Celebrating Careers Launched by CGU’s Applied Women’s Studies Program

What good is knowledge that isn’t used?

That question underpins Professor Linda Perkins’ work and service as director of the university’s Applied Women’s Studies program.

“The word ‘applied’ is the key here,” Perkins explains. “Our AWS students are trained to take what they’re learning and put it to practical use.”

Next week, on October 14, more than 20 alumni and faculty will convene on campus to describe how they’ve taken their AWS training into a multitude of fields and are creating meaningful impact in the lives of countless people.

These alumni will participate in “The Next Wave: Effecting Change Through Applied Women’s Studies,” a conference to celebrate the program’s 15th anniversary and pioneering work in a rapidly-growing field of study. (for more info about the conference, see the bottom half of this article)

“When some people hear about a program called ‘Applied Women’s Studies,’ I think they assume it’s focused on 1960s-style protests and angry activism; they couldn’t be more wrong,” Perkins says. “What we’ve envisioned with AWS is a program to give every student—male or female—real experience and training that prepares them for the needs of a complicated world.”

Nothing better demonstrates the wide net of professional possibilities for an AWS student than the conference’s participants, who have gone on to careers in public health, political activism, higher education, social entrepreneurship, digital marketing, consulting, development, and much more.

“From the very beginning I thought we had a chance to get an amazing group of incoming students,” says Professor Jean Schroedel, the program’s founding director. At the October 14 conference Schroedel will present “A Brief History of AWS.” “The response to our survey of undergraduate women studies students was very positive so I was (and am) not surprised that our alumni are doing amazing things.”

AWS: A brief history

Though the Applied Women’s Studies Program was established in 2001, the original idea for a graduate-level program in women’s studies was already being discussed in the 1990s, Schroedel recalls.

The originator of the idea was Professor Karen Torjesen, and, she adds, key roles were played by several members of the university’s faculty, including Jean Lipman Blumen, Janet Farrell Brodie, Tammi Schneider, Daryl Smith, Kathy Pezdek, and Wendy Martin.

The “applied” aspect of the fledgling program—providing a serious experiential component—was something Schroedel introduced and developed with her students by surveying non-profits, businesses, and government agencies to determine what skills were essential for AWS students to learn.

“All of these elements came together in the design of our program,” she says, “and as I look at where we are now, 15 years later, I can say Linda Perkins has done an incredible job as director. Kudos to her and all of our alums.”