The Women’s Center at UMBC turns 25 this year! We’re excited to share our important milestone with UMBC’s 50th Anniversary and will be celebrating throughout the year with the rest of campus! We were inspired by Special Collections archival project Archives Gold: 50 Objects for UMBC’s 50th and decided to do our own digging into the Women’s Center archives. Over the course of the year, we’ll be sharing 25 “Then vs Now” archives to celebrate the origin and evolution of the Women’s Center at UMBC.

This week we’re featuring a sampling of the various events and programs hosted in the Women’s Center over the past 25 years. 

The very first Returning Women Students group took place in 1996. This group still is an critical part of the Women’s Center programming and has also morphed into a scholarship program.

The Clothesline Project is an artivism display the Women’s Center exhibits during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Even in 2006, the Women’s Center was just as dedicated to telling the stories of survivors as they are today.

Before the era of Netflix and Youtube, the Women’s Center (in co-sponsorship with other departments) held film series which spotlighted women’s voices and experiences.

While our editing skills have definitely grown since 1991, we have remained dedicated to critical social justice and centering the voices of women. Be sure to join us for our Critical Social Justice Keynote speaker, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha.

What are the memories you have of the Women’s Center over the years that are meaningful to you? What does the Women’s Center mean to you today? Share your memories and pictures with us in the comment section below!

Stay up-to-date with our 25th anniversary on social media using #UMBCWC25. Share your Women’s Center experiences and memories with the UMBC community using #UMBCWC25 AND #UMBC50!

Get ready for Critical Social Justice: Home with our “What You Need to Know” series.

Last year’s Critical Social Justice: Baltimore 365 was dedicated to understanding the historic and current day complexities and realities of Baltimore City. In the wake of the Baltimore Uprising, the CSJ planning team felt (and still does feel) deeply committed to creating more opportunities for our campus community to connect with and understand Baltimore. This year’s CSJ theme of Home allows for the conversation and learning about Baltimore to continue.

How does a legacy of residential segregation impact the creation and/or destruction of “home” in Baltimore? 

What does it mean to “be home” for residents of Baltimore City? 

Which Baltimore neighborhoods are perceived as homes? And, which ones are perceived as less than? How does race, gender, and socioeconomic status show up in our responses? 

How does policing in Baltimore and the recent release of the Department of Justice report impact the reality of home? 

This year, all incoming first-year and transfer students were asked to read Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City by Antero Pietila which tells the story of how racial segregation came to be and what its impact is through the story of Baltimore. Mr. Pietila will be visiting campus to explore some of the questions above (and more) at this year’s New Student Book Experience event on Thursday, October 13th. This is a great way to kick-off Critical Social Justice: Home and we hope to see many of you there!

For more details about the New Student Book Experience “Meet the Author” event, visit the event post on myUMBC. 

Take a look at all the events lined up for Critical Social Justice: Home! (Click here for a PDF of the flyer.)

 October 24th | Monday

Critical Social Justice 101: Foundations of Home – 12PM to 1PM in Commons 331 – A moderated panel discussion exploring a few of the many interpretations of how our theme of “home” relates to social justice. Panelists include: Dr. Kate Drabinski (Gender + Women’s Studies), Dr. Kimberly Moffitt (American Studies), and Dr. Thania Muñoz Davaslioglu (Modern Languages, Linguistics & Intercultural Communication).

Critical Interactions – 7:30PM to 9PM in University Center 310 – Peer facilitators and recent program participants will share their experiences with the INTERACT program, a Student Affairs initiative housed in Chesapeake Hall followed by a hands-on educational experience where attendees will craft, discuss and question what makes a home. Sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs.

October 25th | Tuesday

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha Keynote Lecture: “Body/ Land/ Home: Disability Justice, Healing Justice and Femme of Color Brilliance” – Doors open at 5:30PM, keynote begins at 6PM in the UC Ballroom – A meet-and-greet reception and book-signing will follow the keynote. Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is a disabled femme of color writer and performance artist whose award-winning work on disability, survivorhood, and transformative justice speaks to the many complexities inherent in navigating our way home. Facebook event

October 26th | Wednesday

Social Justice Activism Workshop – 12PM to 1PM in the Women’s Center – Learn practical skills for organizing activist projects, discuss strategies for navigating common challenges, and gain new insights into how you can create change on campus or in your community. Sponsored by the Women’s Center.

Shelter from the Storm: Mosaic Center Roundtable – 4PM to 5:30PM in Commons 329 – A roundtable discussion with students, alumni and community activists about the home challenges faced by LGBTQ youth. Intersectional perspectives of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion and socioeconomic class will be explored. Sponsored by Student Life’s Mosaic: Center for Culture and Diversity.

October 27th | Thursday

Who Gets a Home in College? – 11:30AM to 12:30PM on Commons Main Street – Panelists will discuss how institutional barriers impact the ways marginalized students find (or don’t find) themselves at home on campus. Panelists include: Dr. Nicole Cousin-Gossett (Sociology, Anthropology & HAPP), Dr. Danyelle Ireland (Center for Women in Technology), and Dr. Santiago Solis (Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs/Diversity at Towson University). 11AM to 1PM – Exhibit in recognition of the Women’s Center’s 25th anniversary. Sponsored by the Women’s Center. 

October 28th | Friday

Walking Tour of a Baltimore Neighborhood – 12PM to 3PM, meet in the Women’s Center – Join us for a 90-minute walking tour of a Baltimore neighborhood to learn about its history and present from a social justice lens. Led by Dr. Kate Drabinski. Free tickets available at the CIC desk during October.

More details and events will be announced leading up to CSJ: Home, so like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and use the hashtag #CSJhome to keep up-to-date with the latest news!

* All events are free and open to the public.

** Contact womens.center@umbc.edu if you need special accommodations. 

The Women’s Center and Student Life’s Mosaic Center appreciate the support of our Critical Social Justice: Home co-sponsors: Residential Life  |  College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences  |  Office of Institutional Advancement  |  Honors College  |  LGBTQ Faculty and Staff Association  |  Women Involved in Learning and Leadership  |  Student Disability Services  |  Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Health Administration and Policy  |  Department of Media and Communication Studies |  Department of  Modern Languages, Linguistics & Intercultural Communication | Off-Campus Student Services | Language, Literacy, and Culture

A weekly round-up curated by Women’s Center staff member, Michael Jalloh Jamboria

In the spirit of my friend, who gave us the glorious name ‘Slaying on the Weekly’, every week I will be bringing you some interesting, funny or thought-provoking content from the internet! Be sure to join us next week for more and continue to slay!

The National Museum of African American History and Culture opened this week in Washington DC! Watch the Grand Opening Ceremony, as President Obama welcomes the Museum to the DC mall.

On Monday September 26th, the first presidential debate  took place at Hofstra University. If you missed it, the full debate is available, along with fact check.

Stay lovely and dry! See you next week!

The Women’s Center at UMBC turns 25 this year! We’re excited to share our important milestone with UMBC’s 50th Anniversary and will be celebrating throughout the year with the rest of campus! We were inspired by Special Collections archival project Archives Gold: 50 Objects for UMBC’s 50th and decided to do our own digging into the Women’s Center archives. Over the course of the year, we’ll be sharing 25 “Then vs Now” archives to celebrate the origin and evolution of the Women’s Center at UMBC.
This week we’re exploring 1991 and the historical context of the year the Women’s Center opened its doors.

In 1991, Anita Hill stood up to sexual harassment in the workplace. Hill testified against her former employer, Judge Clarence Thomas, as he had perpetrated inappropriate sexual behavior towards her while she was working for him a few years prior. Thomas was being appointed as a Supreme Court Justice when Hill came forward, ending her silence and sparking a national interest in sexual harassment in the workplace. The majority male Senate went on to confirm Thomas, but this highly publicized trial brought the issue of sexual harassment into focus. After Hill stood up, more women came forward about their own experiences, and more measures were taken to prevent harassment in the workplace. This included places like higher education and our own UMBC.

Anita Hill testifying on Capitol Hill.

After this event, many more women became involved in politics, and many believe this boom came about as a direct response to the nomination of Thomas. While this wasn’t the only reason the Women’s Center was founded on campus, the national attention being paid to women’s issues in the workplace certainly helped spark an interest in creating a safe space and resource for women on campus. This story of our beginning is captured in our 20th anniversary video about the Women’s Center.

Other 1991 noteworthy events include, the release of Thelma and Louise and the influential documentary Paris is Burning. Riot grrrl, the punk feminist music movement, also began in the early 90s, and ushered in a new format of women creating activist art and music at the same time the internet opened up to commercial use for the first time ever.

What are the memories you have of the Women’s Center over the years that are meaningful to you? What does the Women’s Center mean to you today? Share your memories and pictures with us in the comment section below!

Stay up-to-date with our 25th anniversary on social media using #UMBCWC25. Share your Women’s Center experiences and memories with the UMBC community using #UMBCWC25 AND #UMBC50!

The Women’s Center at UMBC turns 25 this year! We’re excited to share our important milestone with UMBC’s 50th Anniversary and will be celebrating throughout the year with the rest of campus! We were inspired by Special Collections archival project Archives Gold: 50 Objects for UMBC’s 50th and decided to do our own digging into the Women’s Center archives. Over the course of the year, we’ll be sharing 25 “Then vs Now” archives to celebrate the origin and evolution of the Women’s Center at UMBC.

This week we’re featuring the marketing and publicity the Women’s Center has created and shared with the UMBC community over the past several years. 

Before smart phones and Snapchat, there were actual hard copy brochures and flyers (pre-PhotoShop) to help spread the word about the Women’s Center. Here’s some examples!

And, before MailChimp there were newsletters printed on actual paper and then ones made on Publisher and emailed to a list-serv.

Today, the Women’s Center still has a brochure and prints flyers but we really shine on our social media platforms. That’s where every one is anyways right? So be sure to like us on Facebook, tweet us at on Twitter, follow us on Instagram, and catch our snaps on Snapchat (@womencenterumbc). You already found our blog so be sure to subscribe! And, of course, there’s our myUMBC group.

One side of the current Women’s Center brochure.

Have you followed us on SnapChat yet?!

What are the memories you have of the Women’s Center over the years that are meaningful to you? What does the Women’s Center mean to you today? Share your memories and pictures with us in the comment section below!

Stay up-to-date with our 25th anniversary on social media using #UMBCWC25. Share your Women’s Center experiences and memories with the UMBC community using #UMBCWC25 AND #UMBC50!

The Women’s Center at UMBC turns 25 this year! We’re excited to share our important milestone with UMBC’s 50th Anniversary and will be celebrating throughout the year with the rest of campus! We were inspired by Special Collections archival project Archives Gold: 50 Objects for UMBC’s 50th and decided to do our own digging into the Women’s Center archives. Over the course of the year, we’ll be sharing 25 “Then vs Now” archives to celebrate the origin and evolution of the Women’s Center at UMBC.

This week we’re featuring the Women’s Center staffs from over the years!

Meet the Women’s Center staff from 1994-95!

When the Women’s Center first opened in 1991, there was only enough funding for a part-time director to work twelve hours a week. The Women’s Union, a feminist student organization, helped to enlist student volunteers who collectively contributed a total of 50 hours per week in order to keep the space open for those seeking resources and services. Paula Morton was named the first director and held part-time hours starting in December 1991 until October 1992. For another part of the early part of the Women’s Center history, students would have to find Simmona Simmons, a founding committee member, in the library to get the key to the Center (and you can still find Simmona in the library today! When you see her thank her for all of her hard work in making the Women’s Center a reality!!) .  

Ten years later – meet the Women’s Center 2014-15 staff.

In 2016, the Women’s Center operates with 2 full-time staff members and 6 student staff and interns and volunteers. Together they provide space, services, and programs (over 150 a year!) and make contact with almost 10,000 visits a year.

Happy birthday Women’s Center and UMBC from the 2016-17 staff!

This week we celebrate our 25th anniversary with a birthday party! Meet some of former Women’s Center staff members and directors, celebrate our 25 years, and wish us a 25 years (plus some!) more! For details on the party which will be hosted on September 13th from 4-6pm, click here. 

What are the memories you have of the Women’s Center over the years that are meaningful to you? What does the Women’s Center mean to you today? Share your memories and pictures with us in the comment section below!

Stay up-to-date with our 25th anniversary on social media using #UMBCWC25. Share your Women’s Center experiences and memories with the UMBC community using #UMBCWC25 AND #UMBC50!

The Women’s Center at UMBC turns 25 this year! We’re excited to share our important milestone with UMBC’s 50th Anniversary and will be celebrating throughout the year with the rest of campus! We were inspired by Special Collections archival project Archives Gold: 50 Objects for UMBC’s 50th and decided to do our own digging into the Women’s Center archives. Over the course of the year, we’ll be sharing 25 “Then vs Now” archives to celebrate the origin and evolution of the Women’s Center at UMBC.

This week we’re featuring the evolution of the Women’s Center logo. 

Brochure circa 1996

While it isn’t certain if the image on one of our earliest brochures served as the actual  logo for the Women’s Center, the image can be found from time to time on flyers and other promotional materials throughout the 1990s.

This image was later replaced by what we refer to today as the “hands logo.” The hands logo was inspired a 1999-2000 Undergraduate Research Project by  UMBC seniors Joy McLure and Nidhi Adya and advised by Dr. Tim Nohe called “Different Thread Interwoven Together.” We’ll be sharing more about the creation of this mural in another blog post to come soon.

While we loved the logo’s connection to the mural that is a signature piece in the Women’s Center lounge, we also heard feedback for change from many community members. Some thought the hands resembled finger painting and could limit people’s perception of the Women’s Center as a childcare center. Other’s expressed concern that the hands were a bit “grabby.” And, as discussed in the previous then vs. now post, the growth of the Women’s Center positioned us to be ready for a new logo that better captured the spirit of the work we do. Over the fall 2013 semester, the Women’s Center Advisory Board members and student staff worked with Creative Services to design our new logo. We looked at many other women’s center logos and were determined to not create another dancing lady logo. Through brainstorming, we happened upon the image of a tree which through draft after draft became a version of the Wye Oak tree (Maryland’s state tree), one of which found home on our own campus.

We introduced our new logo to the UMBC community in January of 2014. It reflects our ongoing growth and evolution as a women’s center which is grounded in our steady core values and reliable strengths so many UMBC community members have come to know and love. And, much like the great Wye Oak beckons, all are welcome in our space as long as they respect each other – their stories, their experiences, their potential.

You can read the full (short) story of our logo here.

What are the memories you have of the Women’s Center over the years that are meaningful to you? What does the Women’s Center mean to you today? Share your memories and pictures with us in the comment section below!

Stay up-to-date with our 25th anniversary on social media using #UMBCWC25. Share your Women’s Center experiences and memories with the UMBC community using #UMBCWC25 AND #UMBC50!

Don’t forget to join us for our 25th Birthday Party on Tuesday, September 13th from 4-6pm. Click here for details.

The Women’s Center at UMBC turns 25 this year! We’re excited to share our important milestone with UMBC’s 50th Anniversary and will be celebrating throughout the year with the rest of campus! We were inspired by Special Collections archival project Archives Gold: 50 Objects for UMBC’s 50th and decided to do our own digging into the Women’s Center archives. Over the course of the year, we’ll be sharing 25 “Then vs Now” archives to celebrate the origin and evolution of the Women’s Center at UMBC.

This week we’re featuring our founding documents and our current mission statement.

“…the Women’s Center will enhance the lives of people…It will be an advocate for women fighting persistent marks of social inequality and prejudice that limit their potential—whether they are students, staff, or faculty…There is no doubt that the Center will play an important role in attracting students to come to UMBC and in improving the quality of their university and subsequent careers,” Angela Moorjani, Women’s Center Committee member, 1991

UMBC is a diverse community with diverse needs. Since UMBC’s founding in 1966, faculty, staff and students have felt the need to have a safe space on campus where resources, information, and materials could be accessed on issues relating to gender, equity, and justice. In creating the space, the Founding Committee for the Women’s Center had to ask themselves important questions about establishing a Center in the first place. For instance: What services will be provided? Where will it be located? Who will run it? Where will funding be obtained? There was a strong consensus that a space was needed that was safe, provided advising, with special attention for returning women students, offered information on women’s health and area clinics, and was a meeting space for women’s groups on campus. Its mission would be to assist women in achieving their full potential in education, work, and personal lives through personal empowerment, academic and intellectual growth, and professional development. 

A memorandum to the President’s Commission for Women on the status of the Women’s Center’s founding.

The Founding Committee went about answering these questions by gathering information about pre-existing Women’s Centers and their functions by contacting and  visiting other campus-based women’s centers. With this information, the Founding Committee were able to write a proposal and hold formal meetings with administrators to request space and funding support for a center.

The Women’s Center Committee made the Women’s Center a reality in September 1991 with the help of Provost Dr. Jo Ann Argersinger and the Founding Committee for the Women’s Center. Through Argersinger, money from the Provost’s Office was initiated to fund furniture and the salary of a part-time director. The Management Committee offered a space and contributed funds that established operating funds for the Center. Because of this funding, the support of campus departments, and the hard work of so many committed individuals, the Women’s Center was first established on the second floor of GYM I, Room 207. It consisted of four offices (a meditation/lactation room, the director’s office, the Women’s Union office and a storage room for files) and one large common room that was used as a multi-purpose space.

Mission statement brainstorming during the fall 2014 Women’s Center Advisory Board Retreat.

Twenty-five years later and UMBC growth and evolution to addition of more resources and services continues to shape who the Women’s Center is and what it should be and mean for the campus community. Over the past few years, the Women’s Center staff and Advisory Board spent countless hours in researching, assessment, and engaging in critical conversations about what an update to the Women’s Center mission statement could and should look like. With new initiatives like Critical Social Justice and  discussion groups such as Women of Color Coalition and Spectrum, it was important for us to center the work the Women’s Center does related to social justice, feminism, and anti-racism. It was also important for us to maintain our deliberate focus on women and advocacy.  In 2015, we introduced our new mission statement and guiding principles to the UMBC community.

The Women’s Center at UMBC advances gender equity from an intersectional feminist perspective through co-curricular programming, support services, and advocacy for marginalized individuals and communities. We prioritize critical social justice as our community value, with a deliberate focus on women, gender, anti-racism, and feminism.

All are welcome as long as they respect women. Their experiences. Their stories. Their potential.

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Guiding Principles

• We will encourage authentic dialogues among students, faculty, and staff to facilitate consciousness-raising, transformative learning, and self-determination.
• We will embody our commitment to diversity, inclusivity, and social justice in our operation, staffing, and programming.
• We will operate from a holistic and non-hierarchical anti-violence framework.
• We will challenge the barriers that reinforce inequity and oppression impacting our university and broader communities.
• We will cultivate women’s empowerment, involvement, and leadership in all aspects of university life.

What are the memories you have of the Women’s Center over the years that are meaningful to you? What does the Women’s Center mean to you today? Share your memories and pictures with us in the comment section below!

Stay up-to-date with our 25th anniversary on social media using #UMBCWC25. Share your Women’s Center experiences and memories with the UMBC community using #UMBCWC25 AND #UMBC50!

Get ready for Critical Social Justice: Home with our “What You Need to Know” series, starting with this primer on our keynote speaker Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. Her lecture, titled “Body/ Land/ Home: Disability Justice, Healing Justice and Femme of Color Brilliance,” will be held on Tuesday, October 25th at 6PM in the University Center Ballroom (event details here). 

Based out of Toronto and Oakland, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is a queer, disabled femme of color poet, performer, healer, and activist of Burgher/Tamil Sri Lankan and Irish/Roma ascent. Much of Leah’s work focuses on people and conversations that are often underrepresented, including disability justice, queer and trans people of color, and abuse survivors. In addition to her award-winning books of poetry, including Bodymap, Love Cake, and Consensual Genocide, she has alsowritten a memoir titled Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home. 

“Stories create the world. Seeing stories that look like your own, that you’ve never read written down before, or that are stories you’ve never thought of before that change your whole idea of what is possible, are a big revolutionary deal.” †

art by Shira Devorah

Leah is also a co-founder and former director of Mangos With Chili, the longest-running performance art tour featuring queer and trans individuals in North America. She performs pieces with the disability justice collective Sins Invalid and is a co-director of the Toronto disability justice collective Performance/ Disability/Art.

…“[I]t was so inculcated in me that disability is this shameful story. And you know, if there’s not queer people of color space, queer people of color won’t perform. If there’s not disability space that centers queer and trans people of color, sex workers, poor people, all of the above, elders, young people, we won’t know that there’s similar stories.” †

 For more on Leah, check out:

• Her blog, Brownstargirl
• This video of her performance in Sins Invalid
• Her interview with Bitch Magazine on disability, representation, and survivorhood

Critical Social Justice: Home will be held on October 24th through 28th, 2016. Follow the CSJ blog, Facebook, and Twitter for updates on scheduled events and other news. For more information about the Critical Social Justice initiative, or if you’re organizing a related event that week that might be included on the CSJ calendar, please email mosaic@umbc.edu or womens.center@umbc.edu.