Volume 315 | March 24, 2026 | | Image description: Autumn Durald Arkapaw smiling on stage with her Oscar in hand. | | |
Congratulations to Dr. Heather Rellihan on the publication of the co-edited Introduction to Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies Third Edition!
This book emphasizes both interdisciplinarity and intersectionality in an innovative mix of anthology and textbook that includes key primary historical sources and debates on contemporary issues.
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Vedia Barnett (MA '22), Founder and Executive Director of The Vet Space, has been named a recipient of the Georgia Women Veteran Impact Award by the Georgia Department of Veterans Service. With more than a decade of advocacy on behalf of veterans—long before The Vet Space was even a concept—Vedia has dedicated her life to ensuring that veterans, especially women veterans, feel seen, heard, and supported.
What began as a personal commitment to service has grown into a powerful mission centered on healing through community and nature. This recognition not only highlights the organization’s work creating safe, restorative spaces for women veterans, but also elevates a core belief: access to nature is essential to healing.
That belief is at the heart of Vedia’s advocacy for Senate Bill 190 (SB 190)—a policy effort she began championing more than four years ago. In partnership with Humble Warrior Wellness & Yoga, The Vet Space is working to expand access to Georgia’s natural spaces for veterans and their families. Introduced by Senator Kenya Wicks, SB 190—also known as the Military & Veteran State Park Fee Waiver Act—would eliminate state park parking and entrance fees for veterans and Gold Star families. The bill has already passed the Georgia Senate unanimously (50–0) and is now under consideration in the Georgia House's Fish, Game, and Parks Committee.
Vedia honors the women veterans who were part of her early journey—those who mentored and encouraged her to continue advocating—and, most importantly, the women veterans who trust The Vet Space with their stories and healing.
While awards are meaningful, Vedia remains grounded in the true impact of the work: seeing women veterans reconnect, find community, and remember they are not alone.
Learn more and support the mission: thevetspace.org
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Yulee Lecture: Bodies in Motion
April 3rd | 4pm | Duques 151 | RSVP
Join us for our annual Yulee Lecture! About our guest speakers:
Dr. Jade Power-Sotomayor is a Cali-Rican educator, scholar and performer who works as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at UC San Diego. Her research and writerly interests span across Puerto Rican cultural studies, Latinx/Latine theatre and performance, dance studies, nightlife cultures, epistemologies of the body, land-based performances, feminist of color critique, bilingualism, race and language, and intercultural performance in the Caribbean diaspora. Her writing and publications have been recognized with multiple awards across various professional organizations and her first single-authored book ¡Habla! Speaking Bodies and Dancing Our América is forthcoming from NYU Press. She is also a dramaturg and co-directs and performs with the San Diego-based group Bomba Liberté.
Dr. Deborah A. Thomas is the R. Jean Brownlee Professor of Anthropology, and the Director of the Center for Experimental Ethnography at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Exorbitance: A Speculative Ethnography of Inheritance, Political Life in the Wake of the Plantation, Exceptional Violence, and Modern Blackness. She is also co-director of the documentary films Bad Friday and Four Days in May, and writer and visual editor of the audio-visual prose-poem “Tidalectic Repair,” which will be exhibited at Wrightwood 659 Chicago from April to July 2026. Thomas is the recipient of several awards, including a Guggenheim fellowship, and she is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Prior to her life in the academy, she was a professional dancer with the New York-based Urban Bush Women.
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"What Spinoza Wrought: Conatus, Entropy, and Ethics"
March 27th | 4pm | Duques Hall 152
Join the Philosophy Department in welcoming philosopher and author Dr. Rebecca Goldstein. She will present her talk "What Spinoza Wrought: Conatus, Entropy, and Ethics," based in part on her new book The Mattering Instinct.
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National Young Feminist Leadership Conference
March 28–30, 2026 | 300 Army Navy Dr, Arlington, VA
NYFLC is a weekend of learning, organizing, and community-building with truly extraordinary feminists; from long-time movement leaders to emerging student organizers. The conference is a chance to step back from day-to-day activism and recognize that we’re part of something bigger: a nationwide community working for gender justice.
Where: Doubletree Hotel (right outside D.C.)
Here’s what the weekend will look like:
March 28-29: The first two days will be packed with general assemblies, panels, and training led by national advocates, organizers, and policy experts. Sessions will dive into urgent feminist issues and offer concrete tools for organizing on campus and in your community. Panels will cover topics ranging from protecting reproductive freedom and advancing the Equal Rights Amendment to confronting gender-based violence and ending gender apartheid in Afghanistan.
March 30: Congressional Advocacy Day! After building your knowledge and skills, you’ll take what you’ve learned directly to Capitol Hill for Congressional Advocacy Day, meeting with lawmakers and legislative staff from your home states and districts to advocate for feminist policy priorities.
Register here!
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Documentary Screening: The Right Track
March 31st | 6:30pm | USC Continental Ballroom
The Office of Advocacy and Support is hosting a screening for the documentary The Right Track. The event will be in the USC Continental Ballroom from 6:30pm - 8:30pm. From 6:00pm - 6:30pm a variety of organizations are tabling to promote GW and DMV resources for the public and potential survivors.
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Art As Activism: Women Leading Change | April 9th from 6-9 p.m. | Hammer Auditorium, Flagg Building, 500 17th Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20006
(Enter through New York Ave entrance)
Hosted by the Elizabeth J. Somers Women’s Leadership Program (WLP) at The George Washington University, this year’s conference connects students with women leaders in the Washington, D.C., arts community who address local issues through their artistic, curatorial, and cultural practices. Through conversation with these leaders, students gain insight into how the arts can engage communities and drive social change.
The Women’s Leadership Program is a cohort-based program organized around four thematic tracks: Global Economy and Business, International Politics, Science, Health and Medicine, and International Arts & Culture. The program emphasizes leadership development through experiential opportunities and student-led initiatives, including the annual Women’s Leadership Conference, which is planned and organized by six WLP students.
Please RSVP by April 1st.
Please meet the panelists:
Fabiola R. Delgado is an independent curator and creative producer from Venezuela, based in Washington DC. With a background in International Human Rights law, her work engages questions of power, memory, objecthood, and social responsibility, critically revisiting historical narratives while amplifying contemporary realities of displacement and diaspora through storytelling and interdisciplinary approaches.
OnRaé LaTeal, aka “The Liberation Music Maker,” is an award-winning producer, creative arts educator, and cultural organizer whose work sits at the intersection of art, technology, and education equity. As Executive Director of the Freedom Futures Collective and co-founder of the Black Girls Handgames Project, she curates inclusive, multimedia programming and community experiences.
Tess Korobkin is an assistant professor in the Department of Art History & Archaeology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research and teaching examine contested public monuments, the politics of materiality, and the work artists do to imagine more equitable and expansive worlds within the art and visual culture of the United States.
Michelle Banks is the Artistic Director of Visionaries of the Creative Arts (VOCA), has produced and directed numerous plays and received the Outstanding Achievement in Theater for Deaf BIPOC Artists award. Her work spans professional acting, directing, and Artistic Sign Language, including projects with Gallaudet University, Atlas Performing Arts Center, Olney Theatre Center, and Broadway.
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GWWIB’s Spring Conference | 9:30am - 5:00pm | Funger Hall and Duques Hall
The 17th Annual Spring Conference is GWWIB’s largest and most anticipated event of the year. This daylong capstone event, organized entirely by the women-led student organization, features 1 distinguished keynote speaker, 3 fireside chats with distinguished speakers, 3 personal and professional development workshops, 2 networking sessions, and 9 industry-focused panels.
The 17th annual Spring Conference will be held on April 11th, 2026 with a theme of “INVENT”, Our mission is to empower everyone to invent themselves and their futures by providing the tools and insights that will shape what comes next.
Attendees will get FREE breakfast and lunch, and a gift bag full of swag from our amazing sponsors. We also want to stress that all majors and gender identities are welcome and encouraged to join us -- there are panels and activities that cater to many majors outside of business!
With panels ranging from Marketing, DEI, Sports Management, Business Tech and AI, Finance and Accounting, Consulting, Government and Legal, Environmental and Sustainability and International Business and Economics, there is something for everyone to gain invaluable insight.
If interested in attending, you can find a link to our tickets.
For additional information, please visit our website and Instagram page. Please feel free to reach out with any questions!
| | Student Employment, Internship, & Volunteer Opportunities | | |
Sexsonian
April 3rd, 2026 | 11am - 4pm | USC, Continental Ballroom
As part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), Health Promotion and Education is hosting Sexsonian, which is a comprehensive, pleasure-centered sex education event that emphasizes pleasure as a non-negotiable component of sexual wellbeing for all individuals. Attendees explore everything from a lube testing station, an ethical porn booth, a smut library and learn about erogenous zones, pleasure education and much more!
Sign up to volunteer!
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Honey Nashman Center GWUpstart
Funding and mentoring is available through GWupstart for community-focused and student-led social innovation projects. Check out the upcoming application deadlines for Spring 2026! Group projects and service-learning projects part of your course are also eligible!
Set up a meeting by emailing upstart@gwu.edu
Submit the proposal by the deadline for your chosen grant. APPLY HERE!
If approved, implement the project by working closely with the Nashman Center, and community partners (Must have a community partner. Knapp Fellowship also requires a faculty advisor).
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ENG 2710W/WGSS 2710
Travel and Cross-Cultural Encounters in Global Literature and Film
Staying home this summer? Take Prof. Daiya's summer online course: "Travel and Cross-Cultural Encounters in Global Literature and Film" ENG 2710W/WGSS2710.
This course offers an introduction to contemporary global literature and cinema by focusing on the modern experience of travel. The course’s journey explores travel in all its complexity, beauty, and world-transforming possibilities. Contemporary travel takes many forms and is inspired by diverse motives. While our journey examines travel in its conventional form, tourism, it also studies travel in more diverse ways beyond tourism. Thus, we analyze representations of travel as adventure, as studying or working abroad, and as migration, with attention to how race and gender shape those experiences. Our itinerary includes destinations around the world, from Lhasa, Berlin, Mumbai, St. John's, Tehran, to Toronto and more. Each week, we tour different destinations virtually and reflect on why we travel through the eyes of writers, filmmakers, and photographers around the world. In the process, we discuss adventure, beauty, lazy rivers, rest areas, food, intimacy, borderlands, social media, and cross-cultural encounters!
The course's journey includes essays that meditate on the ethics and pleasures of travel by Zadie Smith, Pico Iyer, Rebecca Solnit, and Alain de Botton; real and fictional travelogues by Alexandra David-Neel and Jamaica Kincaid; the theorization of travel as a political effort to promote humanist understanding and explode single stories by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and others; film and photography about immigrant experiences and forced displacement by Marjane Satrapi, Ai Weiwei, Rafeeq Ellias, Richard Fung, and Magnus Wennman, and more. In the process, we will raise questions about the relationship between history and culture, about the representation of gender, race, and international relations, and about the politics of belonging in a globalized world.
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ENGL 3980W/WGSS 3170W
Transnational Queer Film | Apply Here
The interdisciplinary field that has come to be called “queer” studies over the past two decades has always concerned itself with questions of representation: how are, for instance, lesbians and gay men, or bisexual or transgender people, represented in film, in novels, in other forms of media? As the field has developed, these questions of representation have increasingly been linked to other complex questions, involving political economy, globalization, and transnationalism: in what ways have lgbt people been incorporated into or marginalized by contemporary nation-states? What identities and desires threaten “the nation” as it is currently (and variously) materializes in our world? How have identities such as “gay” and “lesbian” circulated globally? How have those recognizable minority identities come into contact and conflict with other ways of identifying around non-normative desires, that are perhaps not so easily recognized or named? Have “gay” and “lesbian” at times functioned imperialistically, especially as “gay tourism” has become a recognizable part of global capitalism? Conversely, what kinds of unexpected alliances have been shaped across borders as queer movements have globalized? How have these movements theorized race, gender, class, and ability; what connections have been made with other movements organized, however contentiously, around identity?
This film studies course will consider how questions of queer representation intersect with questions of queer globalization(s). From November 5-15th, we will travel to Prague, Czech Republic to attend Mezipatra: Queer Film Festival along with students in Professor Kateřina Kolářová’s class.
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WGSS 3460/PHIL 3165
Queer(ing) Philosopy
This course will examine how queer theory emerged as an interdisciplinary field in the early 1990s and how it has continued to force a rethinking of traditional understandings of time, space, the body, race, sexuality, normality, culture, violence, and disability. Course authors include: Sara Ahmed, Talia Mae Bettcher, Megan Burke, Judith Butler, Jack Halberstam, Kim Q. Hall, Josè Esteban Muňoz, Mariana Ortega, Jasbir Puar, Robert McRuer, Gayle Salamon, Eve Sedgwick, and Michael Warner.
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GenderPro is now accepting applications.
Join the community of professionals reshaping gender equity worldwide. With GenderPro’s 15-week, online curriculum, you’ll learn technical skills and practical approaches to challenge inequality and improve the lives of women and girls around the world.
You’ll receive personalized mentorship, build your global network and prepare to take the GenderPro Credential: the first globally recognized professional credential in the field of gender and development.
The GenderPro Capacity Building Initiative is led by the Global Women’s Institute at the George Washington University and created in partnership with UNICEF.
Join us. Apply now for the February 2026 Cohort.
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Bright Mind Volunteer Opportunity
Based on many years of successful collaborations with universities and other community organizations, Bright Mind has launched a new university collaboration program. They have had numerous major Washington D.C. universities start collaborations with them to help people in great need. They actively partner with a variety of local organizations. Here is a selection of possible types of collaborations:
Ways for students, staff, faculty, and community members to get involved:
• Flexible timings are designed to fit around school schedules.
• Available for individual volunteers, those who are a part of academic classes, and school organizations.
• Fulfill academic and service requirements.
• Join projects focused on app building and other digital and community solutions.
• Contribute to help and support underserved communities.
• Make a lasting impact through opportunities available in 2026 and beyond, year-round.
How your students, staff, and community benefit:
• Service learning hours.
• Internship/Externship opportunities.
• Volunteer certificates and commendations recognizing your contributions.
• Learning collaborations (e.g., we were contracted to co-create a course with Northeastern which begins this spring).
• Offering single-instance or recurring engagement events for faculty and academic courses.
Please contact Bright Mind for more information.
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SVPA DMV Community Fundraiser & Organizer
Sexual Violence Prevention Association (SVPA) is looking for a Community Fundraiser & Organizer to join their team and spearhead fundraising, partnerships, community building, and outreach in the DMV area. This is a volunteer position for 3-7 hours per week. A year-long commitment is greatly preferred. This role will have a significant impact as they expand and grow our work preventing sexual violence systemically.
Read the full job description here.
| | Call For Study Volunteers | | |
UW-Madison Study: Student Views on Campus Life
Are you 18+ and enrolled in college? Take a 10-minute survey about your opinions on campus life! If eligible, you’ll be invited to join a 90-minute focus group to have your voice heard.
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The I-CHARM research lab (Innovations in Community Health Awareness/Advocacy Research/Resolutions, and Messaging), led by Dr. Daisy Le is conducting a study called MySHARE (My Self-sampling for HPV Awareness, Results, and Empowerment), which is a mixed-methods study that aims to assess the acceptability, feasibility, and perceived effectiveness of promoting HPV self-sampling to increase cervical cancer screening among a national sample of never-/under-screened women, including women living with HIV.
Sign up if interested!
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Angus Leydic, a Ph.D. candidate in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching at the University of Arizona, is conducting a queer-led study on trans/nonbinary experiences in and before studying abroad in a foreign language and is hoping for your help!
Completing the survey makes you eligible for a $50 gift card. Completing a 1-hour long interview pays $50. All trans/nonbinary language students are welcome to complete the survey linked below and participate in optional interviews! You can be thinking about, preparing for, participating in, or have previously participated in a study abroad program in a language other than English.
Would you like to help? Eligible participants are trans/nonbinary students who are considering studying abroad, selecting a study abroad program, participating in a study abroad (currently or in the near future), or have completed a study abroad experience.
The survey can be accessed through the QR code or this link.
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(Re)Making the World: A “How-To” Conference on Feminist, Crip, and Decolonial Worldmaking
The Southern Connecticut State University Women’s & Gender Studies Department is so excited to announce our 25th Annual WGS Conference: (Re)Making the World: A “How-To” Conference on Feminist, Crip, and Decolonial Worldmaking.
In As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance (2017), Leanne Betasamosake Simpson writes: “Resurgence is not a metaphor. It is the flight out of settler colonialism, towards something we have been taught is impossible.”
The 2026 WGS conference takes Simpson’s call for radical resurgence seriously - positioning “how-to” as a feminist practice, politic, and theorizing. They invite communities to gather for a feminist, crip, and decolonial practice of refusal, survival, and worldmaking.
The 2026 conference offers a space to explore the pedagogies, practices, and possibilities embedded in the question of “how to?” across disciplines, communities, and movements. We seek proposals that move beyond critique to praxis - embracing failure as pedagogy, interdependence as resistance, and joy as a radical act.
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VCU Political Science and the College of Humanities and Sciences 19th Annual Government, Public, and International Affairs Student Research Conference
Friday, April 10, 2026 8am-5pm
VCU Student Commons | Virginia Commonwealth University
Undergraduate and junior graduate students are invited to submit proposals to present papers/projects, research-in-progress, or roundtable discussions on any topic related to the general fields of government, international, and public affairs. Students from colleges and universities in and around Virginia as well as national and overseas colleagues are invited to submit proposals. We invite faculty and experts from VCU and other institutions to chair and serve as discussants. The VCU Political Science program offers concentrated study in US Government, Public Policy, International Relations, Comparative Government and Politics, Political Theory and Research Methods, with strong connections to Sociology, Economics, Philosophy, International Studies, Psychology, African American Studies, Gender Studies, Environmental Studies, Mass Communications, and History. We will consider students from all majors and disciplines.
This is your chance to share your interests with faculty and other students, to gain experience presenting your work in a professional conference environment, and to receive useful and constructive feedback on your research.
The deadline for submissions is March 29th, 2026. Please submit your proposal here. We will begin accepting submissions on a rolling basis beginning on February 1st, 2026.
The conference may include panels on internships, careers in public affairs, information on graduate schools, and refreshments for all presenters and panelists in the afternoon.
There is no fee for participation in the conference. For any questions, please contact Professor Chris Saladino at cjsaladino@vcu.edu or the conference email vcuresearchconference2026@gmail.com.
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Call for Papers: Echoes of the Past and Realities of the Present: Humanities in a Context of Crisis
Rocky Mountain Interdisciplinary History Conference at CU Boulder
October 9-11, 2026.
Following the link within the CFP will allow applicants to sign up on a Microsoft form and submit abstracts and CVs there. However, in case there are any technical difficulties with uploading documents to that form, we ask that abstracts and CVs be emailed to rmihc@colorado.edu, as well.
Abstracts and CVs are due June 15, 2026. Please let us know if there are any questions or concerns, as it will be our pleasure to assist.
| | Support Groups from GW Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) | | |
At CAPS, we offer group therapy as a valuable opportunity for self-discovery and addressing concerns in a supportive and collaborative environment. Our group sessions typically consist of 4-10 students who meet weekly throughout the semester, all under the expert guidance of our CAPS clinicians. Joining a group allows you to gain valuable insights into yourself and others, fostering personal growth and understanding in a nurturing setting.
For more information or questions, please:
Email our Group Coordinator Kortnie Parks, LPC at kortniep@gwu.edu
Fill out the Group Registration Form
Schedule an Initial Consultations with CAPS
| | Support for GW LGBTQ+ Students | | |
UniQue Voices: Mental Health for the GW LGBTQ+ Community
This supportive therapy group is tailored specifically for LGBTQIA+ students, providing a safe and inclusive space to share experiences, explore identities, and enhance mental well-being.
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Sexual Assault Survivors Group
A support and healing space for femme/female-identifying individuals who have experienced sexual assault. This group offers a collaborative space to learn about trauma, process complex emotions, and integrate the experience into a healthier self.
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Healthy Relationships Group
A processing space to help students gain insight and tools to improve all types of relationships.
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Online Therapy Resources for the LGBTQ+ Community
Online therapy is a resource that offers a plethora of different types of virtual therapy for the LGBTQ+ community. Online therapy makes it easier to access mental health care and to engage in therapy on your own terms. Find more resources that can be helpful for navigating the coming-out process, strengthening your relationships, and learning how to be true to yourself as an LGBTQ+ individual.
| | Feminist Campus: Quad Talk is a platform to share bold opinions, fresh takes, and thoughtful reflections on the world we’re navigating. Whether you’re tackling the latest social issue or cracking a joke about the chaos, this is where your voice matters. Submit a piece (500 words or less) to be part of the weekly collection on the Feminist Campus Website of young people’s perspectives on the political and social issues shaping our lives today. Let’s talk about it—your way. | | Gender Policy Research Program Newsletter | | |
Sign up for the monthly newsletter! The GPRP newsletter, sent out on the last Friday of the month, will include updates from GPRP, community spotlights, featured events and resources, and funding, publication, and job opportunities.
Sign up today!
| | Save Foreign Assistance from Cuts | | |
CARE is a humanitarian organization that fights global poverty empowers women and girls around the world. This organization is asking individuals to call elected officials and share support for foreign assistance, knowing just how much these critical investments save lives and promote U.S. and global stability, peace, and prosperity.
Individuals can make a phone call and connect to members of Congress. This organization has included four main points below to make this as quick and easy as possible:
- I am a constituent, and I strongly support U.S investments in foreign assistance.
- U.S. foreign assistance saves lives and promotes U.S. and global stability, peace, and prosperity.
- The consequences of cutting foreign assistance will be devastating – and in some cases deadly – for millions of people worldwide while also jeopardizing American progress.
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Supporting foreign assistance does not come at the expense of domestic priorities. U.S. leadership can do both, it’s not an either or.
If interested, call using this form.
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Contribute to the WGSS News Digest | | |
Would you like your event, announcement, or news to be featured in our news digest? There is a process! Please fill out the below form by Thursdays at 4:00 PM to have your event featured in our upcoming digests.
Submit additions to the digest. We look forward to hearing from you!
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