ETSU’s Women Studies Program will welcome two speakers, Donna Noland and Katie Baker, on Jan. 28 for the Women on Wednesday Lunch and Lecture Series.
The lecture will take place in Dining Room 3 of the Culp Center from 12 to 1 p.m. on the designated Wednesday of each month, in which a light lunch will be provided.
The purpose of the series is to generate a dialogue about research, scholarship and community engagement that ETSU women are actively performing on campus and throughout the region.
“The speakers are chosen in a couple different ways,” said Phyllis Thompson, director of Women’s Studies program. “Students, faculty and staff can recommend people that we ask, and people can volunteer.”
In the past, there have been a variety of speakers, ranging from full-time professors to any advanced undergraduate or graduate student, Thompson said.
In 2012, Iqra Ahmad, a former Student Government Association president, presented a lecture on what it was like to be a woman in power in a student-leadership position.
Another student, Shae King, presented a lecture for her honors research thesis on women and violence in Rwanda in which she shared experiences about going there to hear personal stories.
Thompson said topics for the lectures are determined based on the type of work, passion and message the speaker would like to share.
“We want to raise awareness about the work women do on campus, not just faculty, not just students, but all the women on this campus because there are so many women doing such incredible work,” said Thompson.
In the upcoming lecture, there will be a discussion about how the campus and community partner to increase health wellness on campus and in the community.
“That’s what this talk is going to be about, what kind of initiatives are going on right now,” Thompson said. “And how people in the community, who are working in healthcare like Donna Noland, people in the academy like Dr. Baker, how do they come together and partner to make our community a better place for all of us to be.”
Thompson said she hopes students, who have similar interests, can come to these lectures to help find mentors in their career field.
Other lecture topics this semester will consist of raising awareness about Cervical Cancer in Nicaragua, Behind the lens: Women on Photography, URSA: Music for Tuba by women composers and women in literature: Kenyan women writers and their dialogues on issues affecting African women.
“Women working here are having an effect locally but also nationally and internationally,” Thompson said.
“This is a place where conversations get started.”
