The Women’s Studies Program at ETSU sponsored their first Women’s Colloquium on Tuesday featuring the work and lives of two notable women on ETSU’s campus.
“The purpose of this colloquium is to highlight the accomplishments of women experts on our campus,” said Dr. Amber Kinser, director of Women’s Studies at ETSU. “This is a great opportunity to learn from women in our area who make a difference.”
The colloquium featured speakers Dr. Susan Grover and Joyce Duncan.
Dr. Susan Grover has served as chairwoman of the ETSU department of family and community nursing for the last 7 years.
She was also recognized as Psychiatric Nurse of the Year in 1995 by the Tennessee Council on Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing.
Grover served in Desert Storm as a registered nurse and also worked with refugees and Arabic families as an interpreter. She spoke of her experiences during this period in her life. Grover reported on a survey she took in her unit two weeks before the ground war began.
Grover said that there was very little debriefing after the Desert Storm, which affected many who served.
Her survey included how the war was a stressor on the men and women serving and how the men and women dealt with these stressors.
Joyce Duncan has served the last 18 years at ETSU as an adjunct instructor in the English and service-learning departments. Duncan discussed topics from her latest book, Ahead of Their Time: A Biographical Dictionary of Risk-Taking Women, which was published in 2001. Her book describes the lives of 75 women, from the 18th century to the 12th century, who have done exceptional things in their lives.
“The hard part was narrowing my character content. I researched until my deadline and narrowed it down to three categories: aviators, explorers, and women of expedition,” Duncan said.
I want people to come away from this knowing that our foremothers were not chained to their home or their fathers. Many women explored their world and did as they like and that kind of spirit is what helps start change for the better.”
Duncan spoke on three exceptional women who she included in her book. Her next project is a biography of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
“Women’s Studies wants to be sure that the ETSU community is aware of the important contributions to knowledge that women academics on our campus are making every day,” Kinser said.

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