Women’s Studies Program has new director

Georgia College & State University ‘s Women’s Studies Program has a new coordinator that has taken the program in a new direction.

Dr. Susan Cumings, new coordinator of Women’s Studies Program, is excited about the program.

“I was hired as an Assistant Professor of English and teach twentieth century British and African American fiction. After I was hired, I was also asked to be the new coordinator of Women’s Studies,” Cumings said. “I hold a PhD in Women’s Studies, so I was really pleased at the opportunity to work in my field of specialization and to help shape the next era of the program at GC&SU.”

Jane Rose, the program’s former coordinator, recently received a new position, which did not leave her with a lot of time for other programs.

The new director of the program plans to educate students, faculty and staff about Women’s Studies with both an academic and an activity side.

“On the academic side, students can earn a Women’s Studies minor by taking the introductory course,” Cumings said. “On the activities side, we bring speakers and performers to campus, like Susan Leisure, who will speak about women’s health in Africa. Next semester we are bringing back the musical activists ‘Saffire: the Uppity Blues Women,’ who came 2 years ago and whose return visit we are co-sponsoring with the honors symposium and the Music Therapy Program on Thursday, Jan. 17.”

Not only will the program offer courses, but it will also offer study abroad courses and student activities related to women’s studies.

“Next semester there will be some new special topics classes like a course I’ll be teaching on African American women writers, which hopefully will be offered regularly in the future,” Cumings said.

GC&SU Women’s Studies Program is now in its 20th year and looks forward to continuing to provide service to students, faculty and staff.

“The Women’s Studies Program at GC&SU, now in its 20th year, is both an academic program and active in providing extra-curricular activities on and around campus,” Cumings said.

“I’m excited to be a part of Women’s Studies at GC&SU. The administration, and particularly Dean Rushing and Dean Patterson, have encouraged me to ‘bring Women’s Studies to a new level,’” Cumings said. “I’ve been meeting with faculty and staff from across the departments and schools to talk about new courses we can offer, groups and speakers we can bring to campus, and awareness programs we can help to develop. Many faculty (male and female) here have training and experience in Women’s Studies or women’s activism and have a lot they are eager to share with students.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 26 2001. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry