April 26, 2024

Dynamic Decade: Women’s and Gender Studies Program Turns 10

UMW students listen as Women’s and Gender Studies faculty and alums gather together to celebrate the program’s 10th anniversary. Photo by Karen Pearlman.

UMW students listen as Women’s and Gender Studies faculty and alums gather together to celebrate the program’s 10th anniversary. Photo by Karen Pearlman.

Six years after graduating from the University of Mary Washington, Sam Carter ’14 still draws daily on some of the lessons she learned as an undergrad.

“Everyone has a different cultural experience,” said Carter, a Women’s and Gender Studies major who’s now a digital director for the House Budget Committee majority staff. “It’s important that we understand that.”

Carter was back on campus yesterday to celebrate the program’s 10th anniversary. Through this interdisciplinary major, students explore the intersections of gender, race, class, ethnicity and sexual orientation to gain an understanding of the breadth of human experience. Graduates use the perspectives they acquire in the classroom to inform careers in such fields as media, law, health, education and social work, and to influence and inspire future generations. Read more.