The West Virginia University Women’s Studies Program and the Center for Women’s Studies will present the first Women’s and Gender Studies Fair on Thursday, April 19, in the Mountainlair from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Brian Jara, senior lecturer in the Women’s Studies Program, spearheaded the planning of the fair. Topics will include representations of women in the media, gender and work, violence against women, gender and politics, and gender and health.

“The Fair is an opportunity to showcase our community involvement and to educate the campus and community about women’s and gender studies,” said Jara. “There still is a stereotype and misperception about women’s studies and about feminism, and the fair is one way to show the relevance of women’s and gender studies to all of our lives. If you are a woman, care about a woman, or want to learn more about gender, then there is something at the fair for you.”

Today, the WVU Center for Women’s Studies has nearly 100 faculty associates teaching and conducting research in women’s and gender studies in 15 colleges and schools across campus, including athletic coaching education, biology, community health promotion, disability studies, family and consumer sciences, geography, journalism, public health, resource management and law.

More than 2,000 students enroll in women’s studies courses each year and there are currently 40 students with a declared undergraduate major or minor in women’s studies. At the graduate level, the Center has 10 students from a wide variety of disciplines – geography, education, law and history to name a few – adding a women’s studies emphasis to their degrees.

For more information please contact Ann Oberhauser, director of the Center at Ann.Oberhauser@mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-2339 ext. 1155.

The Center for Women’s Studies supports teaching, research and advocacy that is based on feminist perspectives and centered on analyses of gender and its intersection with race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, age and ability.

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