Volume 318 | August 24, 2026 | | The Back to School Edition | | Welcome back to campus! We hope you all have had a wonderful summer, and feel ready for the new semester. If you did an exciting internship or volunteer program, studied abroad, spent time conducting research, or did anything you feel proud of and would like to share, please send us an email at wgss@gwu.edu to feature it in our next Digest! | | |
We are excited to welcome our new and returning WGSS undergraduate and graduate students to campus as we begin the 26/27 academic year! Last week, we held an orientation for our first year MA cohort. It was great to meet our newest graduate students and to have so many of our second year students join us to share tips about life at GW with the first-year cohort. We have also been busy this summer planning our fall events, so please check out the announcements below for updates on what we have scheduled so far for September and October!
A major announcement that we are thrilled to share is that the WGSS program is moving into its own new space in the Academic Center, Rome Hall 550, in the coming weeks. We will be sure to provide an update when we have relocated our program’s main office to the new location and are ready for visits!
This fall we are offering some terrific new courses, including a Feminist Media Studies graduate seminar taught by our 26/27 Visiting Assistant Professor of WGSS, Eva Pensis, and a freshman Dean’s Seminar on Janelle Monae’s “Dirty” Feminism offered by Professor Akae Wright. Next spring, Professor Pensis will also be teaching an undergrad Women and Media course so our undergrads will have the opportunity to benefit from her extensive expertise in media studies too.
We are looking forward to holding events in our new space on the fifth floor of Rome Hall and to hosting talks that showcase our faculty’s recent research and publications, starting with a talk by Robert McRuer about his newest book, Disability Revolution¸ which will take place on Friday, October 2nd at noon. We hope that many of you can join us for this event which we are co-hosting with the English Department.
As you can see from the announcements below, there are several terrific events taking place on campus in the next few weeks, and we encourage you to take advantage of as many of them as you can. We are also hoping to host a WGSS “housewarming” reception once we have settled in our new space, so please stay tuned for a special update on when this will occur!
Gail Weiss, WGSS Director
| | | | Please welcome our new Visiting Assistant Professor, Dr. Eva Pensis! She is a multidisciplinary artist-scholar, poet, filmmaker, and feminist critic interested in how cultural forms and aesthetic practices mediate un/belonging in relation to normative social and political forms. Her research broadly attends to the relation between dominant social and intellectual formations and the communities, social movements, and expressive practices subjected to institutional capture and mainstream representation. This fall, Professor Pensis is teaching WGSS 2120 Introduction to WGSS, WGSS 2125 Varieties of Feminist Theory, and WGSS 6270 Feminist Media Studies. Please give her a warm welcome to GW! | | | | | |
Professor Ashwini Tambe has amazing travels to share:
My spring and summer have been a whirlwind of travel; here are some of the highlights. In late April, I traveled to Australia with members of WEAVE, a collective supported by the Global Women’s Institute that has documented marginalized women’s activism against gender-based violence. We are working together on an edited volume; as authors located in multiple countries, we used the opportunity of a conference and workshop to move the project forward. We met first in Melbourne, where WEAVE participated in a panel at the Women Deliver conference, a massive global gathering hosted at the city’s convention center.
| | Women Deliver conference keynote | | We then flew to Alice Springs in the hot desert at the center of the continent, where we participated in a historic gathering of Indigenous women’s activists organized by the Australian members of the WEAVE collective, Chay Brown and Kayla Glynn-Braun. The focus was on strengthening ties between isolated communities from across Australia, and it included having a cookout at our hosts’ grandmother’s rural homestead. Even though many Indigenous activists were meeting each other for the first time, it was remarkable how quickly they became family to each other. During the workshop, they shared moving accounts of the challenges and successes of supporting violence survivors in their communities. We created a mission statement about our shared dreams, and in keeping with WEAVE and Indigenous groups’ focus on art, made visual expressions of our hopes as seen in the panels below. | | | | On the Kuniya Walk with Kayla Glynn-Braun. | | On the fourth day, we drove as groups in vans to Uluru, the glowing red monolith that towers over the landscape of the Outback. My awe was deepened by our hosts’ explanations about its spiritual significance. I left Australia uplifted by the beauty of its people and landscapes. | | Speaking with activists and lawyers at Universidade Federal do Para. | | With audience members after my talk at UNICAP Recife. | | |
In late May, I traveled to Brazil to explore how scholars, lawyers, and activists there devised creative understandings of justice and healing when responding to gender-based violence. I was especially keen to understand such work in the Northeast, which is home to the majority of the country’s Black and Indigenous people. I visited universities in Pernambuco and Para, where I had prior connections with scholars engaged in restorative justice practices. I gave talks at both universities sharing observations and activists’ profiles from my trips to India, South Africa, and Australia. What was especially significant was that I was speaking as part of the twentieth anniversary of a landmark anti-violence legislation called the Maria da Penha law, and I gained a deeper understanding of how critical legal scholars and judges evaluated the impact of the law. I also had a chance to better understand local community-based healing and accountability practices.
One highlight of this trip was being in the Amazon region— my first sight of the gigantic river as the plane landed in Belem simply took my breath away.
| | Tributary leading to the Amazon River in the distance | | In late June, I flew to India to continue my work exploring how scholars, lawyers, and activists understood justice and healing when responding to gender-based violence. I shared updates from my travels with activists there and I met with the editor of a volume I’ve contributed to. I look forward to sharing more of this work with the WGSS community in the coming academic year! | | Trans Maryland and its allies were able to hold the line on gender affirming care and access to athletic opportunities. Still, they were not successful in getting the Legislature to pass SB0626 - Certificates of Birth, Licenses, and Identification Cards - Sex Designation (Birth Certificate Modernization Act), which was designed to make it easier for transgender people to change their birth certificate- the identity document needed to obtain a passport, driver's license, and Social Security card. Dr. Hill plans to continue her work with TransMaryland and hopes to see this bill passed in 2027. | | Dr. Hill testifying before the House Health Committee of the Maryland Legislature in Annapolis, Maryland, on February 18th, 2026. | | Dr. Hill with Trans Maryland activists (January 2026). | | |
In June, Professor Diana Pardo Pedraza's co-authored article was published in War & Society, titled “Grounding Specifics: Rats and Dogs in Landmine Detection.” Drawing on ethnographic research in Cambodia and Colombia, the article offers a comparative analysis of rats and dogs trained to detect landmines. They examine how these two explosive-detection animals reorient—in terms of direction and tailoring—humanitarian mine clearance, (post)war aspirational imaginaries, and ethnographic encounters through their distinct sensory capacities, bodily dispositions, and modes of working with humans.
| | | Photos from Professor Pardo Pedraza's summer research trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she spent several weeks following the early stages of training potential future mine detection dogs. She was particularly interested in the small bodily maneuvers and technical practices through which a dog is gradually taught to search, signal, move, attend, and respond in particular ways, and in how these practices transform living animals into biotechnologies of security and humanitarian intervention. Both the article and this fieldwork are part of her second research project on the global production and circulation of mine detection dogs, tentatively titled Tails Without Borders. | | |
Professor Robert McRuer's book Disability, Revolution appeared this summer in the American Studies Now: Critical Histories of the Present series with the University of California Press.
Disability, Revolution introduces alternatives to “one-dimensional disability,” providing an accessible overview of disability justice movements and their relevance to larger emancipatory coalitions. Exploring the most prominent examples from the past several decades, the book focuses on the convergence of queer and crip movements, mad pride, intersectional disability justice work, neurodiversity, and the globalization of disability alliances.
The book can be seen here and UC Press offers a discount using the code: AUTHOR40
We will be hosting a Brown Bag book launch with Professor McRuer on October 2nd. For more details, check out our upcoming events!
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GWU2 TA and IA Training
September 1st, 11am-1pm | Duques Hall 113
RSVP here
Are you a new TA or IA at GW? We know things start fast here, and with limited online training. Come learn from experienced and award winning TAs and IAs who've been through all of this before. They'll provide advice, tips, and tricks from years in the classroom at GW and answer any questions you have as you start out at GW. If you can't make it for the whole time, feel free to drop in anytime from 11am-1pm in Duques 113.
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WGSS Happy Hour
September 11th, 4-6pm at Tonic
RSVP here
Join us for a happy hour with WGSS students and faculty! We will buy a few appetizers to share, but if you would like a drink please buy your own. Feel free to drop in or stay the whole time!
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Join the Global Women's Institute (GWI), the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) Program and GWI Affiliated Faculty for a Washington Spirit game on September 13 at 1:00 PM.
Meet GWI affiliated faculty and staff, colleagues and allies from across the GW community and students working on issues related to gender equality and women’s rights while cheering on the Washington Spirit!
This event is open to all GW students, faculty and staff. Please RSVP using your GW email address to receive a formal ticket link and access the reduced ticket price.
If you have any questions, please reach out to gwomen@gwu.edu.
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Disability, Revolution
Brown Bag with Professor Robert McRuer
October 2nd, 12 - 1pm in Rome 459
RSVP
Join us for a brown bag book launch by Professor Robert McRuer! In Disability, Revolution, Robert McRuer introduces alternatives to “one-dimensional disability,” providing an accessible overview of disability justice movements and their relevance to larger emancipatory coalitions. Exploring the most prominent examples from the past several decades, the book focuses on the convergence of queer and crip movements, mad pride, intersectional disability justice work, neurodiversity, and the globalization of disability alliances.
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The Greater Washington DC Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse
At JCADA, our mission is to support victims of intimate partner violence to become empowered and live safely; educate the community about intimate partner violence and the appropriate responses; and prevent future generations from experiencing intimate partner violence. Through education, discussion, peer connection, and an interactive final project, students will gain practical skills and knowledge they can carry into their personal life, future career, and greater community.
This fall semester, we are launching our College Ambassadors program, a year-long initiative for Jewish college students to engage in the important work of preventing IPV and building healthier and safer campus communities. The College Ambassadors program will consist of virtual weekly meetings and a community engagement project, and participants receive a certificate of complete at the end of the program.
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The Choice
Program Coordinator - Contract
Position Type: Temporary, September through approximately mid-December 2026
Schedule: 37.5-40 hours per week, Monday-Friday
Location: 100% Remote
Pay Rate: 30-38/hour
The Choice, Inc. is seeking an experienced Program Coordinator to support a highly regarded, mission-driven professional membership association. This is a temporary position supporting several important programs during a particularly active time of year.
This position is an excellent fit for someone who is highly organized, detail-oriented, comfortable managing multiple projects and deadlines, and enjoys working with both internal teams and external stakeholders. The Program Coordinator will provide high-level administrative and program support across honors and awards, member groups, and travel grant initiatives.
EXPERIENCE:
- Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 3 years of experience in a project management position or related environment, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Experience with association management systems (i.e., netForum), conference management software, and content management systems preferred.
Apply here!
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The Choice
Development Coordinator- Major Gifts
Location: Washington, DC - Foggy Bottom
Schedule: Hybrid - 2 days per week in the office
Position Type: Temporary to Hire
Permanent Salary Range: $58,000–$63,000
The Choice is managing an exciting temp-to-hire opportunity for a prominent environmental nonprofit organization in Washington, DC.
This position will support a robust major and principal gifts fundraising program, working closely with senior gift officers on donor cultivation, stewardship, events, and fundraising initiatives. The Coordinator will also provide administrative support to two principal gift officers, including extensive calendar management, complex travel planning, and coordination of competing deadlines and priorities.
This is an excellent opportunity for an early-career development or nonprofit professional who is highly organized, polished, detail-oriented, and interested in gaining exposure to a sophisticated major gifts program.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree and at least 2 years of progressively responsible professional experience.
- Previous fundraising, development, advancement, donor relations, or nonprofit experience is a plus.
- Ability to manage calendars, travel arrangements, deadlines, and shifting priorities with professionalism and discretion.
Apply here!
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Suited for Change
Development Manager
For over 33 years, Suited for Change (SFC) has empowered women in the Washington, DC community on their journey to financial independence by providing professional attire, personalized coaching, and skills training. While suiting remains at the heart of our mission, our expanded programming includes coaching and professional development workshops that prepare women to thrive in the workplace and beyond.
We partner with nearly 100 referral organizations across the DC region, including workforce development and job training programs, transitional housing and reentry programs, domestic violence shelters, government agencies, and faith-based organizations. Through these partnerships, women are connected to our services—always offered free of charge—at pivotal moments in their lives.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Development Manager serves as the day-to-day lead for Suited for Change's development function, working in close partnership with the Executive Director, who continues to lead high-level fundraising strategy and key donor relationships.
The Development Manager owns the implementation of SFC’s Development Plan and leads the day-to-day execution of fundraising campaigns, special events, development operations, donor pipeline management, stewardship systems, and reporting. This role brings structure, organization, and consistent follow-through to SFC's fundraising efforts while ensuring development priorities move from strategy to execution.
The Development Manager works collaboratively with the Development & Program Assistant, who provides support with gift processing, CRM maintenance, donor acknowledgements, campaign coordination, event logistics, prospect research, and other development activities.
Click here for more information!
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GET FUNDING FOR YOUR IMPACTFUL PROJECTS
Check out the Fall 2026-27 Deadlines! Click here for more details.
Public Service Grant Commission (Open to Undergraduate, Graduate, and Doctoral Students)
PSGC I (Fall 2026): September 14, 2026
PSGC II (Fall 2026): November 1, 2026
*You must have a community partner onboard and the projects must be primarily based in the DC-metropolitan area beyond the GW campus.
Projects for Peace (Open to Only Undergraduate Students)
Deadline: November 1, 2026 (Project will take place in Summer 2027)
*You must have a community partner on board and the projects can take place anywhere in the world; nationally or internationally. Projects must have a peacebuilding component.
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Thinking Bodies: A Feminist Philosophy Podcast
The podcast’s co-founders, Kristin Rodier and Anna Mudde, want to bring to your attention episodes of "Thinking Bodies: a Feminist Philosophy Podcast." Each episode addresses important ethical issues and offers valuable resources for students as well as feminist scholars!
Episode topics include:
- SE01 E02: "Being Dismissed" discusses the works of Sue Campbell.
- SE01 E03: "Throwing Like a Girl" discusses the works of Iris Marion Young.
- SE01 E04: "Tracking Epistemic Violence" discusses the work of Kristie Dotson.
- SE01 E05: "Purity, Impurity and Separation" discusses the work of María Lugones.
- SE01 E06: "Trust and Anti-Trust with Corinne Lajoie" discusses the work of Annette Baier.
- SE02 E01: "Field Notes: Simon Ruchti and Catherine Clune-Taylor"
- SE02 E02: "Field Notes: Andrea Pitts, Matthew J. Cull, Sanjula Rajat and Jules Wong"
- SE02 E03: "Evil Deceivers and Make-Believers" discusses the work of Talia Mae Bettcher.
- SE02 E04: "Field Notes: Riley Lewicki, Alanah Mortlock, with special guest Amy Marvin"
The episodes have full descriptive transcripts, show notes with references and resources, and a concept map. Click here for the full episode details.
More information on the podcast can be found here.
Next week, a new episode is coming on Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s “Misfits”!
Subscribe on apple podcasts or follow us @thinking_bodies_pod on Instagram.
If you’d like to contribute or guest produce, please contact us here.
| 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!
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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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