03/03/2026
SUNY Cortland will celebrate Women’s History Month (WHM) from Wednesday, March 4, through Wednesday, April 8, with a series of events that includes historical and cultural lectures, sandwich seminars and panel presentations.
For the remainder of March, WHM campus events will be posted online on the news website, in the Bulletin and on the campus calendar. Events are free and open to the public.
This year’s theme, “Women Rising: A Struggle for Freedom, Democracy, and Justice Moving Forward Together!” explores the long and ongoing fight by women across communities and generations to claim equal rights and full participation in society.
“It traces how women have challenged oppression, confronted discriminatory laws and organized collective movements to secure political voice, personal autonomy and social justice,” said organizer Anisha Saxena, associate professor of history and interim director of chair of the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies (CGIS).
“From grassroots activism to global human rights efforts, the struggle reflects both hard-won victories and continuing resistance, highlighting women’s central role in shaping more democratic, just and inclusive societies,” she said.
Upcoming events include:
Wednesday, March 4
Sandwich Seminar: “Spectral Power: The Subversive Spirits of Silenced Women”
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Old Main Colloquium
The lecture by Alena Pirok, a SUNY Cortland assistant professor of history, explores how modern U.S. ghost stories have brought buried women’s experiences to the surface. Focusing on murdered, incarcerated and enslaved women, the presentation illustrates how, in the hands of modern storytellers and public historians, ghost stories not only make real and collected women’s experiences known, but unforgettable parts of the landscape. Parking is available in the Graham Avenue lots below the Miller Building. Contact Pirok for more information.
Thursday, March 12
Visiting Lecture: “Inconvenient History: Jain Narratives of Muslim Rule and the Politics of Hindu Nationalism Today”
11 a.m. to noon
Old Main Colloquium (Room 220)
Steven Vose, an assistant professor in the Department of History at the University of Colorado, Denver, and the Bhagwan Suparshvanatha Endowed Chair of Jain Studies, will discuss children’s stories written in the Jain tradition. One of the earliest story collections written in Gujarati, Merusundara’s 15th century Śīlopadeśamālā-Bālāvabodha(ŚB) (A Primer for Children to the Garland of Teachings on Virtue), introduces the concept of śīla (virtue, chastity, piety) to novices — children and new converts — in the Jain tradition. Drawn from Jain and Hindu stories in Sanskrit, its condensed prose retellings are fast-paced and action-packed. With raucous humor and winking irony, it frequently lampoons vaunted figures, humans and gods alike. His work examines how class, gender, caste and religion intersect to form social and political identities in South Asia, focusing on Jain communities in western India from the late medieval period to the present. His first book, Reimagining Jainism in Islamic India: Jain Intellectual Culture in the Delhi Sultanate, won the Edward C. Dimock, Jr. Book Prize in the Indian Humanities from the American Institute of Indian Studies. The event is hosted by the Clark Center for Global Engagement.
Visiting Lecture: “Teaching Caste Purity as Religious Piety: Women’s Virtue in a Jain Story Collection”
4:30 to 6 p.m.
Sperry Center Hobson Lecture Hall (Room 104)
Vose later will discuss Merusundara’s vernacular text Jain narratives from the perspective of how it treats women. Over half of its stories are about exemplary, and cautionary, women. Several stories feature a young wife abandoned by her husband. Forced to rely on their piety and wits to save themselves, those who maintain their chastity and fidelity to their husbands — at seemingly great personal cost — find themselves returned to safety. Becoming nuns, they reconcile with their former husbands and achieve heaven or even liberation. In addition to his present work, a translation of a 15th century Gujarati collection of Jain stories on women’s virtue, he is also currently researching the effects of globalization and neoliberalism on transnational Jain communities. The event is hosted by the Clark Center for Global Engagement.
Sandwich Seminar and book launch: “Teacher Power: Teachers Triggering Social Justice Change”
Noon to 1 p.m.
Old Main Colloquium
Rhiannon Maton, an associate professor in SUNY Cortland’s Foundations and Social Advocacy Department, will give a presentation on how teachers mobilize their power, voice and collective agency to advance social justice. Maton’s talk will feature international examples from the Routledge Handbook on teachers’ work.
Monday, March 23
Sandwich Webinar: “History of Women and Money”
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Online
Cary Carbonaro ’90, managing wealth advisor with Ashton Thomas Wealth Advisor, is a Cortland College Foundation board member and the author of the 2015 book, The Money Queen, ranked by Amazon as the No. 1 Bestseller in wealth management new releases. Carbonaro has been a guest on major television network shows and news broadcasts and has been quoted in a long list of popular newspapers and magazines. She offers practical advice for college students on how to live on a budget and grow their savings as they go out in the working world.
Wednesday, March 25
Sandwich Seminar: “Ethics, Empathy and Women’s Political Engagement”
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Old Main Colloquium
Distinguished Professor Mecke Nagel, who chairs the Philosophy Department and the Center for Ethics, Peace and Social Justice, will discuss U.S. women’s political engagement and the interplay of principled alliances and opportunism. In addition to being part of WHM at Cortland, the event continues the university’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Thursday, March 26
Sandwich Seminar: “Sanctioned Bigotry: Learning about U.S. Antisemitism with Archives”
Noon to 1 p.m.
Old Main Colloquium
Antisemitism in the United States remains misunderstood. Scholars and public intellectuals who have discussed anti-Jewish bigotry generally cast it simplistically, identifying it as a conspiracy theory or as an individual defect. Exploring incidents of anti-Jewish bigotry, violence and discrimination in U.S. history reveals a far more complex reality. What binds anti-Jewish episodes and movements in the U.S. is the desire to undermine and even eliminate Jews’ civil and political rights. Historically, Christian nationalism, racial science and conspiratorial thinking constitute the three forces that have inspired that objective. Using archival sources spanning from 1654 through the present, Britt Tevis, assistant professor of history at Syracuse University, illuminates an array of forgotten examples of antisemitism in the U.S. to reveal the political dimension of anti-Jewish bigotry as well as the underlying ideological motives propelling its promulgation. Tevis will team up with Nance Wilson, a professor in SUNY Cortland’s Literacy Department.
Wednesday, April 8
Tabling Event: “Period.”
1 to 3 p.m.
Corey Union steps
Health and Wellness Promotion, Sustainability Office and Conley Wellness peer educators will be on hand to inform campus community members about menstrual health and sustainability as part of this Wellness Wednesday event. Participants will explore eco-friendly period products, break stigmas and promote well-being for a healthier planet and body. Free period cups will be given away. For more information, contact Lauren Scagnelli ’12, M ’14, health and wellness program coordinator.
In addition to CGIS, sponsors include the President’s Office, Clark Center for Global Engagement, History Department, Philosophy Department, Literacy Department, Health Promotion Office, Cortland College Foundation, Conley Wellness Center, Sustainability Office and the Barbara A. Galpin ’68, M ’74 Institute for Civic Engagement.
For questions about the WHM series, contact Anisha Saxena or Joanna Hryniewicz at [email protected].