Center for Gender Studies 1997 Annual Report

Current Year:
[1997]

Other Years:
['01-'02] ['00-'01] ['99-'00 ['98-'99] ['97-'98] ['96-'97] ['95-'96]

As we put together last year's annual report, I was concerned because the Center on the verge of losing its office and research space: the house on Howe Street that had served as our headquarters for several years. This year a lot has changed: we are ending the year in the Center's new home at 704 Clement Street. We held an open house in December to celebrate our installation in the new offices, and we hope that those of you who missed that occasion will find an opportunity to visit and see the Center for yourselves. The newly acquired space, while not yet entirely suitable in terms of computer network connection, provides a good setting for our project work, and for meetings of the research groups, the Advisory Board, and the Conference Planning committee.
Not only did we install ourselves in a new physical location this year, we also claimed our spot in cyberspace. The Center now has its own home page on the World Wide Web, complete with information about the people and the activities that define the Center, this year's conference program, and links to other organizations. I am grateful to Wayne Andrew for his many hours of work on this project. Visit at http://gstudies.asp.radford.edu/ .

If you visit our web site, you will find that one prominent part of it deals with the program of the Second Annual Radford University Student Research Conference on Gender. This conference was a clear success, drawing presenters from a variety of universities in Virginia and North Carolina -- and from as far away as Colorado. Topics ranged from the history of suffrage in Virginia to women's accounts of abuse in their intimate relationships, from Blues Queens of the twenties to an analysis of The Piano. The conference was enriched, not only by lively papers and discussions, but also by a wide-ranging and moving art exhibit on themes of gender (curated by Charmagne Dutton with Anna Fariello) and a marvelous dance presentation by Professor Margaret Devaney's Choreographic Studies class.

This year we began to recruit people to join us as Friends of the Center for Gender Studies. We have been gratified by the response to our campaign, which has been ably chaired this year by Marie Waters and Jo Alderman. Friends support the work of the Center, both by their financial contributions and by their willingness to be counted as people for whom the Center is an important aspect of Radford University. I am enormously grateful to those who have joined this group of supporters, and my thanks go out to Marie and Jo for their efforts in making this campaign possible.

This year, Radford University held its first official observance of Women's Month. The Center participated by co-sponsoring one of the major speakers, Claudia Brenner, and joining in the publicity efforts for all the events. Next year, our annual student research conference on gender will be one of the key events of Women's Month. Funding support for next year's Women's Month has been obtained from the Student Activities Budget Committee by the Women's Alliance. Their grant request, which the Center supported, included partial funding for our student conference. Thus, thanks to the Women's Alliance and the SABC, some funding will be available for next year's conference, and Radford University students will be able to register for the conference free of charge.

I have appreciated once again this year the help and encouragement provided by the Center's Advisory Board and the energy and dedication of the students and other volunteers who have worked for and with the Center. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to another successful year for the Center.

Hilary M. Lips, Director

Presentations Sponsored by the Center:

Claudia Brenner, author and lecturer. Surviving Anti-Gay Violence. Public lecture, March 20, 1997. Co-sponsored with the Student Action Team, the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Student Union, and the Women's Alliance.

The Woman I Am. An original dance work presented by Professor Margaret Devaney's Choreographic Studies course at Radford University, first presented at the Second Annual Radford University Student Research Conference on Gender.

Integrating Inspiration: An art exhibition by Radford University students, faculty, and alumni, curated by Charmagne M. Dutton, with the assistance of Professor Anna Fariello. The exhibit was presented as part of the Second Annual Radford University Student Research Conference on Gender.

Dr. Meredith Kimball, Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies, Simon Fraser University. Constructing Gender Similarities and Differences in Feminist Research. Keynote address at the Second Annual Radford University Student Research Conference on Gender, April 12, 1997.

The Eleanor Kemp Awards:

A fund to encourage and support undergraduate research and scholarship has been established in memory of Dr. Eleanor E. Kemp. Dr Kemp was a dedicated professor of psychology at Radford University for many years, and was a founding member of the Center for Gender Studies. This year, two awards were presented in a brief ceremony at the Student Research Conference on Gender. Dr. Marie Waters, who was responsible for initiating the awards, made the presentations.

Congratulations to the two Kemp Award recipients of 1996-97: Vonita Brim and Jamie Lee Ferguson.
The title of Vonita Brim's research project was "Sociocultural influences on self-reported perceptions and attitudes related to body image." She presented preliminary information about this project at the Radford University Student Research Conference on Gender, and her research is continuing.

Jamie Lee Ferguson's project was titled "The perception and treatment of mental illness in colonial America." She presented a paper based on this research at the annual meeting of the Virginia Social Science Association, where she placed third in the student scholar contest for undergraduates.

Presentations by Center Personnel:

Brim, Vonita & Wilson, Lori (1997, April). Sociocultural differences, body image, and eating disorders. Paper presented at the Second Annual Student Research Conference on Gender, Radford University.

Dellinger, Amy & Maliszewski, Jennifer. (1997, April). Chemical castration versus shock therapy: Effects of aversive stimuli on sexual offenders. Paper presented at the Second Annual Student Research Conference on Gender, Radford University

Díaz Zuñíga, Claudia (1996, October). Powerful women vs. Powerful men: Perceptions in three different cultures. Paper presented as part of a symposium on Perceptions of Femininity, Masculinity and Power (H. Lips, Chair), at the Annual Conference of the Southern Regional Chapter of the Association for Women in Psychology, Hilton Head, SC.

Díaz Zuñíga, Claudia (1997, April). Helping as power: Women and the "caring" professions. Paper presented at the Second Annual Student Research Conference on Gender, Radford University.

Díaz Zuñíga, Claudia, Sattler, Sudie Back, and Lips, Hilary (1997, April). Multicultural perceptions of powerful women and powerful men. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, Atlanta,

Lips, Hilary (1996, August). Linking students' current and possible selves to teaching and learning in academic domains. Paper presented at the XXVI International Congress of Psychology, Montreal, Canada.

Lips, Hilary (1996, October). Visions of power and possibility in a sample of U.S. university students. Paper presented as part of a symposium on Perceptions of Femininity, Masculinity and Power (H. Lips, Chair), at the Annual Conference of the Southern Regional Chapter of the Association for Women in Psychology, Hilton Head, SC.

Lips, Hilary, de Verthelyi, Renata F., and Gonzalez Suarez, Mirta. (1996, August). Gender and students' possible powerful selves: A cross-cultural study. Paper presented at the XXVI International Congress of Psychology, Montreal, Canada.

Lips, Hilary, Sattler, Sudie Back, Díaz-Zuñíga, Claudia, Wilson, L. A., & Brim, Vonita (1996, November). Femininity, masculinity, and power: Young women's and men's visions of themselves and others in three cultures. Joint public lecture at Radford University, sponsored by the Center for Gender Studies.

Lips, Hilary, Shannon, M. Leigh, & Wilson, L. (1997, February). Issues in female-male communication. Presentation to the Peer Counselors, Office of Diversity Services, Radford University.

Lips, Hilary, Díaz-Zuñíga, Claudia, Sattler, Sudie Back, Wilson, Lori, & Shannon, M. Leigh (1997, April). Femininity, masculinity, and power. Invited public lecture at Emory and Henry College, Emory, VA.

Sattler, Sudie Back (1996, October). Possible powerful selves: Images across cultures. Paper presented as part of a symposium on Perceptions of Femininity, Masculinity and Power (H. Lips, Chair), at the Annual Conference of the Southern Regional Chapter of the Association for Women in Psychology, Hilton Head, SC.

Sattler, Sudie Back (1997, May). Cross-cultural attitudes toward child sexual abuse among American and Puerto Rican students. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Society, Washington, D.C.

Shannon, M. Leigh (1997, April). Gender and perceptions of powerful others. Paper presented at the Second Annual Student Research Conference on Gender, Radford University.

Shannon, M. Leigh (1997, April). Perceptions of powerful others. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Virginia Psychological Association, Roanoke.

Wilson, Lori (1996, October). Gender and the perception of powerful positions. Paper presented as part of a symposium on Perceptions of Femininity, Masculinty and Power (H. Lips, Chair), at the Annual Conference of the Southern Regional Chapter of the Association for Women in Psychology, Hilton Head, SC.

Wilson, Lori (1997, April). Perception of power across two cultures. Paper presented at the Second Annual Student Research Conference on Gender, Radford University.

Publications by Center Personnel:

Freedman, Susan A., & Lips, Hilary (1996). A response latency investigation of the gender schema. In Crandall, R. (Ed.), Handbook of gender research [Special Issue]. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 11(5), 41-53.

Lips, Hilary (1996). Sex and Gender: An Introduction (Third Edition). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.

Grants, Awards, Honors:

Sudie Back Sattler, Claudia Díaz Zuñíga and Lori Wilson received travel grants from the Graduate College to attend and present their papers at the conference of the Southern Regional Chapter of the Association for Women in Psychology in Hilton Head, SC.

Hilary Lips was selected as a Fellow of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (a division of the American Psychological Association).

Radford University's Scholarly Lectures Committee granted the Center partial funding for the visit of Dr. Meredith Kimball.

People Who Kept the Center Going in 1996-97

Director: Hilary M. Lips

Graduate Research Assistant: Amy Dellinger

Student members of the research group: Vonita Brim, Sudie Back Sattler, Leigh Shannon, Lori Wilson, Claudia Díaz Zuñíga

Advisory Board: Jennifer Armsey,Sue Conrad, Steven Culver, Anna Fariello, Mary Ferrari, Dianne Friedman, Janet Hahn, Alastair Harris,Randee Huber,Raiza Kolia, Rita Kranidis, Sudie Back Sattler, Emily Wilkinson Stallings,Ginny Weisz, Jane Wemhoener

Co-chairs of the Friends of the Center Campaign: Marie Waters and Jo Alderman

Web Page: Wayne Andrew

Project assistance was also provided by the following students: José Avendano, Leslie Gibbs, Gabriella Lima, Jannah Miller, and Laura Smith

Friends of the Center for Gender Studies: Ms. Jo Alderman, Alliant Techsystems, Ms. April Asbury, Dr. Thomas Bruneau, Ms. Dawn Bullen, Dr. Beth Carlson-Nelson, Dr. Jeffrey L. Chase, Dr. Sue Conrad, Dr. Steve Culver, Dr. Ann Elliott, Ms. Anna Fariello, Ms. Linda Farynk, Ms. Janet M. Hahn, Ms. Sue Plunkett Hill, Mr. James Hughes, Ms. Bonnie Hurlburt, Ms. Brenda Lott, Dr. Dottie Mercer, Ms. Cindy Mikoychik, Ms. Margaret Moore, Dr. Nancy Morehouse, Dr. Belinda Overstreet, Ms. Harriett Hauck Regen, Dr. Nora P. Reilly, Mr. Robert Richards, Ms Sudie Back, Dr. Paula Stanley, Dr. Ellie Sturgis, Honorable & Mrs. James C. Turk, Dr. Janet Wagner, Dr. Marie Waters.