Taylor Burtch (MA, 2018) graduated with her MA this spring term. In March, she defended her MA project, “From Theory to Praxis: Supporting Gender-Responsive and Intersectional Programming at PACE Center for Girls” under the mentorship of Dr. Kendal Broad-Wright. Next fall, she will begin the PhD program in Higher Education and Administration here at UF, and she will hold a graduate assistantship with the College of Education. Taylor extends her greatest thanks to the Center for Gender, Sexualities & Women’s Studies Research for allowing her the space to grow both personally and intellectually as a feminist scholar.
Angelica Jazmin Carlos will defend her MA project in the summer of 2018, which involved the production and creation of videos that are intended to teach adolescents and young adults about intimate partner violence (IPV). Along with the videos, she has written a paper that discusses her positionality, the importance of IPV education, and how it relates to the field of Women’s Studies. Angelica will be joining the doctoral program in Sociology at Washington State University after her time at the UF.
Aishwarya Krishna Iyer (MA, 2018) defended her thesis on the need for gender budgeting in the United States and her Doctor of Juridical Science degree from the Law School. Before graduating, Aishwarya received the UF Presidential Service Award, UF Outstanding Service Learning/ Community Based Learning Award, and UF Outstanding Service Among Graduate Students award. She received these honors for her extensive internship and volunteer work, including developing a database for a program that would provide education on social entrepreneurship to high school-aged girls and working with the UF Vendor Diversity initiative to expand their training for women. Aishwarya went home to India in late April to get married, and will return to the U.S. to start her new job in July as an International Tax Consultant at the multi-national accounting firm of Price, Waterhouse, Cooper in New York City.
Eva Newbold (MA, 2018) graduated with her MA in Women’s Studies this spring. She defended her thesis titled “‘Even I Don’t Know Who I Am:’ the Search for a New Scottish National Identity in the Poetry of Jackie Kay.” In March, Eva presented her research titled, Representations of Girlhood in Wartime: The Effects of the Iraq War on American Girlhood as Explored in the Novel Dear Blue Sky, at the Annual Lewis and Clark College Gender Studies Symposium. Eva will be taking a gap year to take time to read and travel before continuing her education.
“My time at the Center has trained me to think intersectionally, and to consider my own subjectivity and position of Power as a teacher.”
-Mallory Szymanski
Mirela Cardinal attended her first NWSA conference this year. She will be working on her MA project, which explores the discourses available on YouTube produced by queer YouTubers from Brazil and the public reactions. She will analyze the content in the videos and the comments section about queer experiences in Brazil. Over the summer, Mirela plans to compile and annotate sources, start to collect and analyze her data and write a draft of her paper.
Corinne Futch also attended her first NWSA conference this year. This summer, she will commence working on her MA Project, a podcast about women’s health and oppression. She hopes to use this work as a bridge for academia and activism. Corinne is excited to TA for Dr. Guyer this summer and to learn about health disparities.
Meaghan MacPherson will continue research on her thesis tentatively titled “#Surviving on Twitter.” Her research focuses on the intersection of hashtag feminism, affect theory, and survivor discourse in the #MeToo movement. Her summer plans include working, outlining her thesis, and working on her blog.
Marcela Murillo Lafuente presented her research at two national conferences. With several other UF students and Center alums, she presented at NWSA. At the Popular Culture Association (PCA) conference, she presented a paper she wrote in one of her women’s studies seminars. The paper was so warmly received that a journal editor approached her to submit a manuscript for peer-review for possible publication. In addition, Marcella received an NWSA Travel grant and the PCA’s Schoenecke Travel Grant, as well as a UF Graduate Student Teaching Award. This summer, Marcela will work on the data collection for her thesis. Her project studies the domestic practice of laundry using a feminist analysis. She aims to contextualize the historically challenged relationship between this domestic task and feminism through scholarly readings and her study.
Anthony Dustin Rollins is finishing his second year as an MA- PhD student in the Center and is continuing to focus his research on intersectionality and contemporary HIV/AIDS Activism within a queer context. His thesis will address the Sexual Liberation Narratives of Queer College Men using Tuvada as Pre- exposure Prophylaxis. He is excited to continue contributing to the Center and queer intersectional scholarship.
Karleen Schlichtmann attended NWSA and presented with Center faculty in a roundtable on Black Health Matters. She also had a busy spring semester during which she received her Peer Sex Education Certification from Planned Parenthood, and served as a panel member for Planned Parenthood Generation Action “Decolonizing Sexual Health.” This summer, Karleen is looking forward to working on her thesis on existing research about and resources for Black women living with HIV. She is also starting an internship and spending time with her family.
Jane Stanley began work on her MA project this semester. It is titled “Women in Comedy” and will take the shape of a blog with information regarding the impacts and feminism of various female comedians. Jane will also work with the Gainesville Girls Rock Camp over the summer, where she hopes to gain experience in feminist activism.
Matthew Stern was another first time NWSA attendee this year. Matt will continue research on his thesis project under the mentorship of Dr. Tace Hedrick and Dr. Maddy Coy. His thesis will explore the impacts of images of violence against women in contemporary mystery television shows and video games. He plans to spend the summer reading feminist scholarship about violence against women and analyzing the texts he plans to write about.
Hannah Tabor will be a BA/ MA student, working on an MA project to create a college- level course titled “Feminist International Relations” to bring the fields of Gender Studies and International Relations together. The course will examine how Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies knowledge can improve the field of International Relations to become more intersectional and transnational. Her summer plans include compiling research so she can begin designing the course during the fall semester.
Nik Wiles continues work on their MA project, a memoir- style book that hopes to tackle discussions of gender identity in the context of parenting. Nik recently presented a working chapter from their book at the 37th Annual Lewis & Clark Gender Symposium. It is their goal to present further working chapters of the book at other conferences as they move into their second year of the program.
Alexandria Wilson is continuing as an MA-PhD student and is excited to TA for the Center this summer. Alexandria was awarded a Rothman Doctoral Fellowship in the Humanities and a Fulbright Research Grant, both to conduct her dissertation research on “Framing Exploitation: feminist frames and anti- trafficking policy in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia.” Alexandria will be moving to Eastern Europe at the end of the summer to begin her dissertation research in Slovakia. She will also continue working on her MA article in which she looks at how women’s organizations in Eastern Europe are resisting the new upsurge in gender backlash and rising resistance to women’s rights in the region. Alexandria has a forthcoming book review which will be published in the May issue of the European Journal of Women’s Studies.