Recollection

Catherine Blair became involved in the Women's Resource Center and the Race and Gender Resource Center the 1980s. "Around 1986, I think I was instrumental in writing the proposal for a full-time director of the Women's Resource Center. And the first year, they gave us only a part-time director which was Janice Butler. Then it became full-time the following year. I found a fairly funny letter that we wrote, something like we women of Bucknell have decided, have unanimously agreed on the following points. And it was all about getting a full-time director and paying that person. And very tough. And then pages and pages of signatures. We got all women in the faculty and staff, as many women as we could run down to sign this thing. Really good politically for this." "At one point in the history of the Race and Gender Center and the Women's Resource Center, there was an idea that maybe you could house these two places together. Or maybe that one director could take care of both of them. It was an attempt, I think either to save money or to save space, (both of which are always terrific issues on campus) by combining those two operations in some way. And I also had letters in my files that are written to various administrators trying to explain to them why it's very important to have both of these entities. That one is a curricular charge group aimed specifically at faculty and classroom issues and change in the curriculum. And that one needs to be directed towards students, staff, and faculty."

WRC Interview, 5/96

Recollection

Jaime Grant, '89, recalls challenges and rewards during the early years of gay and lesbian organizing at Bucknell. She served as one of the first graduate student co-coordinators of the Women's Resource Center when it was established during the '86-87 academic year: "I would say some of the most important work we did that year was through laying the groundwork for later gay organizing just by being out. We took so much heat for being out even from the people who put us in there. . . . No, there were NO gay and lesbian activist groups on campus really. We started a group that year, and it was a town-university group and it's the only one its kind that I ever knew about and, of course, it changed into a university group later. But at that time, people on campus were too afraid to meet on campus. And so, we started to meet downtown at, I think it's the senior center now on, 2nd or 3rd Street -- it was the community center then. And, it was a really incredible cross-class gathering of gay men and lesbians. And, of course, the administration just flipped out when they found out Juli and I were doing this. I remember going to a meeting of this group that was then called something like 'the gay issues support chat,' you know, something noncommittal. And I remember these just horrific conversations that we had. In one of them, a then person of the administration I won't name said, 'Well, you can't have this group because what am I going to say when a Bucknell parent calls me and says, "You have a group that's encouraging gay dating. You have a gay dating service on campus."' I turned to him and said, 'Are you kidding? This is the biggest heterosexual dating service I've ever seen in my life! You know, you select for race, you select for economic class, you select for education level. This is a huge dating service! There's such a huge percentage of alums that get married out of Bucknell -- it's higher than most universities in the country.' So I was like, 'What are you saying? That gays can come here, but they can't date?'"

WRC Interview 1/96

Janet Seiz, former Assistant Professor of Economics at Bucknell University, has been awarded the prestigious Bunting Fellowship by the Radcliffe Institute. This coveted fellowship, only 1 of 12 awarded annually, is given to women "on the basis of their scholarship." Ironically, Seiz's contract for the next academic year was denied by the University Review Committee "due to what was deemed to be a lack of scholarship." Seiz then accepted a position for a tenure track position at Grinnell, a nationally-ranked liberal arts college in Iowa, which she hopes will approve her acceptance of the fellowship. When questioned as to why her contract with Bucknell was not approved, Seiz commented, "some URC members were biased against me as a leftist and feminist economist." Seiz also said that the honor of receiving the Bunting Fellowship "should give people reason to question the URC's judgment [that her scholarship was inadequate]." In any case, Seiz will soon be doing research work at Radcliffe with "full access to the resources of Harvard University" where she will pursue "a criticalexamination, informed by a feminist and Marxist critique, of the science of the work done by the Chicago Economic School." Associate Professor of Economics, Jean Shackelford, acknowledging the honor of the fellowship and Seiz's work, feels the URC erred. She remarked that their actions demonstrate the "realization that Bucknell University has plucked away a productive scholar and teacher." Shackelford also hopes that this incident "would cause the faculty to be more concerned and attentive to [URC] decisions that were made."

The Bucknellian, 4/7/89

Marilyn Mumford, Director of Graduate Studies and Professor of English, is selected as a participating scholar in the Pennsylvania Humanities Council's new program on women's studies, "Issues in Contemporary Women's Thought." She serves as a discussion group leader in the region. In 1989, she is chosen as one of PHC's Commonwealth Speakers and presents "Renaissance Woman: Hildegard of Bingen," and "Images of Black Children in American Children's Books."

Public Relations

B. Kathryn Frazier is inducted into the Bucknell Athletic Hall of Fame. "A three-year women's swimming co-captain, Frazier earned 19 All-America designations, had an 84-5 career record in dual meet events, and held eight school records.

1995 Hall of Fame Induction Program

Ann Kirwin is inducted into the Bucknell Athletic Hall of Fame. "Ann ranks on several top 10 lists in the Bison women's basketball record book after an outstanding four-year career. She is second all-time in scoring (1,343), fourth in rebounding (707), and fifth in career scoring average (12.4 ppg). She holds the school record for free throw attempts in a single game, visiting the line 22 times in a game against St. Peter's her sophomore year."

1998 Hall of Fame Induction Program

Dianne Czarnecki is inducted into the Bucknell Athletic Hall of Fame. "Dianne was named to the All-East Coast Conference first-team three times in field hockey and twice in softball."

1999 Hall of Fame Induction Program

Mary Hill, Chair and Associate Professor of History, presents a program about the life and thoughts of Charlotte Perkins Gilman on April 28. Having authored two books about the feminist who wrote Women and Economics and The Yellow Wallpaper, Dr. Hill explores the "social definition of what it is to be a woman" and looks at the struggle Gilman and others faced, the choice between "traditional wife and mother role" or an individual career. Upon her arrival on campus in 1973, Mary Hill helps to initiate a curriculum for Women's Studies and will go on to become the first Women's Studies faculty appointment in 1996.

The Bucknellian, 4/22/88; WRC Archives

Associate Povost Named

Barbara Shailor, associate professor of classics, has been appointed associate provost at Bucknell University, effective August 15. In her new position, Shailor will assist Provost Thomas Greaves in administration of university academic affairs. Her appointment is for four years. Shailor has served as associate dean in charge of faculty development in the College of Arts and Sciences since January 1985. Currently an associate professor, she has been a member of the classics department for 13 years and is a noted scholar of medieval and Renaissance literature. A 1969 graduate of Wilson College with a bachelor's degree in Latin and Greek, Shailor received her master's and doctoral degrees in classical philology from the University of Cincinnati.

The Bucknellian, 4/28/88

The Pro-Choice Action League is organized by Bucknell seniors Megan Columbus and Theresa Adams to present accurate information and education to the campus community about reproductive rights. Over 75 Bucknell students, employees and community residents travel to Washington, DC in April to participate in the March for Women's Lives. The event was attended by an estimated 300,000 to 600,000 people from across the country who participated in the pro-choice rally at the Capital Building. PAL collects over 300 signatures in a petition to Attorney General Dick Thornburgh urging him to uphold and protect abortion rights which may be at stake when the U.S. Supreme Court hears the Webster case. This lawsuit involves restrictions imposed by the state of Missouri which some feel are unconstitutional.

Lewisburg Daily Journal, 4/27/89; WRC Archives

Marjorie A. Deck is inducted into the Bucknell Athletic Hall of Fame. "Co-captain of the field hockey and basketball teams, Deck was also undefeated in tennis dual matches in her career and ranked fifth in the East as a senior."

1995 Hall of Fame Induction Program

Susan Rowland Miller is inducted into the Bucknell Athletic Hall of Fame. "Susan had nine individual first place finishes in East Coast Conference indoor and outdoor championship meets and was on five conference champion relay teams. She was named the Outstanding Performer at the 1989 ECC indoor meet and earned All-East recognition on Bucknell's mile relay team in 1989."

1999 Hall of Fame Induction Program

Jennifer Walz Lapioli is inducted into the Bucknell Athletic Hall of Fame. "Jennifer is Bucknell's all-time basketball scoring leader with 2,112 points and holds the women's career scoring record with a 19.0 average. She twice scored 40 points in a game and as a senior set records with 619 points and a 22.1 ppg average. A three-time First Team Academic All-American, she was also named to the All-East Coast Conference team three straight years, and in 1988-89, was the ECC Player of the Year and the Scholar-Athlete of the Year in the conference. As a senior, she was also named the Outstanding Scholar-Athlete in the nation by the United States Basketball Writers Association."

1999 Hall of Fame Induction Program

Mildred Martin, Professor Emerita of English, is honored on March 18 with the dedication of the Martin Poetry Library and Lounge in the Stadler Center for Peotry, Bucknell Hall. President Sojka and several of her former students speak at the ceremony.

Public Relations News Release, 3/2/90

The January issue of Bucknell World carries a cover story about gender in the curriculum. A number of faculty teaching women's studies courses and students enrolled in such classes discuss the need for inclusive instruction about women's contributions.

Bucknell World, January 1990