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“Looking Backward / Laura E Foster.” c1912 August 22. Courtesy Library of Congress. |
Fall Lecture Series: Gender and Education
As Vassar’s Sesquicentennial year continues, the college kicks off a semester-long public lecture series focused—appropriately—on the history of gender and education. Organized by history professor Rebecca Edwards, it is entitled “Liberations and Contradictions: Moments in the History of Gender and Education.” The free lecture series runs in conjunction with the for-credit course “Pathways to Vassar: The Rise of Women’s Higher Education in Historical Context” (History/Women’s Studies 285).
Eleven presentations will be offered on Thursdays, starting September 1 and running through December 8, from 5:15 to 6:30 p.m., in Taylor Hall, Room 203. For those unable to attend in person, the lecture series will be broadcast via live webcast and archived for future access. (Note: there will be no lectures October 13, 20, or November 24.)
Nine lectures will be conducted by members of the Vassar faculty. The series will also include a panel discussion with guest scholars, including alumnus William Elfant ’79, and will conclude with a dramatic reading by Vassar students enrolled in the course.
Individual lecture topics include “Constructions of Femininity and the Enlightenment Debate over Women’s Education,” “Inventing Women’s Education,” “Not the Boys Less, But the Girls More,” and “Vassar Graduates and Progressive Reform: Julia Lathrop, Josephine Roche, Julia Stimson.” A full syllabus is available online, including links to suggested readings.
To attend the entire series in person, reserve a seat by contacting Michelle Whalen in the History Department via email or by phone at 845.437.5670. Otherwise, no advance reservation is necessary and seating is first-come, first-seated. –Peter Bronski
History professor Rebecca Edwards previewed the fall lecture series earlier this summer, at Reunion 2011. Photo © Vassar College / Jim Mills.