Hosted by the Art and Art Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University and co-sponsored by Sexuality, Women, and Gender Project, the symposium will feature feminist scholars, artists, and art educators.
NEW! SWG CeRTIFICATE NOW WITH TRACKS!
NEW! SWG CERTIFICATE TRACKS
Exciting changes to the 15 point SWG certificate are here at TC! Starting this semester, students can either opt for the general certificate program or a more specialized curriculum by having a focused plan of study. The different foci of the certificate are:
a. General Focus:
The certificate's core classes are CCPJ 4180 LGBTQ Issues in Psychology and Education and CCPX 4125 Women and Mental Health (original program of study as approved by NY State).
b. Reproductive and Maternal Well-Being Focus:
The certificate's core classes are CCPX 4125 Women and Mental Health and CCPX 4126 Mother Child Matrix.
c. LGBTQ Focus:
The certificate's core classes are CCPJ 4180 LGBTQ Issues in Psychology and Education and CCPJ 4130 Transgender Issues in Counseling and Psychology.
Let's Talk! About Sex
Please join the Sexuality, Women, and Gender Project, TC Student Senate, TC Diversity and Community Affairs, and the Sexual Violence Response at Columbia Health in a discussion about healthy communications about orgasm, pleasure, and desire with diverse and international perspectives on sexual encounters. This discussion will be led by facilitators from SVR at Columbia University and will focus on giving tips for positive communication to increase consensual and pleasurable sexual encounters.
There is a free CulinArt Gift-card for the first 40 Students in attendance.
To request disability-related accommodations contact OASID at oasid@tc.edu, (212) 678-3689, (212) 678-3853 TTY, (646)755-3144 video phone, as early as possible.
Event open to the Columbia Community.
Everything You Wanted To Know About The Black Woman Experience: But Were Afraid To Ask
The Sexuality, Women, and Gender Project, Diversity Committee of the Teachers College Student Senate, The TC Black Student Network, and the Office of Diversity and Community Development is proud to present the Fourth installment of the diversity conversations series. Come to our panel discussion prepared to ask questions and learn about Women in the African Diaspora!
To request disability-related accommodations contact OASID at oasid@tc.edu, (212) 678-3689, (212) 678-3853 TTY, (646)755-3144 video phone, as early as possible.
Open to Columbia University community
Someone You Love: The HPV Epidemic
Sexuality, Women, and Gender Project presents Film Screening and Panel Discussion.
Description: The event will consist two parts:
5:00 – 6:30 Film Screening Someone You Love: The HPV Epidemic
6:30 - 7:15 Panel Discussion
The Film Screening: Someone You Love: The HPV Epidemic is a documentary about five beautiful women from five different backgrounds, educational level, status and location. Five different women that do not look alike, do not pursue life alike but have the same problem – HPV virus***. The film is sharing five unforgettable stories about women who were interrupted by the deadly virus. It shows their struggles, fears, social problems, changing in relationship with partners, husbands, parents and friends. The movie shows the virus’s effect on women’s mental health.
Panelists:
- Frederic Lumiere (Producer, director and editor of the movie that we will screen). Frederic Lumiere is an award winning Producer, director, editor, published author and President of Lumiere Media, Inc., a film and television production company based in Doylestown, PA.
- Riddhi Sandil (PhD., co-Founder of Sexuality, Women and Gender Project at Teachers College, Columbia University) Dr. Sandil is a licensed psychologist and her clinical interests include complex trauma, working with marginalized/minority populations, women's concerns, identity development, individuation and family of origin concerns.
- Nancy Lesko (Phd., Professor of Education in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University). Inaugural recipient of Maxine Greene Chair, Teachers College, Columbia University.
- Karen Baldwin (Ed.D., Adjunct Professor of Health Education, clinical nurse-midwife, OB/GYN nurse practitioner and administrator in New York City). Ms. Baldwin provided women’s health care including prenatal care and delivery and gynecological care to thousands of women, and most recently, coordinated the graduate nurse practitioner program at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, NY.
- Carol L. Brown (M.D., Director, Office of Diversity Programs in Clinical Care, Research, and Training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center). Ms. Brown is a board-certified gynecologic oncologist who, for more than 15 years, has used my skills as a surgeon to provide high-quality and compassionate care to women with ovarian, uterine, cervical, and vulvar cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
***HPV or Human Papillomavirus, is a family of viruses that cause almost all cervical cancers including warts, genital warts, and plantar warts. HPV also causes cancers of vulva, vagina, anus and cancers of the head and neck. Both women and man might be infected with HPV types through sexual intercourse and sexual contact. Cervical cancer is highly preventable because screening tests (pep smears, HPV testing) for cervical cancer, and vaccinations. However, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, half of cervical cancers occur among women rarely or never screened for cancer, and another 10%–20% of cancers occur among women who were screened but did not receive adequate follow-up care. In 2014, an estimated 12,900 women in the United States were diagnosed with cervical cancer. It is estimated that 4,100 deaths from the disease will occur this year (www.cancer.net). 80% of all people under 50 of age will have HPV at some point in their lives. It means that 1 in 2 current college students have HPV. Condoms do not fully prevent the spread of HPV, and men cannot be tested for HPV but do unknowingly carry and spread the virus.
Being infected with HPV is very ashamed for women. The idea of having cervical cancer destroy women's self-esteem, increase shame and guilt level, decrease woman's immune system and create a weak relationship with her surroundings (friends, partners, parents).
FB EVENT PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/events/454242554770930/
Twitter: @SWGProject
SWG EVENT: January 28th - Identity in Gaming Panel and Exhibition - Milbank Chapel
Thursday, January 28 at 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM in EST
Join us for a panel about how games (indie and beyond) integrate exploration of marginalized identities and can facilitate growth and catharsis for players. We will begin to question how games can be used to promote player empowerment, but also to promote awareness for those who occupy identities with power and privilege.
The panel will be followed by an informal games showcase that will give you a chance to play the hottest games that explore identity in digital, real world, and card or boardgame formats.
Panelists include:
Professors Naomi Clark (NYU), Mary Flanagan (Dartmouth), Joey Lee (Teachers College Columbia University), as well as, Sara Cornish (Games For Change)
Moderated by:
Austin Walker, games journalist
FLYER: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxaYmlYQR4VoMmV3WVVMRWR0R0E/view?usp=sharing
Location:
close to the 116th and Broadway 1 train, or a short walk from the 125th ABCD stop in Harlem.
Between Broadway and Amsterdam on 120th street -
Teachers College, Columbia University
525 West 120th Street
Enter with a photo id through Zankel Hall (only building with wheelchair ramp, red brick)
Panel is in Milbank Chapel at 4pm
Games showcase starts at 5:30ish in Everett Lounge.
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/531464187031795/
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Also attendees: if you have games that you have made or other games that you love and want to play (that address our topic - identity and/or marginalization), feel free to reach out to Jason about being involved in the exhibition: jhw2156@tc.columbia.edu
Student work is totally welcome, but just make sure it is playable!
TC LIVE STREAM - January 25-26 - Mom2020 2016 Forum on Maternal Mental Health, Birth Loss, & Grief Support
The organization 2020mom has offered to donate free access to a live stream of the January forum on grief support and birth loss in women with some leaders in the field. We will be live streaming this forum Monday, January 25th and Tuesday, January 26th of next week.
This is open to all TC students and alumni.
Live Stream Information
Monday, January 25th in 305 Russell Hall from 11AM-6PM
- Tuesday, January 26th in 305 Russell Hall from 12PM-5PM
You can view the itinerary below or online to see which segments you would be interested in attending (reminder that online the itinerary is listed in pacific time and below in eastern standard time).
Itinerary
January 25, 2016
12:00pm Welcome
12:20pm A Personal Story
12:30pm Keynote: Bereavement Program Innovations That Support Maternal Mental Health
1:45pm-2:45 Mental Health After Loss and Supporting Mom Pregnant Again After Loss
4:00pm Model MMH Hospital Programs
5:30pm-6:10 2020 Mom Update
January 26, 2016
12:00pm Welcome & Introductions
12:15pm Philosphy of Vicarious Trama
1:00-2:45pm Mindfulness-based Bereavement Care: The ATTEND Model
4:00pm Making Moments Matter: Caring for Oneself While Supporting Others Who Grieve
5:45-7:00pmThe Power of Peer Support Groups in Addressing Women's Emotional Health
Forum Handouts
Forum handouts are available for download at this location:
http://www.2020mom.org/forum_materials
Film Screening
The lunch breakout sessions and the afternoon film screening of Return to Zero will not be webcast. If you would like to view the film on your own, it is available to rent through Amazon for $4.99.
How Academic Studies Motherhood- Every Mother Counts Interview with Aurelie Athan, Ph.D.
Currently and historically, most research related to motherhood isn’t actually about the mother. It’s usually about her impact on her children. Dr. Athan is on faculty in the Department of Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University and a founding member of the Sexuality, Women, & Gender Project where she focuses on women’s development across the lifespan and the transition to motherhood. We talked with Dr. Athan about her unique perspective on motherhood.
Aurélie Athan, Ph.D. is changing the way academia looks at motherhood by focusing on mothers themselves. Read the full interview here.
The Reproductive & Maternal Wellbeing Track of the SWG Certificate!
TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Reproductive & Maternal Well-Being is part of TC’s mission to educate the workforce needed to address the complex questions of the changing procreative lives of 21st century women and families locally and globally.
FOCUS ON MOTHERS
Teachers College, Columbia University offers a 12-Credit NY State Approved Graduate-level Certificate Program in Reproductive & Maternal Wellbeing.
Learn more about our groundbreaking faculty who created the first course in Matrescence.
Apply now: Registration is open!
MATRESCENCE
Despite mothers forming the cornerstone of most theories of human development, training that supports their own needs remains difficult to find. This curriculum speaks to the absence of graduate-level coursework on maternal development and reproductive mental health.
Matrescence was first revived at TC by Dr. Aurelie Athan, a co-founder of the Sexuality, Women, and Gender Project. She applied it to the creation of a unique academic arena solely focused on Maternal Psychology.
CERTIFICATE PROGRAM
You may receive certification upon completion of:
12 points of specialized courses
An in-depth research paper
A semester long practice/volunteer experience.
Coursework
Coursework will focus on the dynamic biological, social, emotional, cultural, political, economic, and spiritual forces that shape a mother/parent’s development. We envision it effectively addressing the holistic needs of families, broadly defined, and inclusive of the diversity of care-taking roles and experiences.
CCPX 4126: Matrescence: Developmental and Clinical Implications
Few areas in psychology have developed as slowly as research and theory about mothers. The purpose of this course is to explore matrescence: the biological, psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual factors that influence women’s well-being as they transition to motherhood. Theories of maternal development from conception through pregnancy, the postpartum period, and beyond - inclusive of adoption, surrogacy, and various forms of family building - will be critically examined and applications for practice discussed. Readings include empirical, descriptive, theoretical, literary and popular readings. Topics covered include: preconception care, motivation/timing of family planning, infertility, psychological stages of pregnancy, decision making in birthing and feeding practices, maternal “instinct” and trends in parenting styles, maternal distress and of diagnostic criteria, work/life balance and social support, global and anthropological perspectives, and positive psychology/spiritual reconceptualizations of maternal experience among others. Project-based learning includes fieldwork and research with participating organizations and individual experts.
CCPX 4199: Perinatal Mental Health
This course will utilize history, theory, research, student discussion, personal anecdotes (e.g. videos, podcasts, blogs), news, and social media to develop a broad understanding of the issues related to perinatal mental health, including in historical and modern contexts. Course objectives include understanding the etiology, theories, and treatment modalities for psychopathology before, during, and after pregnancy and family building. An additional focus of the course will be to expand current thinking about perinatal mental health with an emphasis on understanding women’s diverse experiences, as well as the changing landscape of perinatal and reproductive mental health. Special topics include fertility issues, reproductive trauma, family policies, and advocacy among other increasingly complex topics. Guests lecturers and cutting edge-specialists in the field will also be invited.
CCPX 4125: Women and Mental Health
The course will explore the multitude of factors that affect women’s mental health over the lifespan. We will address issues such as sexuality, motherhood, work, intimate relationships, traumatization among many others. The focus of this class is clinical rather than sociological. We will examine the class topics with the purpose of helping you to be more sensitive, aware, and informed in your practice with female patients. Themes about common affects that dominate the female experience in psychotherapy and in life such as shame, fear, envy, and anger will be recurring throughout our discussions. We will use relational psychodynamic and feminist theories to understand these experiences.
CCPJ 4199: Working with LGBTQ Couples and Families
This Special Topics course will provide a foundation for supporting and intervening with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) couples and families across a range of helping contexts. The course will begin with an examination of social constructions of sexual identity/orientation, gender identity/roles and relationship or familial norms. Following this, the course will explore the experiences of LGBTQ-identified individuals within a broad range of helping contexts: education, healthcare and counseling. Lastly, drawing from the literature, case study analysis and current professional codes of ethics, the course will present helping professions with interdisciplinary and multiculturally competent recommendations for working with LGBTQ couples and families.
Past examples of other "Special Topics" Courses:
CCPX 4199: Brave New Birth: Psychosocial Issues in Reproductive Technology & Genetic Testing
Advances in reproductive technology and genetic testing have reshaped the natural contours of giving birth: altering the definition of family, preserving fertility in the face of aging and disease, creating choice where once there was only chance, and peering into the uncertainties of inherited risk. We will discuss clinical, ethical, and policy implications of these emerging technologies, balancing conceptual issues with social forces that influence access to reproductive care. These larger issues will be balanced with consideration of the lived experience of making hard choices on this shifting frontier.
REQUIREMENTS
A Bachelor's degree
Minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0
2 letters of recommendation
One statement of interest
It is rolling admission and is open to everyone.
TO APPLY FOR THE CERTIFICATE PROGRAM CLICK HERE
FOR ADMISSIONS
Dr. Riddhi Sandil quoted in the Atlantic
The Sexism of School Dress Codes
These policies can perpetuate discrimination against female students, as well as LGBT students.
Our very own Dr. Riddhi Sandil was quoted in The Atlantic in an Oct. 20th article exploring the movement against dress codes here.
Ultimately, such rules could be the wrong way to handle some of the issues that they purport to cover. Since so many have previously been used to address the potential of sexual harassment in schools regarding male students paying inappropriate attention to female students, it’s clear other practices, like courses on respect and harassment, may be needed to fill this gap. These initiatives would shift the focus of school policies.
“Is it possible that we can educate our boys to not be ‘distracted’ by their peers and not engage in misogyny and objectification of women's bodies?”
...asks Riddhi Sandil, a psychologist and co-founder of the Sexuality, Women and Gender Project at Teachers College at Columbia University.
Read more here.
Apply for our new certificate: Sexuality, Women, and Gender in Psychology and Education
Beginning Fall 2015, the SWG Project will be offering the first New York State approved certificate program of its kind - a world-renowned training ground for the next generation of educators, researchers, practitioners, administrators, and activists interested in learning the next wave of theories and practices to improve the well-being for LGBTQ individuals and women.
TO APPLY FOR THE CERTIFICATE PROGRAM CLICK HERE FOR ADMISSIONS
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
- A complete bachelors degree
- A minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0
- Completed Teachers College Non-Degree Application
- 2 letters of recommendation
- One statement of interest
It is rolling admission and is open to everyone.
PROGRAM OF STUDY
Interested students may receive certification upon completion of:
- 15 points of specialized curricular requirements (9 of which must be completed within CCP)
- A research paper covering a covering the student’s research and practice interests
- A semester long practice/volunteer experience.
THE CURRICULUM
Students must take nine points (e.g., three classes) within Counseling and Clinical Psychology (CCP). The following are a list ofapproved courses that may be used for the certificate program. Courses in bold are required for the certificate. * Denotes that this course is available in an online format:
- CCPJ 4050 Microaggressions in Institutional Climates
- CCPJ 4180 LGBT(Q) Issues in Psychology*
- CCPJ 4030 Transgender Issues in Counseling and Psychology
- CCPJ 4165 Consultation in Community Agencies and Resources
- CCPJ 5164 Multicultural Perspective in Counseling and Psychology
- CCPJ 4068 Counseling Women
- CCPX 4125 Women and Mental Health*
- CCPX 4126 The Mother-Child Matrix: Developmental and Clinical Implications
- CCPX 4036 Psychology of Human Intimacy
- CCPX 4199 LBGTQ Psychology
The remaining six points (e.g., two classes) should come from outside of the Counseling and Clinical Psychology Department. The following list is not comprehensive and continues to expand and grow each semester. Be sure to check the course catalogue for updates.
- HUDK 5123 Psychological Development of Women
- HBSS 4122 Women’s Health
- HBSS 4133 Human Sexuality Education*
- HBSV 4011 Women and weight, eating problems and body image
- C&T 4032 Gender Difference and Curriculum
- ITSF 5008 Gender, education and international development
- A&HB 4140 Latina Narratives
- A&HF 4130 Gender & Violence (3)
- A&HF 4199 Media & Gender (3)
Students should register for zero points of independent study, via either of these course codes, when they complete their semester long practicum/fieldwork volunteer:
- CCPJ 6902 Independent Study (along with semester long practice/volunteer
- CCPX 5902 Independent Study (along with semester long practice/volunteer
RESEARCH PROJECT
Students completing the certificate program will also be required to complete a research project that increases their knowledge and awareness of a chosen domain of interest (as it pertains to sexuality, women and gender). Some examples of appropriate research project topics include: understanding the relationship between minority stress and attachment satisfaction of sexual minorities; the impact of gender discrimination on career satisfaction of women in male dominated professions; understanding the link between first generation female college students and academic self-efficacy; understanding marginalization faced by partners of transgender individuals.
SEMESTER LONG VOLUNTEER/SERVICE EXPERIENCE
The certificate program in Sexuality, Women and Gender is strongly committed to social justice and multiculturalism as it pertains to issues of equity and access for sexual and gender minorities and women. In the spirit of this commitment, all candidates for certificate program will be expected to complete a semester long volunteer/service experience in an agency that serves the aforementioned populations.
FIND OUT MORE
Please drop in or call during the following office hours. Each faculty member has a general specialization but can speak to any aspect of the certificate.
Aurelie Athan (Women/Reproductive): 212-678-7461; ama81@tc.columbia.edu; by appointment
Melanie Brewster (LGBTQ): 212-678-7441; Mondays 4:00-6:00pm
Riddhi Sandil (Race/Gender): 212-678-4016; Tuesdays 5-6:30; Thursdays 300:-4:30pm
SWG Project mentioned in HuffPost Parents
The SWG Project was mentioned in the Huffington Post: HuffPost Parents
Read more here.
Innovative programs around the country are paving the way: The Sexuality, Women, & Gender Project at Teachers College, Columbia University will soon offer a program in reproductive and maternal well-being, and there are also postgraduate programs for mental health professionals to get the specialized training they never received.
Sexuality, Women, & Gender Project Featured at Seleni.org
Excerpt: The Need for Perinatal Mental Health Training by Amanda MacMilla
Not all graduate schools are neglecting maternal mental health, says Davis. A growing number are integrating it into their curriculum. "Wherever it is happening, it's because there's a pioneering faculty member who says, 'I know how common and how important this is,' and finds a way to teach it."
Aurélie Athan, PhD, is one of those pioneers. The Sexuality, Women, and Gender Project she cofounded at Teachers College Columbia University will soon offer a Reproductive and Maternal Well-Being curriculum, along with its current masters- and doctoral-level certification programs and a master's concentration within the clinical psychology department.
And while she agrees that her program is unique, she says the landscape is changing elsewhere, as well. "There's a lot of good work being done," she says. "I wouldn't say that training is absent; sometimes it's just scattered."
An interested student might take electives or find mentors in other departments, she suggests, such as women's studies, psychiatry, public health, or nursing. (Although maternal mental health training is also limited in psychiatry, there do seem to be more examples of medical schools doing it well.) "The very nature of the subject is interdisciplinary," she adds, "so it can be challenging to consolidate it as part of a core curriculum."
Davis, who teaches postgraduate training through Postpartum Support International, says the future of maternal mental health education is promising. "I've watched this next generation of leaders come to trainings and get excited and go back to their institutions and create good curriculum," she says. "It's only going to get better."
- See more at: http://seleni.org/advice-support/article/the-need-for-perinatal-mental-health-training
CALL FOR INSTRUCTORS - TEACHERS COLLEGE, REPRODUCTIVE & MATERNAL WELL-BEING CURRICULUM
Teachers College, Columbia University is launching their new Reproductive & Maternal Well-Being curriculum in 2015-2016 as part of the Sexuality, Women, and Gender Project.
If you are interested in a one-time speaking engagement or are a fieldwork site interested in participating in our program, please also contact us. Prospective students are also welcome to learn more about our program.
This specialization will address the increased need for graduate training in this burgeoning field through: (1) didactic courses and colloquia (2) intensive research training and mentoring, and (3) fieldwork in community-based organizations. The overarching goal is to create an educated workforce able to address the much-needed and complex questions arising from the changing procreative lives of 21st century women and families locally and globally.
We are currently recruiting experts to teach the following courses (names may be changed). Multidisciplinary perspectives are welcome:
- Menstruation to Menopause: Developmental Implications of Reproduction
- Perinatal Mental Health: Clinical and Counseling Perspectives
- Family Systems: Varieties of Parenting Experiences (e.g. LGBT parenting, fatherhood, adoption, single mothers by choice)
- Special Topics: advanced seminar in a topic of your expertise (e.g. infertility, grief/loss, reproductive psychiatry, maternal mortality, prenatal mind-body practices)
Please send your CV along with a cover letter of interest to Aurelie Athan:
Panel Discussion: Behind the Yellow Wallpaper: Literature and the Psychology of Change
Please join us for our inaugural 2015-2016 event series as we also celebrate the commencement of our new SEXUALITY, WOMEN, & GENDER IN PSYCHOLOGY & EDUCATION CERTIFICATE.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman published “The Yellow Wallpaper” in 1892, exposing the realities behind the (mis)treatment of women’s mental health issues through the infamous “rest cure.” In doing so, Gilman not only opened a dialogue on the medical, social, and emotional treatment of women in society, but eventually effected change on how women's mental health was treated. A collaboration between Behind the Yellow Wallpaper: New Tales of Madness, an anthology from New Lit Salon Press, and the Sexuality, Women, and Gender Project at Teachers College, Columbia continues the efforts set forth by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in a panel discussion titled Behind the Yellow Wallpaper: Literature and the Psychology of Change. The panel will consist of select Behind the Yellow Wallpaper contributors along with artist and psychoanalyst Steven Poser from The Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies. The discussion will focus on how literature impacts our understanding and view of madness: its causes; treatments; compassions; and the vital role psychology plays in effecting change.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 20TH AT 7PM
MILBANK CHAPEL
TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
WEST 120TH STREET AND BROADWAY
Join us for our OPEN HOUSE September 28th to learn more about our Certificate, Events, and General Programming!
Please come to Horace Mann Room 138 or RSVP by writing to swgproject@tc.edu to attend our open house. You may also return to our website for more information as the date approaches or you are unable to attend. More information about the certificate can be found here. To apply, via rolling admissions, click here.
COURSEWORK FOR FALL 2015
FALL COURSES 2015
Mother-Child Matrix (CCPX 4126)
Aurelie Athan
Fall: Thursdays 1:00-2:40pm
Microaggressions in Institutional Climates (CCPJ 4050)
Derald W. Sue
Fall: Mondays, 03:00 pm-04:40 pm
LGBT(Q) Issues In Psychology and Education (CCPJ 4180)
Melanie Brewster
Fall: Online
Psychology of Human Sexuality (CCPX 40361)
Sari Locker
Fall: Thursdays 1:30-3:10pm
Women And Mental Health (CCPX 4125)
N. Nereo
Fall: Thursdays, 9:00-10:40am
ELECTIVE OFFERINGS OUTSIDE OF COUNSELING AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Aesthetics of Technology (A&H 4089)
C. Moffett
Fall: Mondays 7:20-9:00pm
Gender Difference & Curriculum (C&T 4032)
S. McCall
Fall: Mondays, 07:20 pm-09:00 pm
Gender, Education, & International Development (ITSF 5008)
R Cortina
Fall: Mondays, 3:00-4:40pm
Media and Gender (A&H 4065)
J. Broughton
Fall: Thursdays 7:20-9:00pm
Trauma and Violence (A&H 4130)
J. Broughton
Fall: Wednesdays 7:20-9:00pm
The Sexuality, Women and Gender in Psychology and Education Certificate
The New York State approved the Sexuality, Women and Gender in Psychology and Education Certificate!
Founded in 2012, The Sexuality, Women and Gender Project at Teachers College, Columbia University was created by three leading Professors, Drs. Aurelie Athan, Melanie Brewster and Riddhi Sandil. Their hope is to envision and implement the next wave of theories and practices to improve the well-being for LGBTQ individuals and women. Beginning Fall 2015, the SWG Project will be offering the first New York State approved certificate program of its kind - a world-renowned training ground for the next generation of educators, researchers, practitioners, administrators, and activists.
With the recent movements in LGBT rights and the ongoing efforts to better serve women in the workplace, the World Health Organization declaring Violence Against Women to be epidemic, there is no better time than the present to graduate with the certificate in Sexuality, Women and Gender in Psychology and Education. It's mission is to promote learning through pedagogy; provide intensive research, mentorship and production; and apply gender and sexuality theories in practice. The Sexuality, Women and Gender in Psychology and Education Certificate program will promote the trans-disciplinary dialogues needed to solve complex, real-world problems across all areas including Education, Counseling & Clinical Psychology, Public Health, Gender and Queer Studies, Reproductive Psychiatry, Sociology, and Law among others. This specialized training will train future leaders in topics relevant to sexuality, women and gender; increase awareness and understanding of multiple oppressions experienced by these populations; provide research and clinical training to professionals interested in serving these marginalized populations and create liaisons between various professionals as they provide services to these underserved groups.
TC’s Melanie Brewster New Book: Atheists in America
Beyond Belief: In a new book by TC’s Melanie Brewster, atheists speak in their own voices
Stephen mills’ parents took the news that he was gay with surprising equanimity. “There were tears, of course, and then my mother admitted she thought I was going to say I was an atheist.”
Mills’ recollection, published last spring in Melanie Brewster’s Atheists in
America (Columbia University Press), makes it clear: in the United States, godlessness
is the ultimate taboo. Consider that:
84 percent of those surveyed believe the country isn’t ready for an atheist president.
Seven states bar atheists from public office. Arkansas prohibits atheists from testifying as witnesses in court trials.
Among historically oppressed minorities, atheists are regarded as “more troubling” than Jewish, Muslim, African-American and LGBTQ people
Brewster, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Education, is known for her work on gender, sexuality and race, but her broader interest is in the psychological impact of identifying as a minority of any kind.
“The prejudice and social stress associated with openly being atheist may pose a serious threat to an individual’s well-being,” she writes. “Therefore, the hesitancy to include people who identify as atheist in the broader multicultural and social justice discourse is puzzling and disturbing.”
In rendering the voices of atheists themselves, and in the breadth of American life it represents, Atheists in America recalls Studs Terkel’s Working and Becky Thompson’s more recent Names We Call Home, on race, which Brewster cites as a model. The contributors include:
Lynette, a Midwesterner who attended Bible school until realizing “I was sick of being valued less as a woman because of God’s mysterious ways.”
James Mouritsen, a Utahan whose tongue-in-cheek Mormon Quick Start Guide for ‘a Sincere Heart’ includes the warning that if divine inspiration fails to materialize, “it is likely that ‘Sincere Heart’ is corrupt.”
Adrienne Filargo Fagan, who, in Born Secular, writes that the knowledge that with “no Pearly Gates…we have one opportunity to make the right decisions for ourselves, our families and our communities” is “what gives meaning to my life.”
And perhaps most moving, the elderly Elizabeth Malm Clemens, who describes caring for a husband sinking into dementia: “I am attempting to work with residential administrators to develop better options for the aged...Having lost faith in earlier refrains…I choose this one to end my time on this fascinating planet.”
Brewster, who thanks her parents for “their undying love, even when I officially went over to the dark side,” describes the demographics and politics of American atheism. While the 9/11 terrorist attacks helped engender the stridently anti-religious New Atheists, led by firebrands such as Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens, other perspectives hold that women and minorities may feel excluded from atheism because its most visible faces are those of white men.
Meanwhile younger writers like Brewster herself may be building a broader acceptance. At Book Expo America in New York City, Brewster was approached by an elderly Muslim man.
“He handed me a Koran to keep. Then he smiled nervously and said, ‘I hope that was okay.”
Don’t Segregate the Gifted
In my vision of gifted education, there would be no gifted programs and no gifted students.
Let me be clear: I believe, very strongly, that many high-ability students suffer from benign neglect in our schools. But the century-old approach of segregating these students via “pull-out” classes or full-time Gifted & Talented programs is fraught with problems.
For starters, racial, ethnic and socioeconomic inequities are rampant. In New York City, for example, Caucasian and Asian-American students make up only about one-third of the school population, yet they constitute roughly three fourths of all students in G&T classes. Nationwide, students from families in the top socioeconomic quarter account for nearly one-half of enrollment in gifted education classes. No wonder some critics charge that gifted education is being used to re-segregate public schools in order to retain middle-class families.
Another problem is that the most common approach to gifted education- part-time pull-out enrichment programs- is of questionable educational value. Under this model, students identified as gifted leave their regular mixed-ability classes for, say, half a day per week to participate in what is usually a hodge-podge of enrichment activities that too often follow no rational scope and sequence and lack academic rigor. Even the rare effective pull-out program provides its students with appropriate education for about 10 percent of the school week.
What is the alternative? Let’s start by remembering that gifted education was created to appropriately challenge capable students who, in a typical classroom, spend their time pretending (or not bothering to pretend) to learn things they already know.
Like their supposedly non-gifted peers, these students are not a monolithic group with a uniform set of educational needs. They, too, need differentiated instruction in the core subjects that leads to true learning, not boredom.
So instead of finding and segregating “gifted students,” let us shift our focus to differentiating curriculum and instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners in every grade and every subject. Admittedly, this is easier said than done. The process would likely take years to complete- and meanwhile, traditional gifted education classes are probably better for high achievers than nothing at all. But settling for business as usual is untenable, from both an educational and an ethical perspective. We need to look for a better way.
Published Friday, Jan. 23, 2015
See full post HERE.
Call for Submissions: Annual MOM Conference, Spring 2015
Teachers College, Columbia University, Marymount College, Manhattan College, and Museum of Motherhood (MOM) are proud to welcome the return of the Annual 2015 MOM Conference!
Museum of Motherhood - MOM Conference Call for Papers, 2015 - SUBMISSION DEADLINE EXTENDED
“New Maternalisms”: Tales of Motherwork (Dislodging the Unthinkable)
April 30th, May 1st-2nd, NYC
Deadline EXTENDED TO JANUARY 15, 2014
Call for Papers for the Annual 2015 MOM Conference: As another Mother’s Day approaches, this conference, designed to bring together academics, artists, and laypersons will be an opportunity to critically explore the institution of motherhood. Much research on motherhood has been published in the past eighteen years from Ruddick to Crittenden suggesting an increased interest in and visibility and acknowledgement of feminism and the topic of motherhood. The literature is concerned with the invisibility of mothers and the labor of caregiving or “motherwork.” Drawing on artist Natalie S. Loveless’ curation in Spring 2012 for FADO in Toronto, The Museum of Motherhood (MOM) calls this shift in the representation of motherhood in the literature as “new maternalisms”. Klein (2012) argues “new maternalisms” expose “the fissures and cracks between the ideological representation of motherhood and the lived experiences of being a mother.” It is in service to this in-between space of research and theory and the lived and everyday that the Museum of Motherhood introduces the following Call For Papers.
The purpose of this conference lies in focusing on “new maternalisms” by exploring “motherwork” or the invisible labor of caregiving in our everyday lived experiences as wo/men, hence including mothers, fathers, and caretakers and our communities. The objective is to explore how wo/men experience “motherwork,” what “motherwork” means to us, and how “motherwork” impacts and is impacted by the communities in which we live in. The conference organizers encourage submissions that cross disciplines to provide critical insights into mothering, fathering, and family issues; that draw direct links between theories and/or research findings; or that offer practical approaches to issues facing contemporary mothers and families. The overarching goal of this conference is to provide an environment to explore new ideas and approaches for tackling issues that concern mothers as well as important others who fill a care giving role in the family.
Here, examples of possible topics include but are not limited to: 1. What caregiving practices are pursued in “motherwork”? And how have these practices been shaped by factors such as nation, religion, gender, and other axes of difference? 2. How do caregivers frame/understand their “motherwork”? 3. What alliances do caregivers build locally, regionally, and internationally, and why? What factors have caused rifts or fissures between and among caregivers? 4. To what extent does caregiving intersect with other forms of activism/resistance? 5. How have wo/men’s identities as caregivers been disrupted or shaped by binaries, such as east/west, north/south? 6. Whose agency is privileged or obscured within “motherwork”? 7. How do global discourses shape local “motherwork,” and, how, in turn, do local issues and frames shape global discourses around “motherwork”? This Call For Papers signals the important sociological and anthropological shifts taking place in the field of motherhood as it relates to wo/men – mothers, father, and caretakers – who are marginalized through “motherwork.”
We welcome submissions from scholars, students, activists, artists, community agencies, service providers, journalists, mothers and others who work or research in this area. Cross-cultural, historical, and comparative work is encouraged. We also encourage a variety of types of submissions including individual academic papers from all disciplines, proposals for panels, creative submissions, performances, storytelling, visual arts, film, music, audio, and other alternative formats.
Submissions must include a title and a maximum 50-100 word abstract for individual papers, panels, and other submission types (e.g. performance, media, music). Panel submissions must include short abstracts (50-100 word) for each individual paper that will be included in the panel. Please submit ONE presentation proposal only.
Submissions are due by December 15, 2015. Details on submitting are at this website: http://mommuseum.org/conference-submissions/. All submissions will be peer reviewed with responses by Jan 30th. The conference will be held in NYC.
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A peak at last year's event with notable guest speakers: