About the Project
"WGSS at Wooster: Past, Present, and Future” is a website dedicated to charting the history of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) Program at the College of Wooster. The site is an online archive of historical information—including institutional documentation, newspaper articles, historical photographs, oral histories, faculty research, and student work that represent the Program’s past and present. This archive provides an important opportunity to document the historical presence of Women’s Studies/WGSS at Wooster, as well as related changes to the culture and campus climate.
Launched in 2018 in honor of the WGSS Program’s 40th Anniversary (1978-2018), the site has been student-driven with the mentorship of WGSS Chair and Professor Dr. Christa Craven and our former Digital Curation Librarian Catie (Newton) Heil. The digital timeline and initial archival research were completed by Marina Dias Lucena Adams (WGSS-History ’18). Matthew Harris-Ridker (WGSS ’19) contributed the first oral histories with current and emerit faculty, alums, and current students about LGBTQ+ scholarship and activism in the WGSS Program. In Fall 2018, students in Craven’s WGSS Senior Seminar: Feminist Pedagogy in Action course added interviews with participants in the “Feminist and Queer Pedagogies Faculty Workshop,” co-organized by Christa Craven and Ahmet Atay. And in 2024, students in the WGSS Senior Seminar refreshed the site, including the creation of a memorial tribute to one of the Program's founders, Joanne Frye, and the addition of updated visualizations on the Program in "Fast (Feminist) Facts" and the "Forty Years of Independent Studies" exhibit. Future projects and classes are being planned to allow students to continue contributing by adding new content, conducting original research on the archive, and creating new exhibits and presentations based upon the collection.
This archive was created as a community space for those associated with WOMN/WGSS at Wooster, as well as those interested in the history of Women’s, Gender, Sexuality, Feminist, and Queer Studies scholarship and education more broadly. As you explore this website, an ever-expanding archive, we hope that you will see your contributions reflected our rich history, our thriving present, and our commitment to the feminist principle of creating a better world for all long into the future.
Project Team & Acknowledgements
- Dr. Christa Craven, Professor of Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies and Anthropology (2006-Present)
- Catie (Newton) Heil, Digital Curation Librarian (2015-2022)
- Marina Dias Lucena Adams, WGSS-History double major, Class of 2018
- Matthew Harris-Ridker, WGSS major, Class of 2019
- Students in WGSS Senior Seminar: Feminist Pedagogy in Action, Fall 2018
- Isabel Bonhomme, WGSS-Anthropology double major, Class of 2019
- Morgan Day, WGSS-Spanish double major, Biology minor, Class of 2019
- Matthew Harris-Ridker, WGSS major, Class of 2019
- Alicea Kouyaté, WGSS-Psychology double major, Class of 2019
- Abby Lang, WGSS-History double major, Class of 2019
- Hailey Malzeke, WGSS-Sociology double major, Class of 2019
- Amrin Remtulla, WGSS major, Class of 2019
- Emery Stewart, WGSS major, Class of 2019
- Anna Vogt, WGSS-Psychology double major, Class of 2019
- Andrew White, Psychology major, WGSS & Sociology minors, Class of 2019
- Eleanor Linafelt, English & WGSS, Class of 2020
- Alexis Sotelo, Political Science major, Africana Studies minor, Class of 2021
- Students in WGSS Senior Seminar: Feminist Pedagogy in Action, Fall 2024
- Madison Ackley, WGSS-Political Science double major, French minor, Class of 2025
- Peyton Crook, Psychology major, WGSS-Statistical and Data Sciences double minor, Class of 2026
- Ami Hughes, WGSS-Communication Studies double major, Class of 2025
- Gabriel McCreath, Religious Studies major, WGSS minor, Class of 2025
- Teagan McCullough, WGSS-Political Science double major, Class of 2025
- Anushree Rustagi, Psychology major, WGSS-Religious Studies double minor, Class of 2025
- Emily Sturr, WGSS-Spanish double major, French minor, Class of 2025
We are grateful for funding and support from the following:
- All of those who have generously contributed material from their personal archives, participated in interviews, and made other contributions to the digital history
- Oral History in the Liberal Arts (OHLA) Microgrant through the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA), 2018
- Feminist and Queer Pedagogies Faculty Workshop, funded by the Hewlett-Melon Foundation co-organized by Christa Craven and WGSS Chair Ahmet Atay, 2018
- Mellon Digital Collaborations: From Projects to Pedagogy Grant, 2019