Celebrating Women’s & Gender Equity Centers in MN & WI
Join students and Women’s Center colleagues from MN and WI for the second panel in our series “Celebrating Women’s & Gender Equity Centers in MN & WI.” This panel on Wednesday, Feb. 24th from 12:00-1:15pm CST. This panel showcases four students speaking to how engagement with Women’s Centers on their campuses shaped their academic, personal, professional, and activist development.
This week’s panel features MSUM alum Ponny White, who graduated in May 2020 with dual bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Multimedia Journalism with an emphasis in Women’s and Gender Studies.
Join via Zoom: 946 8709 2861
Assessment data from campus-based Women’s Centers reveal a powerful narrative of student and campus transformations along a broad continuum of personal, professional, campus and community impacts. This session of the MN/WI Women’s Center’s anniversary series and Women on Wednesday brings student voices to the forefront as we hear why and how Women Center students transform others, themselves, campus, and broader communities. A panel of current and former students speak about the influence of Women’s Centers on personal and social change.
Student Panelists:
Ponny White (she/her/hers) is a Junior Child Care Policy Associate at School Readiness Consulting, and a 2020 graduate from Minnesota State University Moorhead with bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Multimedia Journalism with an emphasis in Women’s and Gender Studies. Along with her career in advocating for equitable child care policies, Ponny is a dedicated reproductive rights activist. She works with several organizations to advocate legislatively for young people’s access to affordable reproductive healthcare, inclusive sex ed, and for mandates to protect Queer and Trans youth and sexual violence victims. As a Black woman and an immigrant-American, Ponny directly understands the systemic hardships marginalized people experience, especially in academia. This is why she supports spaces like Women’s Centers that uplift and support students experiencing systemic oppression.
Amy Halbmaier (she/her or they/them) is in their last semester at the University of Minnesota and will be graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism with an emphasis in multimedia production. As a program assistant at the U of M Women’s Center, Amy is working on a multimedia project for the center’s 60th anniversary about what “Redefining a feminist future” means to current employees and alum. In their (limited) free time, Amy is involved in theater on campus and is currently working on a collaborative theater project that focuses on moving away from euro-centric, patriarchal and colonial forms of creation and puts an emphasis on indigenous dramaturgy. Amy loves reading, listening to podcasts and wearing outrageous earrings.
Brooke Berrens (they/them/theirs) is a double alum of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. They have a bachelor’s of science in Women’s and Gender Studies, a master’s of science in Educational Leadership and Policy, and is a past Director of the Women’s Advocacy Council (student organization). They currently work within the UW Oshkosh Sustainability Institute for Regional Transformations. Their main passion within their current position is highlighting the intersection of social and environmental justice. Brooke will also serve as the moderator of the panel.
Edwina Keta (she/her/hers) is a third-year student at St. Cloud State University studying Gender and Women’s Studies, Ethnic Studies, and pursuing a certificate in Feminist Leadership. In addition to her position as a Programming and Outreach Assistant at the Women’s Center, she recently became President of Students for Choice, a student organization that promotes and educates the campus and community about reproductive freedom. Due to her growing commitment to reproductive freedom and justice, she is continuing her second term as a Campus Organizer/Intern with NARAL Pro-Choice MN, a state affiliate of NARAL Pro-Choice America that utilizes the political process to advance abortion access to all Minnesotans.