[271] MTSU Student Group Promotes Academic Studies Of Women

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 26, 2010
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

MTSU STUDENT GROUP PROMOTES ACADEMIC STUDIES OF WOMEN
New Women’s Studies Student Organization Spreads the Word, Ready to Collaborate

(MURFREESBORO) - As students continue to delve into the spring semester, a new student group will be trying to capture their attention and their imagination. The Women’s Studies Student Organization welcomes students with any and all majors and minors who are interested in gender issues to take part.
President Courtney Shelton says the fledgling group will focus on academics, not just activism. Panel discussions and intellectual roundtables will be among the members’ activities along with fundraising and other charitable endeavors, as well as collaborations with other student groups.
All officers of the WSSO say that women’s studies classes have validated what they were sensing about the oppression of women in society even though their high school classes barely touched on women’s history, let alone the history of the feminist movement.
“I felt like a mask had been pulled off, and I became aware of issues that I could feel but really hadn’t been able to put a name to,” says Vice President Kamryn Warren, a junior sociology major from Leiper’s Fork.
Shelton, a junior social work minor, cites the Women in Leadership class she took as being especially enlightening.
“That helped a lot to see the whole sphere of women who have power, the obstacles they have to overcome to get in positions of power and how they operate,” says Shelton.
Treasurer Lisa L. Walker, a junior sociology major from Dyersburg, says she decided to come to MTSU specifically because it has a women’s studies program. She says she could not wait to arrive here after reading feminist books in her senior year of high school.
“You finally are around people that feel the same way, that say things that you can relate to, things that I didn’t hear people say in my hometown,” Walker says.
Dr. Newtona “Tina” Johnson, English professor and director of the Women’s Studies Program, sees great value in the peer-to-peer mentoring the WSSO can provide to students of all geographical areas, educational pursuits and personal worldviews.


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“It is a way to have students light that spark in other students,” Johnson says. “When you have other students pass on this information in this atmosphere of collaboration and partnership, then it’s easier for students to be drawn into the field.”
For more information about the WSSO, contact the Women’s Studies Program at 615-898-2910, or send e-mails to Shelton at ces3v@mtsu.edu, Walker at ll23b@mtsu.edu, or Warren at kdw3e@mtsu.edu.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For a color jpeg photo of Dr. Johnson and the Women’s Studies Student Organization officers, contact Gina Logue in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.



With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.