professionals Kate Downes from Seven Valleys Health Coalition, Bryn Carr from Room to Grow and Siena Senn from Guthrie Health.

Co-sponsors for Women’s History Month include the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies (CGIS), Institutional Equity and Inclusion Office, Chemistry Department, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, President’s Office, the Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee and the Anthropology/Sociology Department.