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Women's Studies Program

Women's studies at Denison

THE WOMEN'S STUDIES PROGRAM offers a variety of interdisciplinary courses for students to learn about gender, social politics, theory, methods of inquiry, and practice, as well as to empower themselves to participate in social change.

Women's studies scholars have introduced new theoretical insights and new understanding of basic concepts such as work, art, politics, literature, and history.

The Women's Studies Program aims to:

The Women's Studies Program sponsors regular symposia on gender issues that include presentations by women's studies faculty as well as scholars from throughout the United States. With the support of the Laura C. Harris endowment, the Women's Studies Program has recently hosted internationally-renowned scholars such as Joy Harjo, Winona LaDuke, Paula Gunn Allen and Mary Daly. Program members also participate in the Great Lakes Colleges Association, which provides conferences for women's studies students and faculty.

Many students double major and find that the other major is enhanced by women's studies.

The women's studies major and minor

Women's studies majors are required to take the following:

Women's studies minors are required to take the following:

  • Three required core courses:
    • Issues in Feminism
    • Cultural and Social Methods
    • Feminist Theory.
  • One course cross-listed women's studies/black studies
  • Two women's studies electives.

    • Students are encouraged to consult with the Director of Women's Studies in making their choices.

    Student research

    Students have the opportunity to participate in a variety of internships located throughout the country that acquaint them with women's issues. Students are encouraged to develop leadership skills by taking an active part in campus life, including projects developed by the program. Recent projects include a national grant application, a campus-wide study on violence and a benefit concert.

    Denison's women's studies faculty are dedicated to helping students develop rigorous analyses and creative leadership skills. Outstanding student research in women's studies is recognized through the Nan Nowik Memorial Awards given for work in feminist scholarship, creative expression, and political service and activism. Students participate in collaborative research with faculty, campus symposia, and the biennial Great Lakes College Association's Women's Studies Conference, as well as other intellectual activities.

    What do women's studies majors do after Denison?

    Women's studies majors and minors have become successful in human resources, personnel, community organization, government, social services and in nonprofit organizational work. Majors and minors find positions in various businesses that make use of their special knowledge of gender issues. Women's studies is a valuable liberal arts major that prepares students to take leadership positions in the corporate world as well as to participate in today's changing society.

    Some of our students do graduate work in women's studies to prepare for college teaching, public policy research, social services or public administration; others enter medical school, law school, business school or pursue other advanced degrees.

    Who are our professors?

    The majority of professors associated with the Women's Studies Program are members of other departments who teach courses in both.

    Director and Associate Professor of Women's Studies and English  Marlene A. Tromp joined the faculty at Denison in 1997. She earned a B.A. at Creighton University, an M.A. at the University of Wyoming and a Ph.D. at the University of Florida. Her teaching and creative interests include Victorian literature, the novel, critical theory, pop culture, feminist movements and women's studies. Her new book, Altered States: Sex, Nation, Drugs, and Self in Victorian Spiritualism, is forthcoming with SUNY Press. She has also published The Private Rod: Sexual Violence, Marriage, and the Law in Victorian Englandand a collection entitled Mary Elizabeth Braddon: Beyond Sensation. She is presently at work on a collection entitled Victorian "Freaks": The Social Work of Freakery in the Nineteenth Century.

    Associate Professor of Women's Studies and Black Studies Toni C. King joined the faculty at Denison in 1997. She earned a B.A. at Oklahoma State University, an M.A. at Ohio State University and a Ph.D. at Case Western Reserve University. King teaches Introduction to Black Studies, Issues in Feminism, Feminist Research Methods, Black Women and Organizational Leadership and Black Women's Lives: Autobiography as Protest. King also provides personal growth workshops for women concerning leadership, spirituality, social support and personal/professional balance. She has published numerous articles on women's resistance to and recovery from race, class and gender oppression.

    Assistant Professor of Women's Studies and International Studies Isis Nusair joined the faculty at Denison in 2005. She earned a B.A. at Tel-Aviv University, an M.A. at the University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. at Clark University. She has served as a researcher on women's human rights in the Middle East and North Africa for Human Rights Watch and worked as a researcher with the Euro-Med Human Rights Network.

    Professor of Economics Robin L. Bartlett, co-developer of Denison's Economics Laboratory Program and recipient of awards for innovative teaching from the Joint Council on Economic Education, became a part of Denison's Department of Economics faculty in 1973. In 1998, she was named Ohio's Professor of the Year. She has been chair of the American Economic Association's Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession. Bartlett focuses on Macroeconomic Theory, Economics of Discrimination and Economic Education. She is a graduate of Western College and earned her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Michigan State University.

    Professor of Modern Languages Bernardita Llanos joined the faculty at Denison in 1991. She earned her B.A. at Universidad Catolica de Chile, her M.A. at the University of California, Davis and her Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. Her research interests include Latin American literature, Cultureuista de American and women's studies.

    Professor of Sociology/Anthropology Bahram Tavakolian joined the faculty at Denison in 1979. He earned his A.B., M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. He teaches courses in sociocultural theory, social change, gender, ecology, pastoral nomadism, social deviance, the individual and society, baseball and the American dream, and Middle Eastern societies. His current research is on British India's economic and political impacts on Afghanistan during the 19th century and their consequences for contemporary tribe-state and inter-ethnic relations.

    Associate Professor of Communication Suzanne E. Condray joined the faculty at Denison in 1980. She earned a B.A. at East Texas Baptist College, an M.A. at Colorado State University and a Ph.D. at Louisiana State University. She brings eclectic interests in politics, law, rhetoric, gender and documentary to her study of communication. As an independent videographer, Condray has produced documentaries about women's professional basketball and Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for the U.S. presidency.

    Associate Professor of Sociology/Anthropology Susan E. Diduk joined the faculty at Denison in 1984. She earned a B.A. at the College of William and Mary, an M.A. at University College London, U.K. and an M.A. and a Ph.D. at Indiana University. She teaches in the areas of comparative social institutions, sociology of art, contemporary sociocultural theory, gender and Africa. Her areas of specialization include classical and contemporary theory, art and society, gender, political economy and Sub-Saharan Africa.

    Associate Professor of Philosophy Barbara Fultner, chair of the department, joined the faculty at Denison in 1995. She earned a B.A. from Simon Fraser University, an M.A. from McGill University and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. She teaches courses in philosophy of language, the history of modern philosophy and philosophy of feminism among others. Her research interests lie at the cross-roads of analytic and continental philosophy, with a focus on theories of meaning and social practice.

    Associate Professor of Education Karen Graves joined the faculty at Denison in 1993. She earned her B.A., M.Ed. and Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests include the history of U.S. education, the history of women's education and gay and lesbian studies in education.

    Associate Professor of English Linda J. Krumholz joined the faculty at Denison in 1992. She earned a B.A. at Reed College and an M.A. and a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She specializes in contemporary ethnic American literature and Black studies. Her publications on Toni Morrison and Leslie Marmon Silko have appeared in African American Review, Arieland Modern Fiction Studies.

    Associate Professor of Physical Education Sara Lee joined the faculty at Denison in 1989. She earned a B.S. at Moorehead State University and an M.A. at Kent State University. Lee is the head women's basketball and volleyball coach.

    Associate Professor of Dance Gill Wright Miller, joined the faculty at Denison in 1981. She earned a B.F.A. at Denison University, an M.A.L.S. at Wesleyan University and a Ph.D. at New York University. She is a theorist of cultural studies, movement analysis and experimental anatomy.

    Associate Professor of Psychology L. Kaye Rasnake joined the faculty at Denison in 1987. She earned a B.A. at Concord College and an M.A. and a Ph.D. at Ohio State University. Rasnake does research on the psychological consequences of illness in children and adolescents and the relationship between gender, nutritional knowledge, nutritional judgments, body image and eating/nutritional behaviors.

    Associate Professor of Education Lyn Robertson joined the faculty at Denison in 1979. She earned a B.A. at Denison University, an M.A. at Northwestern University and a Ph.D. at Ohio State University. Her research interests include reading education, students in academic difficulties, the treatment of language development in education, the role of hearing impairment in reading and writing achievement and feminist pedagogy.

    Associate Professor of English Sandra R. Runzo joined the faculty at Denison in 1986. She earned a B.A. at West Virginia University and an M.A. and a Ph.D. at Indiana University. Her research interests include 19th- and 20th-century American literature and women writers.

    Associate Professor of Art L. Joy Sperling joined the faculty at Denison in 1989. She earned her M.A. and M.F.A. at Edinburgh University and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She specializes in art history, particularly American art, modern art and the history of photography. She has published in the areas of 19th century, modern and postmodern art.

    Associate Professor of Sociology/Anthropology Mary Tuominen joined the faculty at Denison in 1993. She earned a B.A. at Western Washington University, an M.A. at Seattle University and a Ph.D. at the University of Oregon. Her teaching and research interests include gender and race ethnicity, political economy, work/family, social change and public policy. In journal articles, as well as a book, she explores the lack of equal and economic value accorded to child care workers. Her most current research includes an analysis of self-advocacy and political mobilization among child care workers.

    Assistant Professor Lynn K. Gorchov joined the faculty at Denison in 2004. She earned her bachelor of arts degree from Wesleyan University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. She teaches American Civilization Since 1865, American Women's History, History of Medicine in the U.S., Sexuality in America and Politics of Reform.

    Assistant Professor Amanda Gunn joined the faculty at Denison in 2003. She earned a B.S. at Appalachian State University and an M.A. and a Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. She focuses her teaching and scholarship on exploring questions of marginality, voice and empowerment in a variety of communication contexts.

    Assistant Professor Anita Mannur joined the faculty at Denison in 2005. She earned a B.A. at the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. at the University of Massachussetts. Her teaching and research interests lie in Asian American and South Asian diasporic literatures and food and culture. She is editor with Jana Evans Braziel of Theorizing Diaspora (Blackwell, 2003) and editor of a special volume of the Massachusetts Review (Fall 2004) on "Food Matters." She is currently at work on a book length manuscript on gastronomic multiculturalism in South Asian American literature and culture.

    Assistant Professor Jennifer Saunders joined the faculty at Denison in 2005. She earned a B.A. at Duke University, an M.A. at the University of North Carolina and a Ph.D. at Emory University.

    Assistant Professor Amy Scott-Douglass joined the faculty at Denison in 2005. She earned a B.A., an M.A. in English and an M.A. in theatre at Bowling Green State University and a Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma. She has held fellowships at Cornell University and the University of California, Los Angeles, and has participated in two National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Teaching Institutes. Her essays have been published in Pretexts (July 2000), Shakespeare the Movie, Part II (Routledge, 2003), and Cavendish and Shakespeare: Interconnections (Ashgate, 2006). Her current book project, Shakespeare in the House, is on Shakespeare prison, military and work-study programs in the United States. She teaches courses in early modern British and continental literature.

    For more information about the program and curriculum, go to:

    Women's Studies Department

    or contact:

    Marlene Tromp, Director
    Women's Studies Program
    Blair Knapp Hall, Room 108A
    Denison University
    Granville, Ohio 43023

    Phone:  (740) 587-6536
    E-mail:   tromp@denison.edu