Jane Hibbard Idema Women & Gender Studies Center

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Jane Hibbard Idema Women & Gender Studies Center

Prepares students to become catalysts for change and voices for feminist ideals in our society

https://linktr.ee/jhiwgsc

"I think you thought there was no such place for you, and perhaps there was none then, and perhaps there is none now; but we will have to make it."

[-Adrienne Rich]

05/11/2026

Congratulations to all our AQ graduates after commencment weekend, and a big shout out to Mel Beachnau for the Outstanding Senior Award in Women's and Gender Studies! AND a BIG THANK YOU to all of our speakers, participants, and planners of our Spring 2026 events -- from our monthly HerStory Speaker Series, to Fem Fridays, to the GIS Symposium. We appreciate your keeping WGS going at AQ! Have a super summer!

04/24/2026

Wear your denim on "Denim Day" next Wednesday, April 29 and make a social statement with your fashion as a visible means of protest against the misconceptions that continue to surround sexual violence.

* Wear your denim all day on Wednesday 4/29 to speak out against sexual violence. Denim Day is held globally on the last Wednesday in April in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The now-worldwide movement began in 1999 as a means of protest against victim blaming and ongoing misconceptions that surround sexual violence, following a 1992 case in which the Italian Supreme Court overturned a r**e conviction because the justices felt that, since the victim was wearing tight jeans, she must have helped the person who r**ed her remove them, thereby implying consent. Following the reversal, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim. Learn more about Denim Day at https://denimday.org/about.

* Then stop by the Moose Cafe for journal making between 2-5 p.m., sponsored by AQ's Office of Violence Against Women, to "Raise Your Voice" against sexual violence. The journal making will be free-flowing, with cookies and pink lemonade.

Questions? Contact the Jane Hibbard Idema Women's & Gender at [email protected] or AQ's Office of Violence Against Women at [email protected].

03/28/2026

Next Thursday, April 2, at 12:15 p.m. at the Moose Cafe, join us and the Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity for our April HerStory Speaker, Tara Aday, Senior Director of Programs at Safe Haven Ministries. Aday will share her path to becoming an advocate for survivors at Safe Haven as we begin Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

The HerStory "Brown Bag" Speaker Series happens on the first Thursdays, telling the stories of women in leadership on our campus and in our community. We hope to see you there! Bring your lunch!

03/23/2026

Aquinas faculty and students were delighted to join the Grand Rapids Women's Chorus and other community organizations on Saturday 3/21 at Fountain Street Church to celebrate the Chorus' 30th anniversary and the Michigan premiere of the dramatic cantata, "Sincerely Yours, Pauli Murray," based on the inspiring life and work of Pauli Murray.

Murray's legal arguments influenced the desegregation of US schools, the Voting Rights Act, and the inclusion of women in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Murray coined the term "Jane Crow" to draw attention to the discrimination of black women that persisted after the Jim Crow laws in the South were overturned. Murray's legal writing, poetry, and sermons later in life established an understanding of intersectional identities.

THANK YOU to the Grand Rapids Women's Chorus for this beautiful community event!

03/06/2026

Many thanks to Jennifer Morrison, historian and archivist, for beginning Women's History Month with our HerStory Speaker Series yesterday and for reminding us of the necessary truth-seeking and collaborative endeavor of History. We appreciate all of your contributions to the archive, Jen!

02/27/2026

Join us on Thursday (3/5) for Jennifer Morrison’s HerStory talk, and to pick up a flower to kick off Women’s History Month! 🌸🌻

02/22/2026

CONGRATULATIONS to all of our student presenters at this year's Gender, Identity, and Sexualities Symposium, held in Donnelly Center on Saturday, February 21. It was a wonderful day, starting with our creating cyanotype artwork together and followed by learning from our presenters' scholarly and creative work related to gender, identity, and sexuality across disciplines.

AND A BIG THANK YOU to
- all of the friends, families, faculty, staff, and students who came out to support them!
- our workshop facilitator, textile artist Meg Roach of Adventure Textiles, whose studio is at Gemini Handmade (963 Cherry Street, Grand Rapids); and
- our incredibly generous team of faculty mentors and planners (Drs. Penny Avery, Elizabeth Chamberlain, Dana Freeman, Erika Gotfredson, Bethany Kilcrease, Satya Lendrum, Jennifer Meador, Rebecca Penny, and Amy Dunham Strand) -- an amazing team!

02/19/2026

Join us tomorrow for Feminist Friday!!☕️

02/12/2026

This Friday, 2/13, we will be hosting our annual Love is Love Button Event! We are joining SAO’s Stuff a Plush event in upper Wege, 11am-2pm 🧸 All donations will support the Grand Rapids Pride Center and the YWCA of West Central Michigan!

02/10/2026

We are so proud of JHIWGSC intern and AQ junior Savanah Hammock, who presented her research titled, "Intersecting Identities and Inequalities: The Impact of COVID-19 on Ethnic Minority Individuals with Disabilities or Chronic Illnesses" at the Society for Women Sociologists (SWS) annual winter conference this past Saturday, February 7, in San Diego, CA! Savanah is a McNair Scholar, Sociology Major, and Women's and Gender Studies Minor.

CONGRATULATIONS to Savanah, who is pictured below at the conference with her faculty mentor, Dr. Satya Lendrum (Sociology and Women's and Gender Studies).

Address

1700 Fulton Street E.
Grand Rapids, MI
49506

Telephone

+16166322979

Website

https://www.aquinas.edu/academics/womens-and-gender-studies/index.html

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