Gen(der) Ed

Join us in welcoming two new Advocacy Coordinators to the Women's Center team. They work to provide support and advocacy services to those who have been impacted by power-based violence. Get to know more about our advocates and learn more about what utilizing our advocacy services looks like.

In celebration of Earth Day we talk with Dr. Shannon Elizabeth Bell, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Sociology at Virginia Tech, about the ways in which environmental justice activism is gendered. Join us for this important conversation about the ways in which gender roles impact our ability to show up in activist work as well as ways that everyone can get involved with this important issue. 

For Sexual Assault Awareness Month we talk with Chimi Boyd-Keyes, CEO of CBK Enterprises. As a seasoned Higher Education professional for 18 years, Chimi has worked extensively on women’s and gender issues and topics relating to other marginalized populations. She shares insights on doing work in violence prevention and the importance of constantly learning and evaluating the work you are doing to ensure that it is meeting the needs of the populations you are serving.

Join us as we talk with Dr. Bingham, Director for the Virginia Tech LGBTQ+ Resource Center. She shares the importance of having a Resource Center for our Queer students, faculty, and staff, as well as why celebrating and honoring days and weeks for this community is so important.

Listen in to learn more and check out all of the Pride week events happening at Virginia Tech April 5th - 9th.

On this episode we are joined by Laurie Fritsch, Assistant Director at Hokie Wellness, Taylor Welch, Health Education and Awareness Team Peer Educator, and Riley David, Health Education and Awareness Team Peer Educator and Sorority Body Project student coordinator. They talk with us about body image and eating concerns, body acceptance and neutrality, how to support a friend, and more. 

Join us for this discussion about societal messages about bodies and make sure to check out our website for more resources. www.womenscenter.vt.edu/gendered

In celebration of Women's History Month, we talk with Dr. Menah Pratt-Clarke, Vice President for Strategic Affairs and Diversity. This year we are featuring trailblazers who have led movements, broke down barriers, and began dismantling systems of oppression. Dr. Pratt-Clarke is not only a trailblazer with her contributions to academia but also in her current role at Virginia Tech leading efforts around diversity equity and inclusion.

Join us as she talks about her experiences of being a trailblazer and what it is like to be the "lonely only", the importance of remembering your "why", and more.

In honor and celebration of Black History Month, the Women’s Center will be gathering and sharing stories of achievement and joy from the Black women* in our community. During the entire month of February, we will be featuring stories shared with us on our podcast, Gen(der) Ed.

*We acknowledge that womanhood and gender identity are fluid and unique to each individual. We welcome stories from all who feel they may fall under the identity of “woman”.

On this episode we are featuring stories from Dr. Andrea Baldwin, Shannon Alford and Jariah.

Join us for this special episode in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the theme, We Cannot Walk Alone. We talk with Dr. Pat Hyer, Dr. Barbara Pendergrass, and Dr. Delores Scott, three women who were pivotal in advocating for women, Black students and faculty, students with disabilities, and other marginalized communities at Virginia Tech. They worked together, with many others, to establish programs and policies to help students, faculty, and staff be successful during their time at our university. Listen in as they share their experiences at Virginia Tech, the pivotal programs they launched that still exist today, and why leadership in advocacy is so important. 

On this episode we continue to talk about the detrimental impacts of gender expectations and how we can address a complex issue like sexual assault on a college campus. Listen to Part 2 of our masculinities conversation with Tyler Pugh, an industrial systems engineering student & Resident Advisor , Dr. Byron Hughes, the Dean of Students at VT, and Donte Morrison, the Violence Prevention Coordinator with the Women’s Resource Center of the NRV. 

On this week's episode we are talking about gender roles and expectations, and more specifically as it relates to sexual and relationship violence. Our guests are Tyler Pugh, an industrial systems engineering student & Resident Advisor , Dr. Byron Hughes, the Dean of Students at VT, and Donte Morrison, the Violence Prevention Coordinator with the Women’s Resource Center of the NRV. They share their experience with understanding and talking about gender as well as the detrimental impacts that gender expectations can have. 

Today we are talking with Sophi Hayes a SAVES Peer Educator, Chloe Loving a Hokie Wellness Graduate Assistant and HEAT member, and Malinda Britt, Human Sexuality Educator with Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. We discuss the importance of discussing topics like sex, sexual health, sexuality, consent, and healthy relationships with youth and college students. Join us for this conversation to learn more about sexual health and consent.

In celebration of Indigenous People’s Day, we are talking with Melissa Faircloth, Dr. Theresa Rocha Beardall, and Qualla Ketchum. They share the importance of recognizing this day, what it took to get it acknowledged at Virginia Tech, and more.

In this episode, we explore a variety of civic engagement components. Dr. Caitlin Jewitt, an Assistant Professor of Political Science, offers insight into the electoral process as well as ways in which voter suppression occurs. We are also joined by Jes Davis from VT Engage, who shares the importance of the student voice and how voters can cast their ballot this fall.

Join us as we discuss a new project that Dr. Andrea Baldwin and other faculty and community partners are collaborating with us at the Women’s Center on this fall. We are calling the project (Dis)course because it’s an ongoing discussion that invites folks currently taking classes with our faculty as well as others who may be interested in joining the conversation. The theme of the project this semester is focusing on violence- interpersonal, state, police, etc.- against women and queer people of color. We will be reading and discussing Andrea Rithcie’s book Invisible No More as one of the central and recurring components of this program.

Listen in as Dr. Baldwin shares why she selected Invisible No More for this project and amplifies the experiences of BIPOC as it relates to violence against these communities. 

Today we are talking with Melissa Faircloth from the American Indian & Indigenous Community Center and Nina Ha from the Asian Cultural Engagement Center to learn more about a two of our six Cultural and Community Centers at Virginia Tech. We discuss how they are amplifying and meeting the needs of our under-represented and under-served communities on campus and how we as Hokies can learn more about the diverse experiences of those minority students, staff, and faculty.

A discussion with guests Swathi Prabhu of Hokie Wellness and Jess Westcott of Cook Counseling about taking care of our mental health and wellness as we prepare for the uncertainty of the Fall 2020 semester.