By Taylor Ann Mazique, GWS Student Public Outreach Employee

Jaya graduated in 2009 with a degree in gender and women’s studies and went on to earn an M.A. in public policy and women’s studies at George Washington University. When she returned to Champaign-Urbana in 2013, she underwent the extensive training required to volunteer at Rape Advocacy, Counseling, & Education Services (RACES). But what began as volunteer work quickly became a calling.

Francesca Fox is a senior Media and Cinema Studies major and Gender and Women's Studies minor here at the University of Illinois. Francesca says that she’s really found a home here at GWS, and views her first experience with GWS to be the most defining moment of her college experience.

Student Spotlight on Glo Roberts By Taylor Mazique

Terri Barnes, Associate Professor in History and Gender and Women's Studies; Director, Center for African Studies

Aubree Henderson is a therapist-in-training turned nonprofit professional based in Brooklyn, New York. A Champaign-Urbana native, Aubree earned a Bachelor’s degree in Gender & Women’s Studies and Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2013.

My research focuses on modern Latin American and U.S. Latinx literary and visual cultures with a specialization on Mexico, queer theory, performance studies, and critical theory. I enjoy writing on issues of embodiment, sexuality, race, and performance in contemporary visual art and literature.

Toby Beauchamp, Assistant Professor of Gender and Women's Studies.

Elizabeth Labedz never thought sports were for her until she began to play fast pitch softball at the age of ten.  She found that playing sports with other girls helped her grow physically, emotionally, and mentally.   When Labedz became interested in girls’ studies while earnin

Dr. Garner, who received her Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies with a graduate minor in Gender and Women's Studies, is the first Executive Director of the Art Film Foundation (AFF). She will lead and oversee AFF's fundraising, organizational management, and community relations.

My research focuses the critical lens of transgender studies on questions of state power, science, and technology, and on transnational flows of knowledge, bodies, and capital.

Aashika Anantharaman majored in Psychology and Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Illinois of Urbana Champaign.

I am a historian of Southern Africa and I specialize in gender history, women’s history, and institutional culture. Specifically, right now I am working on a book on higher education during the Apartheid period in South Africa.

Ruth Nicole Brown, Associate Professor in Gender and Women's Studies and Educational Policy, Organization and Leadership

Fiona Ngô, Associate Professor of Asian American Studies and Gender and Women's Studies

Mimi Thi Nguyen, Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and Asian American Studies

Karen Flynn, Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and African American Studies

Jodi A. Byrd, Associate Professor of English, and Gender and Women's Studies

Terri Barnes, Associate Professor of History, and Gender and Women's Studies

Ruth Nicole Brown, Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and Educational Policy, Organization and Leadership

Emily DiFilippo has completed the PhD in Spanish Literatures & Cultures with a GWS minor, specializing in representations of disability in contemporary Spain.

Rico Kleinstein Chenyek is an MD/PhD candidate in the Institute of Communications Research and the Medical Scholars Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Their major focus of study is in the social and cultural studies of science, medicine, and technology, w

S. Moon Cassinelli is completing a dissertation in the Department of English and has graduate minors in American Indian Studies and Gender and Women's Studies.

As a junior transfer student, Miranda has done her best to make the most out of her time at the University of Illinois.

Vicki Mahaffey, Kirkpatrick Professor of English and Professor of Gender and Women's Studies