Elections will be for two Co-Leaders, Secretary, and a Treasurer position. The CFO centers around raising awareness for women’s issues as well as the intersection of all social justice issues on campus, in our community, and on a global scale. Come let your voice be heard!

Kathryn Kottenbrock to present flood research at SAC April 16

By Emily Farwell

Casselton, N.D., native Kathryn Kottenbrock is an advocate for homeless women in the Fargo-Moorhead area

Kottenbrock, a women’s and gender studies major, was inspired to learn about the invisible women who were negatively affected by the Red River Valley flood of 2009 through her internship with the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless. She engaged in advocacy work for people who were homeless and was asked if she wanted to be involved in a research project about how the flood of 2009 affected women.

Kottenbrock was surprised by the lack of previous research on marginalized populations. There is a lot of literature that focuses on the plight of middle-class people. Her research provides insight on work that needs to be done to protect vulnerable populations in the Red River Valley. “Nobody wants to be forgotten,” Kottenbrock said. “I hope people will stop and realize that we all need to take the time to make sure these people are remembered, especially in a time of crises.”

Kottenbrock, who is still researching the flood and homeless women, will demonstrate the need for advocacy and promote some ideas for change. She hopes to discover benefits for those who are affected the most by natural disasters in the Fargo-Moorhead area.

One of Kottenbrock’s goals is to educate others on small steps that can be taken to help everyone in our community. She also hopes to identify other unmet needs and explore new policies.

See who else is presenting at the Student Academic Conference.

Thursday evening, March 21, at 6 p.m., the Campus Feminist Organization will show the film North Country. This film is a fictionalized account of the first major sexual harassment case in the United States. On Friday, March 22, at noon, Bertha Vasquez, a sculpture major in the Department of Art & Design, will discuss “The Politics of FeministART.” All events are free and open to the public.

Women’s History Month is a multi-and interdisciplinary series of lectures and events coordinated by Women’s and Gender Studies. For more information, contact Sherry Lee Short in MA 175, 218.477.4070.

Different Cloud is an instructor at Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, N. Dak., and a PhD candidate at Montana State University. Her current work engages with restoring stands of the mouse bean plant on the Standing Rock Reservation. The natural habitat of the mouse bean was nearly lost following the damming of Missouri River in the 1950s, which resulted in the flooding of much of the Standing Rock acreage.

Different Cloud is the second featured lecturer of Women’s History Month at MSUM. Women’s History Month events are sponsored by Women’s and Gender Studies, the American Indian Student Association, American Indian Student Activities, MSUM’s History Department, and the Solomon G. Comstock Memorial Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation.

For more information, contact Sherry Lee Short at 218.477.4072 or shortsh@mnstate.edu.

Visit their website to learn more about the conference and how to register.

The second event is a talk by Dr. Bruce Roberts, Department of Anthropology and Earth Sciences, titled “Shaking the Tree: Dr. Wangari Maathai, the Greenbelt Movement, and Civil Society in Kenya,” and will take place at 3 p.m.  Wangari Maathai (1940-2011) was the founder of the Green Belt Movement and the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.  Much of her work focused on planting trees as both social and environmental restoration.

Both events take place in BR 154 and are free and open to the public.  This event is part of a series of events coordinated by Women’s and Gender Studies in celebration of Women’s History Month.  For more information, contact Puja Sharma at sharmapu@mnstate.edu, Beatriz Castro at castrobe@mnstate.edu, or Women’s and Gender Studies at 218-477-4072.

Weasel’s interdisciplinary scholarship focuses on feminist science studies, environmental health, and food, ethics and sustainability. Winner of the esteemed CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, Weasel is a valued affiliate of Project Kaleidoscope’s Faculty for the 21st Century and is the author of the book Food Fray: Inside the Controversy over Genetically Modified Food, and a co-editor of the anthology Feminist Science Studies: A New Generation. She is also a frequent speaker to community and educational groups on topics relating to the possible social repercussions of science and technology.

An avid advocate for women in science, Weasel received an A.B. manga cum laude in Biology from Harvard and her PhD in Cell and Molecular biology from the University of Cambridge. She is currently an Associate Professor of Biology at Portland State University.

This talk is sponsored through a grant from the IFO Feminist Issues Committee, Department of Women and Gender Studies, Women’s Center, Sustainable Campus Initiative, and Physics Department

A book signing and discussion with Weasel will take place the same day in Bridges 154, 11:30 a.m.  This event is sponsored by Campus Feminist Organization.

For more information, contact Claudia Murphy, at 218.477.4072; 218.477.4090 or email at murphyc@mnstate.edu.

There are many exciting opportunities to be involved and to raise awareness and engagement on campus as well as have fun. Join the meeting to learn more.

Enjoy light refreshments and learn about 2013-2014 work opportunities and find out more about the events we host and work we do on campus to create an inclusive environment for all students. All are welcome!

Join us at the first Campus Feminist Organization meeting of the year Thursday, Jan. 31. The meeting is at 5 p.m. in the Women’s Center, Bridges 154.

The purpose of Campus Feminist Organization, (CFO), is to create awareness of issues and events pertaining to women and other underrepresented genders, and provide a social atmosphere in which to discuss them. CFO embraces and models activism as a vehicle for making change and seeks to support students’ engagement in that way. Examples of this are organizing the Take Back the Night event, as well as other social justice events to promote awareness of gender issues.

Everyone is welcome so invite your friends.

Rain and Thunder is an independent feminist journal that publishes works that synthesize theory and practice and build activism.

Claudia Murphy, Philosophy and Women’s and Gender Studies, presented with WGS majors Kathryn Kottenbrock and Tiffany Zilka in a panel titled “The Spreading Waters—Feminist Perspective on the Flooding of the Red River of the North”. Murphy spoke about teaching a contextualized STEM module on local floods; Kottenbrock spoke about invisible women and the flood of 2009; Zilka spoke about students and the flood of 2009. The three are engaged in ongoing research on these subjects.

Six Women’s and Gender Studies students participated in a juried poster and multimedia presentation session. Maite Rodriguez’s poster “The Many Dimensions of Gender Identity” won first place, second place went to Katie Kottenbrock’s digital story, “Our Bodies Through Medical Technology: A Story to Depict the Cultural and Medical Control of Women’s Bodies.” Also presenting were WGS students: Breann Lenzmeir “Women in the Workplace: An Audio Documentary on ND Women Workers;” Rebecca Scott “Understanding Feminism by Imagery;” Alex Siewert “Women as the ‘Second Sex’: Simone de Beauvoir’s Relevance on Femininity Today;” and Avantika Singh “Women Hidden from History.”

The Media Literacy Project, based in Albuquerque, N.M., focuses on creating affordable media access for all community members. It challenges values that center on heterosexual families, limit social debate, and marginalize families, communities, and women of color.

Quidaja’s presentation will describe Girl Tech, a yearlong program designed for young women of color to share their own experiences and perspectives on reproductive justice through storytelling and video production. The presentation will show how media can be used to shift culture, support campaigns, foster collaborations, and build social justice movements.

This event is part of the 12th Annual Red River Women’s Studies Conference. It is free and open to the public. For more information about Quijada’s presentation, contact Sherry Lee Short at shortsh@mnstate.edu or 218.477.4070.

Morken is a community artist and a LGBTQ community organizer who moved from Brooklyn, New York, to Fargo-Moorhead two years ago. In New York, she was involved in a number of art projects, including a mural project in a low-income neighborhood in collaboration with a homeless LGBTQ youth.

Since moving to the Fargo-Moorhead area, Morken has created three art installation projects downtown, including “Knit Fargo,” a collaboration with area fiber artists who “yarn bombed” downtown Fargo with colorful sleeves wrapped on lampposts.

Morken is also the founder of We Are Family, a program of the Pride Collective and Community Center, and organized the first annual Glitter Gala, a fundraiser for the Collective, last fall.  The second annual Glitter Gala is set for November 3.

The Women’s and Gender Studies Colloquium Series is a program of MSUM’s Women’s and Gender Studies Department. The Colloquium Series highlights MSUM faculty and student research that focuses on feminist, women’s, and gender issues.  The colloquium also highlights the work of community members and activists who are involved in women’s and gender issues and social change.

For more information, contact Sherry Short at 218.477.2310 or 218.477.4070 or shortsh@mnstate.edu.

O.L.A. has paid for institutional membership to the Minnesota Network of Latina/os in Higher Education, which means all Latina/o faculty, staff, and students are members. Please like their information on Facebook if interested in learning more about the Network. https://www.facebook.com/MNLHE

Kris Kitko is a singer-songwriter hailing from Bismarck. Of Kitko, the Chicago Tribune has written, “In the time-honored folk tradition, she’s got her share of songs with a political edge, but she combines them with her disarming sense of humor. Kitko has considerable talent.”

As an activist, much of her recent focus has been through work with Bakken Watch, an organization dedicated to documenting and providing information about the health and environmental issues associated with “fracking.” Fracking is the method used to extract oil in North Dakota and other areas. Her music and activism intertwine in such feminist songs as I am not Walmart and The Bitch Song and in such fracking-related tunes as Frack Pit Love and Frack That Oil.

Kitko will also be performing on Thursday night on the MSUM campus as part of the Take Back the Night Event, which begins at 5:30 p.m. on the campus mall.

This event is sponsored by Women’s and Gender Studies, Women’s Center, and the Music Department. For more information about this talk or others in the WGS Colloquium Series, contact Sherry Lee Short at 477.4070 or shortsh@mnstate.edu.

Take Back the Night events seek to increase awareness of violence against women. In the United States, one in five college women have been raped at some point in their lifetimes, according to One in Four, a national non-profit working to end sexual assault and rape on university campuses.

Philadelphia hosted the first Take Back the Night event 37 years ago. Citizens of Philadelphia rallied together after the murder of Susan Alexander Speeth, who was attacked by a stranger a block from her home while she was out walking at night. The first international Take Back the Night event took place a year later at The International Tribunal on Crimes against Women in Brussels, Belgium. Two thousand women representing 40 countries attended. Since then, millions of people have participated in Take Back the Night in more than 15 countries.

NDSU is hosting a similar event, and to communicate solidarity, MSUM and NDSU planned them for the same day. NDSU’s event starts at 7 p.m. at Festival Concert Hall. For information on the NDSU event, contact Sarah Dodd at sarah.dodd@ndsu.edu.

MSUM’s event is sponsored by Women’s and Gender Studies, the Women’s Center, and Rainbow Dragon Center. In case of bad weather, the MSUM event will take place in Comstock Memorial Union. For updates and more information, see the MSUM Take Back the Night Facebook page, or contact Sherry Lee Short at 218.477.4070 or shortsh@mnstate.edu. You may also stop by Short’s office during her office hours in MacLean 175.

If you have a disability requiring accommodation to fully participate in this event, please contact Short by Thursday, September 6.