This June, the fantastic zine/collection 2 Trans 2 Furious: An Extremely Serious Journal of Transgender Street Racing Studies won the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBTQ+ Anthology. WGSS PhD student AJ Castle’s essay “The Cipher Cut” is featured in this award-winning volume. We couldn’t be prouder of our department’s first Lambda winner!

2 Trans 2 Furious was edited by Tuck Woodstock and Niko Stratis with cover art by Mattie Lubchansky and zine design by Shay Mirk. You can get a PDF version of the collection directly from Girl Dad Press, or you can order a bound print copy from AK Press.

Here’s the official description:

More than forty trans writers and artists have joined forces to explore the deeper meanings of the Fast & Furious franchise (and also gender). There’s really no way to know why this exists, but it does, and you can own it! Suitable for F&F fans and newcomers alike.

Includes:

– A new short story by Manhunt author Gretchen Felker-Martin
– A demolition derby driver’s perspective on 2 Fast 2 Furious’s derby scene
– An essay contemplating the queer symbolism of Cipher’s bowl cut <— This is AJ’s piece!
– The scoop on the franchise’s only canonically nonbinary character
– Instructions for an F&F-themed tabletop role-playing game
– A contemplation of which Taylor Swift album represents each F&F character

Plus: Bingo cards! Comics! Haiku! And, of course, hot gay erotica…

Prof Lisa Diedrich‘s new book – Illness Politics & Hashtag Activism – is now available from the University of Minnesota Press. This small-but-mighty volume shows how illness on social media provides insight into the struggle against ableism and stigma and for care and access. Join us on Wed, Nov 20th at the Humanities Institute to hear more from Prof Diedrich and celebrate the book’s release!

Published as part of the “Forerunners: Ideas First” series, Illness Politics & Hashtag Activism embraces the spirit of the series – “where intense analysis, questioning, and speculation take the lead.” Like the other volumes on this exciting series, Prof Diedrich’s new book is an open access publication, so you can read it online if you’d like!

Here’s the official description from the publisher:

This past spring and summer, the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department graduated 5 new PhDs: Ashley Barry, Annu Daftuar, Andy Eicher, Tara Holmes, and Melis Umut. We were thrilled to celebrate the end of the academic year with 5 dissertation defenses – each one bringing together the WGSS community, allies from across campus, and friends and family from all over. Please join us in congratulating our newest doctors!

We kicked things off with Melis Umut‘s defense on April 12th. Her brilliant dissertation, “Erotic Visuality and Popular Culture in a Conservative Society: 1970s Turkish Erotic Melodramas and the Muslim Sexual Imagination,” explores the emergence and popularization of erotic films in the Turkish film industry during the 1970s. These films borrowed from the melodramatic mode while simultaneously instigating a pornographic gaze. Pushing back against dominant perceptions of these films as lacking in quality and cultural value, Dr. Umut illuminates the innovative and long-lasting impact these films have had on Turkish cinema and visual politics.

Then, on April 26, we settled in for a double-header. Tara Holmes defended her dissertation “ ‘Let’s Not Get Caught, Let’s Keep Going’: Mainstream Cinema and Queer Viewing Practices in the 1990s.” This highly original project turns a critical eye on popular films that, despite not having any explicitly queer characters, have become iconic in the queer community. Focusing on Thelma and Louise (1991), Death Becomes Her (1992), Now and Then (1995), and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (1997), she explores the queer desires and attachments incited by these films. In doing so, Dr. Holmes expands our understanding of queer spectatorship and challenges our conceptions of what constitutes queer cinema.

Later that afternoon, Andy Eicher defended his dissertation “Profligate Homosexual: HIV/AIDS, Personal Responsibility, and Drugs into Bodies.” Bringing together critical disability studies and queer/feminist theory, this project challenges official narratives of the HIV/AIDS epidemic that reproduce racist, ableist, classist, and homophobic assumptions about health and sexuality. He assembled a fascinating archive of activist ephemera, artistic productions, governmental records, pharmaceutical marketing, and pop cultural events to uncover alternative narrative possibilities. Ultimately, Dr. Eicher highlights the presents and futures made possible thanks to the creativity of queer people inventing ways of life outside the logics of heterosexuality

On May Day, Ashley Barry filled the Poetry Center for the defense of her dissertation “In/Sane On Screen: Mad Films and the Psychiatric Gaze,” which examines representations of people with mental illness in contemporary narrative film. Earlier in the semester, she gained recognition for this fabulous project when she took second place at the annual Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) Challenge and, again, as the recipient of the Graduate School’s highly competitive President’s Award to Distinguished Doctoral Students. Dr. Barry is currently a 2024 ACLS Leading Edge Fellow and will be starting a position as Policy Researcher at the NYC nonprofit organization College Access: Research and Action.

A few months later, on Aug 2, Annu Daftuar defended her dissertation “Global Fertility Markets: Regulation and Reproductive Justice,” which examines the caste politics of domestic surrogacy practices in India. Annu will be sharing her research at GW’s Virtual Global Symposium on Surrogacy this October and publishing an article based on this project in a special issue on “Reproductive Justice across Disciplines and Demographics” in the Journal of International Women’s Studies. In January, Dr. Daftuar will join the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Appalachian State University as an Assistant Professor of Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies.

This year, the WGSS Department welcomed May Navarra back to campus as the keynote speaker for our commencement ceremony.

May Navarra is a two-time alum of Stony Brook University. They completed their first degree here – a B.A. in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, along with a minor in Biology – in 2018. That year, the WGSS Department selected May as the winner of the Terry Alexander Award to support their plans to pursue a career in health advocacy. May had just been accepted into the Master’s of Public Health program on our campus and had signed on to work at what, at the time, was the new LGBTQ* Center. Throughout their time at Stony Brook, May played a crucial role in fostering an inclusive and interdisciplinary gender and sexuality studies community while also fiercely advocating for social, economic, and health justice on campus and beyond.

As a student, May aspired toward a career in biomedical research that would resist simplistic categorizations and, instead, enact an intersectional queer feminist praxis. And that’s exactly what they’ve done! Since completing their MPH, May’s professional work has addressed the complex and overlapping health inequities in relation to reproductive justice, immigrant rights, and LGBTQ advocacy. Today, May works as a researcher of transgender health at Boston University’s GenderCare Center, which provides accessible, individualized, and comprehensive gender-affirming care while also advancing education, research, and advocacy efforts across New England and beyond. May’s current research focuses on improving the way identity-based data is collected from patients for electronic medical records. As a firm believer in the importance of making sure research teams look like the populations being studied, May is proud to be part of the growing body of trans researchers working in the field of trans healthcare.

In their keynote address, May reflected on their academic journey through Stony Brook and offered sound advice for moving into the world as a WGSS graduate. Please enjoy this video of their truly inspiring remarks!

The WGSS Department is delighted to introduce Jonell Ashby as the 2024 winner of the Terry Alexander Award.

This award is given in honor of Terry Alexander, the mother of Courtney Alexander, a Women’s Studies major who graduated from Stony Brook in 2006. Terry Alexander worked in the New York City public schools, she was an active member of the Brownsville Community Baptist Church, and she was a community activist with the Bed Stuy Park Lions Club in Brooklyn. Terry was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1982 and, from that point forward, she and her family were regular participants in the annual MS walk to raise awareness about the disease and money to further the research. Terry attended the WGSS graduation in May 2016 to watch her daughter graduate. Sadly, shortly thereafter, she became very ill from MS-related complications and died on December 7, 2006.

The WGSS Department is grateful for the Alexander family’s continued support, and we are honored to give the Terry Alexander Award each year to students planning to pursue a career in health care or health advocacy. Our hope is that this award will generate interest among our students in examining the complexities of caring for people with chronic illnesses while also providing us with the chance to acknowledge the importance of a parent’s love, encouragement, and commitment to education and community work. Terry Alexander is a shining example of all these things.

Professor Jenean McGee presented Jonell Ashby with the award at our spring commencement ceremony. Here’s what Prof McGee had to say about Jonell:

“Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Jonell Ashby is a doula, holds an associate degree in biology and is graduating with as a Women’s, Gender, Sexuality Studies major with post grad plans of becoming an OBGYN.

My first introduction to Jonell was this past fall at the WGSS open house. Immediately I was not only impressed but in awe of what Jonell had accomplished in so little time. I was then thrilled to see her seated in the front row (literally right in from of my podium!) for my WST 392 course on Black women and US modern medicine. Knowing about Jonell and being a new professor, I was a bit – dare I say – intimidated and nervous about teaching someone so steeped in the conversations about Black women and medicine. But it turned out being an amazing course, and Jonell provided her classmate’s and myself with unique perspectives from the vantage point of being a doula and having an interest in Black women’s health.

To list a few of Jonell’s accolades:  As a Collective Power for Reproductive Justice intern, she helped produce the first-ever “Trust Black Women Universe” project for Essence Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana. She also helped launch a youth-centered menstrual equity project, which involves a giveaway featuring people of color-owned and organic menstrual brands. This fall, she will begin working on her Masters in Public Health degree right here at Stony Brook University.

Getting to know Jonell and hearing my colleagues and students sing her praises, she is truly the perfect recipient for the Terry Alexander Award. With all of that it is my privilege to present Jonell Ashby with this award.”

This year, the WGSS Department selected three fabulous graduating students to receive Academic Excellence Awards: Samantha Aguirre, Julianna Goldman, & Devin Lobasco

Samantha Aguirre maintained an impressive 3.90 GPA as a double major in Sociology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. At Stony Brook, Sammie not only excelled in her coursework but also contributed to campus culture as the associate editor of The Stony Brook Press. In Spring 2024, she prepared a poster based on her WGSS Senior Research Project, “Learning Gender: The Role of Play in Early Childhood,” which was featured at the annual URECA Celebration on campus.

Julianna Goldman also maintained a near-perfect GPA of 3.98 during her time at Stony Brook. As a Psychology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies double major, she undertook both social science-based and humanities-based research. For example, her WGSS Senior Research Project analyzed gendered representations in contemporary crime dramas on US television. Since graduating, she has made time to rest, read, and swim and looks forward to pursuing a master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling in the near future.

Devin Lobosco was honored for their excellence in both Academics and Activism. Devin maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA as a double major in Biochemistry and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. In addition to holding various research assistant positions on campus and beyond, they also served as the president of the Undergrad Student Government and volunteered as an EMT in Port Jefferson. Devin was a 2024 recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Academic Excellence. They are currently applying to medical school, with the goal of working as an emergency medicine physician while also advocating for more inclusive healthcare systems.

The WGSS Department is delighted to introduce Francesca Petronio as the 2024 winner of the Vivien Hartog Graduate Teaching Award.

This award is named in honor of Vivien Hartog, a Women’s and Gender Studies graduate certificate student who died before she could complete her Ph.D. in Sociology. This award goes to the graduate student teacher we think best exemplifies Vivien’s lifelong commitments to activism, teaching, and learning. Here’s a description of Vivien written by her family that captures something of the kind of person we are honoring with this award:

“In Vivien Hartog’s 55 years, she went through more identities than most could imagine. An incomplete list would include: rebellious daughter; actress in training; young mother, wife (3 times); scientologist; scourge of scientology; business woman; domestic help in a hotel; undergraduate; radical feminist and lesbian; graduate student in sociology and women’s studies. At every point she both threw herself into her new identity and at the same time, remained herself. And one way that she always remained herself was in her commitment to social justice and to human rights. She remade herself regularly, but she always understood her remaking as struggles on a larger stage. Particularly in her last decade, she saw her life though the lens of an international women’s movement.”

Professor Liz Montegary (Frankie’s advisor) presented them with the award at our spring commencement ceremony. 

Frankie is a PhD candidate in WGSS working on a highly original and urgently needed dissertation about the participation of LGBTQ-identified people in far-right political movements in the United States today. Since arriving on our campus, they have impressed us with their creative and rigorous approach to research, but they have also inspired us with their passion for teaching and mentorship and their dedication to the Stony Brook community.

Frankie has taught our intro WGSS course on seven separate occasions and, in doing so, has played a key role in building our undergrad program. Their unique ability to turn a “gen ed” class into a life-changing learning experience has inspired many students to declare WGSS as their major or minor and has guided others toward career-shaping internship experiences.

This past fall, Frankie taught a special topics course on transgender media representations. This incredibly popular course attracted students from well beyond WGSS who were eager to learn more about trans studies, many of whom were trans, non-binary, or gender-nonconforming themselves. Putting into practice both mutual aid pedagogy and feminist, queer, and trans principles, Frankie created a classroom where students took care of each other while also taking pleasure in the collective work of cultural criticism.

Outside the classroom, Frankie has been an invaluable member of our campus community. In WGSS, they were elected as the graduate representative, they have served as the department mobilizer for the Graduate Student Employee Union, and they have volunteered to assist with countless departmental events. Beyond WGSS, Frankie has sought out opportunities to support students from underrepresented backgrounds across Seawolf Country through positions with the LGTBQ* Center and the Center for Inclusive Education.

In short, Frankie is a talented, generous, and hilarious teacher, mentor, and community member who more than deserves this award. Congratulations on receiving the Vivien Hartog Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching!

This past spring, Lizbeth Zúñiga received the Graduate School’s highly competitive President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student.

The WGSS Department has known for years that Lizbeth is a fabulous teacher with an unwavering commitment to feminist pedagogy and mentoring. So, we’re absolutely thrilled to see Stony Brook recognizing Lizbeth’s excellence!

For the past two years, Lizbeth has helped us grow the WGSS major and minor by teaching a number of our gateway classes – including the WGSS survey course, the intro to queer studies course, and the introductory feminist theory course. Whether teaching online or in-person, Lizbeth excels in creating a welcoming environment.

Last fall, the students who took WST 103 with Lizbeth raved about her class in their end-of-semester evaluations. “Everything was valuable in this course,” one student reported, before adding: “everyone should take this course.” Several students commended Lizbeth for incorporating different types of texts into the syllabus and then making sure they understood how those material related to their everyday lives. One student enthusiastically declared, “I love my professor and the topics she teaches!”

Lizbeth also designed her own special topics course called “Chicanas and Latinas in Education.” The assignments for this class showcased the way Lizbeth invites students to apply what they’ve learned in creative, non-traditional ways. For example, she had students complete a “Testimonio Project,” where they were asked to “tell the story of their higher education journey” via a PowerPoint presentation. Students needed to incorporate the assigned readings as they broke down and critically reflected on their educational experiences, from their first “home-teachers” to their experiences as an undergraduate at Stony Brook. Not surprisingly, this course was a total success!

The WGSS Department cannot thank Lizbeth enough for all she does for our students, our undergrad program, and our interdisciplinary field! Congratulations on this well-deserved award!

On April 30, three WGSS students were featured at 2024 URECA Celebration: The Annual Stony Brook Undergraduate Research Symposium. Samantha Aguirre, Gwendolyn Loubier, and V Mancebo prepared poster presentations based on the research they conducted for their WGSS Senior Research Projects. Check out their posters and scenes from the celebration!

from left to right: Sammie Aguirre, Gwen Loubier, V Mancebo

On March 18, WGSS PhD Candidate Ashley Barry took 2nd place in the 2024 Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) Challenge.

Each year, the Graduate School invites doctoral students to compete in a competition designed to enhance their research and communication skills to more effectively share their work with the wider public. This spring, fifteen Stony Brook students – from across a wide range of inter/disciplines – took part in the challenge. They worked with professional development mentors to distill their dissertation projects into 3 minute presentations for a general audience, using only a single PowerPoint slide!

Ashley spoke with the Stony Brook News team about her experience:

“This experience has been fulfilling,” said Barry. “Being the only humanities participant has been really interesting because I see the fundamentals of science communication and what kind of principles I can transfer over to humanities.”

Barry said being in the humanities had both advantages and disadvantages.

People may be more familiar with the work because I study film, but getting them to see the academic rigor of it is another challenge entirely,” she said. “We’ve been working with the Alda Center and that’s been really useful to figure out the audience and rhetorical goals of conveying my research. I had to think about the research outside of the academy, how you want it to hit people, and what you want them thinking about as they leave the room.”

Read more about the competition here. Or just enjoy Ashley’s presentation below!

The WGSS Department was awarded a $100,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation’s “Affirming Multivocal Humanities” program. This award will support WGSS program-building activities during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years.

The “Affirming Multivocal Humanities” program is a component of the Mellon Foundation’s Higher Learning initiative, which seeks to elevate humanities knowledge that lays the foundation for more just and equitable futures. The Mellon Foundation understands the study of race, gender, and sexuality to be crucial to this objective, particularly at this pivotal moment in US history. Indeed, research and teaching in these fields epitomizes the essential exercise of academic freedom within US higher education. In recognition of this fact, Mellon’s Higher Learning initiative offered grants of $100,000 to gender/sexuality and race/ethnic studies programs and department at public colleges and universities across the country.

WGSS@SBU requested funding from the “Affirming Multivocal Humanities” program to support our ongoing efforts to protect academic freedom on our campus and across the SUNY system. To this end, our department is undertaking two distinct-yet-related projects:

Building a SUNY-wide Network of Gender/Sexuality Studies Programs & Departments. We are organizing a series of meetings and workshops with gender/sexuality studies representatives from 20 SUNY campuses across the fall and spring semesters this year. We believe our field will be better equipped to respond to the challenges facing New York public universities if our programs and departments are working in synchrony with one another. Our hope is to establish communication across our campuses and to lay the groundwork needed for launching future research, teaching, program-building, and community-based collaborations.

Protecting Academic Freedom, Advancing Social Justice. We are working closely with the Center for Changing Systems of Power, the Humanities Institute, and colleagues from our allied departments to develop programming about the threats to intersectional, interdisciplinary research and teaching at this historical moment. Last year, we helped organize a panel discussion about the attacks on DEI and gender studies in Florida; a workshop with Faculty First Responders on how higher ed workers can protect themselves from online attacks; and two teach-ins: one about peace and human rights activism in and beyond the academy, and a second about the SUNY system’s reliance on the unfreedoms of prison labor to create spaces of academic freedom.

Follow us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) to learn more about this year’s programming!