On the first Wednesday of every month, the ETSU Women’s Studies program will be hosting Women on Wednesdays, a series of lectures that allow notable women on campus to showcase their causes and achievements.
The series was established by the Women’s Studies Program Director Dr. Phyllis Thompson in 2012. While the lectures were originally held at the Culp Center, they now take place at the Reece Museum because of the ongoing renovations.
According to Heidi Marsh, executive aid of the program, they try to make the timing of the talks relevant. For example, in October for LGBT History month, speakers will discuss the ETSU Safe Zone program, which is a program to form safe and supportive places for students in the LGBTQ community.
Marsh also said that listeners of the lectures will be able to hear from women across many different departments on campus, such as the counseling center, community health, nursing and psychology.
“Students can expect to hear women talk about their expertise in general,” said Marsh. “We just want to raise awareness about the important work that women do on campus.”
Marsh also mentioned that the lectures enable students to make new connections that could be beneficial to their studies.
“One of the goals is so students can seek out potential mentors for their own work and research that they do,” said Marsh.
Zoe Hill, one of the graduate assistants of the program, said that while she is new to the program, she is already enjoying the lecture series.
“For me, it’s just been really nice and encouraging to see the different avenues and fields that everyone comes from to provide a universal source of useful information in one place,” said Hill. “It brings everyone together for all these different causes and things that people are doing, and you just don’t realize all the stuff that’s going on on campus or all of the incredible women that we have.”
If interested in attending, the lecture series will continue to be at noon in Reece Museum on the first Wednesday of every month. For more information or to view past lectures, visit the Women’s Studies program website at https://www.etsu.edu/cas/litlang/wsp/.
