At our recent commencement event, I chatted with our graduating students about their experiences in our department. They praised individual instructors and the department for providing life-changing instruction and encouraging personal and intellectual exploration. They beamed as they recounted illuminating moments and empowering achievements, and they were eager to bring their hard-earned knowledge into the next phase of their lives. At the end of a tumultuous year, our students’ joy offered a welcome balm.

Writing this on Tuesday, May 6th, I am filled with gratitude in this moment, relaxing in my big, comfy chair, having given a talk about my book, Digital Girlhoods (2025), earlier this evening to a room filled with wonderful humans at the wonderful A Room of One’s Own bookstore here in Madison.

Amongst the crowd were many former students I shared space and time with across several years working in the GWS department at UW-Madison. What an incredible joy to embrace these folks and connect with them about my scholarship. A moment that feels full circle. Some of the people who came to the event were students I had back in 2018 and 2019, when I was completing my Ph.D. and finishing my dissertation, which ultimately became the book that I got the opportunity to speak on tonight.

Looking for more ways to connect, network, or get to know other GWS alumni from UW Madison? Check out our password-protected Alumni Connect page! Simply enter your information here, and the GWS alumni team will reach out with more information on how to log in! Let’s keep building this community together!

At the end of each semester, GWS and LGBTQ+ Studies celebrates its graduates and asks them about their most meaningful GWS and LGBTQ+ Studies experiences, and their hopes for the future. Congratulations Class of 2025!

This semester we officially kicked off our alumni reading group ‘The Stories Between’! Each month we gathered virtually, creating space to explore shared texts, following enthusiastically and curiously along to the places they took us together. From our first reading by Audre Lorde and Nikki Giovanni, to exploring the works of Carmen Maria Machado, Octavia Butler, Mia Mingus, and Ursula Le Guin, and finally diving into our last reading by Heather Corinna, this semester has been filled to the brim with stories. Some of these stories unfolded between pages, guiding us to new thoughts and perspectives, and others unfolded amongst community as we held space for one another. We bid farewell to the end of this exciting semester together and turn our eyes to another exciting beginning this fall. 

Interested in digging into some new text with us this fall? Register below for the second rendition of the ‘The Stories Between Reading Group’ that will launch in September of 2025! Sign up today - space is limited! 

Recently the GWS IN ACTION podcast had the pleasure of hosting a conversation between our lovely host, Dr. Kate Phelps and her guest, the incomparable Isabel Garlough-Shah. This episode excitingly unpacks Isabel's time as a student at UW, her current work at UW's Social Media and Adolescent Health Research Team (SMAHRT), media's impact on the health and well-being of marginalized communities, and her upcoming research plans at the University of Minnesota. 

Keep an eye out for our upcoming episode as Dr. Kate sits down with Gender and Women’s Studies’ very own faculty member, Dr. Rachel Kuo!

We had a lovely semester gathering on May 13th at the Memorial Union Terrace with Dr. Kate and many of our doctoral graduate students! Together we celebrated the close of another term and gathered members of our vibrant community. Keep an eye out for more department community events in the fall!

On April 16th, the Alumni Engagement Committee had the pleasure of hosting Liz Lauer, Asher Masino, Katie Reinemann, Jnae Thompson, and Ashley Hartmann Annis for a spring semester GWS virtual lunch-hour panel! Throughout the panel, students, staff, and faculty got to hear from each of our guests about their time in GWS, their current work, and how a Gender and Women’s Studies degree or LGBTQ+ certificate informs how they approach their jobs and lives each day. A special thank you to our guests and attendees for contributing to such a fruitful discussion!

Summer Herrmann graduated from UW Madison in 2021 with a BA in Sociology and Gender & Women’s Studies. Post graduation, Summer did a variety of jobs, including as an Administrative Accounting Assistant for an elevator company and a Supporting Educator/Continued Care Coordinator for a school. Currently, Summer works as an Overnight Shelter Advocate at DAIS (Domestic Abuse Intervention Services) and at the RCC Sexual Violence Resource Center as a Youth Advisory Board Facilitator. Summer is also a registered doula with Harambee Village Doula Collective!

Meet Dr. Rachel Kuo, an Assistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Asian American Studies. Her research focuses on race, digital studies, technology, and social movements. She grounds her research questions in different explorations of solidarity, particularly how people build political analysis of race and power and also how they apply this analysis in practice. Get to know more about her research and what she likes to do in her free time here. 

The Center for Research on Gender & Women rounded out a wonderful semester with Dr. Annie Menzel's rich and nuanced talk “Fatal Denial: White Innocence as Threat to Black Infant Life and the Responsibility of Birth Justice”. In this important lecture, Professor Menzel guided attendees through the intersections of systemic harm in healthcare, racial capitalism, colonization, and gender oppression that position Black infants as vulnerable to preventable death. 

Visit our website and follow us on Facebook and 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.