WRC, Women Studies mark 30-year Anniversary
Celebratory conference takes place March 8-9 on UNM campus

By Laurie Mellas-Ramirez

The UNM Women’s Resource Center (WRC) and Women Studies Program will mark 30 years of service to UNM and the community with a statewide conference at UNM Friday and Saturday March 8-9.

“Water in the Desert: A 30-Year Anniversary Celebration of Women in Activism, Academics and the Arts,” will feature speakers, performers, panel and paper presentations, workshops, an information fair and open art studio.

Tickets for the opening celebration Friday, March 8 can be purchased for $10. Conference registration is $40 and includes all events for both days and a box lunch on Saturday. Scholarships are available.

One of the first Ph.D.s in Women Studies, Dr. Angela Bowen, professor of English and women studies, California State at Long Beach, will give the keynote address Friday at 7 p.m. at the Continuing Education Conference Center.

The keynote is followed with a performance at 8:30 p.m. by award winning poet Alix Olson, 1999 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow. Olson, who has been featured on the cover of MS. Magazine, is touted as “funny, brilliant performer, serious thinker and ingenious poet.”

“The two women appearing opening night of the conference are wonderful examples of the risk-taking warrior women who paved and continue to pave the road for, not only women’s rights, but for human rights,” said WRC Director Sandrea Gonzales.

On Saturday, March 9, workshops, panel presentations, lunch and entertainment will take place from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Dane Smith Hall.

Among the more than 60 presenters Saturday will be community activist Sylvia Ledesma, actor Jules Odendahl and Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb.

During the opening panel presentation conference participants “will hear from a group of women who share more than 30 years of experiences and lessons in feminism,” said Elizabeth Cahn, WRC program coordinator.

An afternoon panel, “Intergenerational Dialogues: Two Generations of Women Studies Faculty Reflect on 30 Years in the Academy,” features UNM faculty Ann Nihlen, Ph.D., Cheryl Learn, Ph.D., Lavinia Nicolae, Adriana Nieto, Tey Diana Rebolledo, Ph.D., and Dana Van Tilborg.

The UNM Women’s Resource Center was founded in 1972 as the Women’s Coordinating Center. New Mexico’s first rape crisis center – also one of the first in the nation – began in the early 1970s with a boost from the WRC. The New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women and Domestic Violence Shelter also have roots in the center. “It was an extraordinary time for women. A time when many women began to look at the expansion of their opportunities for education and employment. A time when women began to take back their lives, bodies, sexuality and self-esteem,” said Gonzales, associated with the center for nearly 23 of its 30-year history.

UNM Women Studies is an interdisciplinary program offering courses about women’s roles, accomplishments and issues with the objective to promote personal and societal change. “The UNM Women Studies Program is one of the oldest in the United States. Women Studies began offering courses in 1972, became a minor in 1984, and a major in 1999,” said Director Cheryl Learn.

In addition to the conference, events will be held throughout the year to celebrate the 30-year milestone, including a concert by Sweet Honey in the Rock. “We must remind ourselves of the accomplishments, but also that there is more work to do in order to maintain the rights that so many fought for,” Gonzales said.  

For more information on the conference, visit www.unm.edu/~womenst (accessible only using Internet Explorer) or call the 277-3716 or 277-3854.