Chair's Welcome

First, we are delighted to announce that Professor Rhoda Reddock, Deputy Principal of the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago (St. Augustine Campus) will be a Distinguished Visitor to our program later this month. Professor Reddock's research has focused on the history of women in the Caribbean, with particular focus on women's social movements and labour politics. Her publications include Elma Francois, The NWCSA and the Workers' Struggle for Change in the Caribbean (London: New Beacon, 1988) and Women, Labour and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago: A History (London: Zed Books, 1994). More recently she has turned her attention to constructions of masculinity in the Caribbean, editing Interrogating Caribbean Masculinities (Kingston: The UWI Press, 2004). A well-known activist in Caribbean and global women's movements, Professor Reddock was a founding member and first chair of the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA) and a member of the Global Coalition on Women, Girls, and AIDS established by UNAIDS (the Join United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS). She currently serves as an International Advisor for The Global Development Fund for Women. Dr. Reddock will be giving three public lectures during her visit to which you are all cordially invited:

This year's Feminist Research Speakers Series will launch in October and more information about it will be forthcoming shortly. And Women's Studies student Carolyn Jervis is curating an upcoming exhibition, "Love Letters to Feminism," that will open in our Assiniboia Hall gallery space in October. For a description of the project go to http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=104279017265. More information on the date and time of the opening reception will be forthcoming.

I want also to draw your attention to two unfolding developments within the program. First, as some of you already know, Women's Studies underwent a highly successful site visit and external review last fall. As a result of that process, we have received approval-and encouragement-from the Provost, the Vice-Provost, and the Interim Dean of Arts to create stronger and more visible links between the Program and feminist researchers across campus. Specifically, we have received permission to create a new category of Research Affiliate and to publicize the work of our affiliates on our web page. Some of you will shortly be receiving an invitation to join us in this way. If we have inadvertently left any faculty member engaged in feminist research off our list, please let us know!

Finally, a long term goal of the Women's Studies Program is the creation of a one year Visiting Professorship offering, at minimum, office space, access to the University's library system, the possibility of teaching a senior level course in the program, and-most importantly-the opportunity to engage with the extremely vibrant feminist research community on campus, a community marked, as our external referees noted, by its "depth and sophistication." While we continue to explore ways of funding a Visiting Professorship, we have also decided to lay the groundwork by inviting an internal colleague to "visit" us for the upcoming academic year. Professor Linda Trimble of the Department of Political Science, a well-known specialist on women and politics in Canada, has agreed to serve as our first visitor. Linda will be keeping office hours most Thursdays from 1:00 to 3:00 in 1-02B Assiniboia Hall beginning September 17th and she invites staff and students to drop by! She will also be offering a talk in our Feminist Research Speakers Series.

With all best wishes for a rewarding and productive academic year,

Jo-Ann Wallace