First of all, a heartfelt congratulations to everyone graduating with a GWS major or an LGBTQ+ Studies or GWS certificate! I had the chance to talk with graduating students at our closing event of the semester, and I was delighted to hear about what their experience in GWS has meant to them. Many also told me about how excited they were to bring the knowledge they gained in our classrooms into the next phase of their lives. We can’t wait to see where you land next! 

For the full letter from the Chair, visit Letter from the Chair Nick Syrett – Alumni Newsletter Summer 2026.

Those of us working on campus often measure time by the start and end of the academic year. Each fall evokes a certain feeling of anticipation, an energy supercharged for nine months of classroom work and the joy of learning. And late each spring, as the classrooms and dormitories empty, we shift into the reset of the summer season. The end of the spring semester is always bittersweet. We celebrate those students among us who are closing this chapter of their lives and moving into a different phase of applying what they’ve learned...

For the full letter from Dr. Kate, visit The Scoop from Dr. Kate – Alumni Newsletter Summer 2026.

Hello from GWS/LGBTQ+ Studies undergraduate advising world! I met with a lot of excited and passionate students this past academic year. Our students are always such a treat! As it stands currently, we have 82 GWS majors, 40 LGBTQ+ Studies certificates, and 321 GWS certificates.  

This spring, we have 191 total graduates across all three of our programs. 40 GWS majors, 12 LGBTQ+ Studies certificates, and a whopping 139 GWS certificates! Congratulations to all of these amazing students! Please take a look at our Celebrating Graduates webpage to read more about our spring graduates! 

Check out the latest episode of the GWS IN ACTION podcast! In this episode, Dr. Kate sits down with GWS alum, Sara Eskrich. In this engaging conversation, Sara shares about her time at UW-Madison, her journey to GWS, and her exciting work in the Madison community and larger landscape of Wisconsin today. To find more information about the podcast, visit our GWS IN ACTION webpage. Be sure to follow us on Spotify for the most up-to-date episodes, action, and lively conversation! 

The Stories Between reading group is wrapping up another semester filled with exciting readings, conversation, and community. During our time together, we have journeyed month to month, exploring books, journals, manifestos, and more. This session we started with Pernille Ipsen’s My Seven Mothers which was paired with the Redstockings Manifesto (1969) and The Woman Identified Woman (1970). Jumping to new horizons, the group then tackled excerpts from Sabriina Imbler’s How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures and a personal look at Rax King’s Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer. We were delighted to read chapters from The Guerilla Feminist: The Search for Belonging Online & Offline by our very own Lachrista Greco, who joined our reading group for a lively discussion of her indelible memoir. Our penultimate stop featured the work of Jude Doyle in his 2025 release DILF: Did I Leave Feminism? as well as Emi Koyama’s 2001 text, The Transfeminist Manifesto. Our last meeting, set to take place on the 21st of May, will engage excerpts from the much celebrated Abolish the Family by independent scholar and author Sophie Lewis. 

Learn more by visiting our The Stories Between Reading Group page!

The GWS 660 Internship course offers students a powerful opportunity to connect feminist scholarship with hands-on community engagement. Each spring, students earn academic credit while working approximately ten hours per week with community and university-based organizations across Dane County. These placements focus on issues related to gender, sexuality, and social justice, with particular attention to how these intersect with race, class, ability, and other markers of identity. 

To learn more about what our internship course students did this spring, visit Course Spotlight: GWS 660 Internship in Gender and Women’s Studies.

This past April, the UW System Women’s & Gender Studies Consortium & UW System Office of the Gender and Women’s Studies Librarian hosted the 50th annual WGSC Spring Conference: “Rooted in Justice: Fifty Years of Feminist Scholarship & Community Engagement". As the conference sought to celebrate longstanding feminist scholarship, students, activists, and the ongoing pedagogical practices of the discipline today, it offered an important site to reflect on the places we’ve been as a field and the opportunities we continue to journey towards. 

Visit our website and follow us on Instagram to hear about current department happenings! You can also fill out this survey to connect with Alumni Engagement Coordinator, Kate Phelps, to share your ideas about alumni programming.