Women's Centers Committee

About the Committee

The Association is proud of our core communities, which includes the Women's Centers Committee (WCC). NWSA cannot function without the support of Women's Centers administrators, educators, staff, and the university community members that feel transformed by their offerings. Learn more about the WCC, their initiatives, and how you might align with their critical work below!

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Women's Centers as Sites of Change

Women's Centers are unarguably transformative sites of change for all members of a campus community. The first postsecondary women's center was founded in 1960 at the University of Minnesota and the legacy of addressing national issues of gender equity and support continues to expand. Our colleagues in campus-based women's centers work tirelessly to "deploy an intersectional lens in their work" and strive to address the historical (and in many ways ongoing) and institutional contexts that challenge the reach of Women's Centers (Bickford, 2019).

Campus-based Women's Centers coordinate programs and initiatives focused on an array of issues that shape gender equity in the United States of America and in global contexts. These topics include, but are of course not limited to:

  • gender empowerment and inclusion
  • violence against women and non-binary folks
  • body image and acceptance
  • pay equity
  • issues of masculinity and power
  • pregnant and/or parenting support
  • health and reproductive rights
  • sexuality and identity
  • Transgender and gender non-conforming identity
  • intersectional systems of oppression

Women's Centers Committee

Our Women's Centers Committee (WCC) is comprised of elected co/chair(s) and members who engage in, lead, and support the work of campus-based women's centers. WCC functions as a community of practice and invites the rich synthesis of scholarship, praxis, and creative programming in its impact on students and faculty alike. It is also a space for community connection among peers - a much needed avenue of support as we navigate escalated attacks and critiques of WGSS-based work in American higher education - and innovation for strategies as well as interventions. 

Women's Centers Committee Awards

Each year, NWSA in coordination with our Women's Center Committee gives multiple awards to deserving people working in women's and gender equity centers based in postsecondary institutions. All nominees must be current members of the Association.

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Program Administration and Development Committee

The Program Administration and Development (PAD) Committee is one of two groups that focus on roles that are vital to the NWSA mission; it serves as a space for program chairs and directors to network, coalition build, and share resources aimed at sustaining the work of women's, gender, and sexuality studies academic departments/programs. 

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Join a Constituency Group!

Current Members of NWSA can join and participate in Constituency Groups, which are member-driven spaces focused on facilitating networks of support, exploring scholarly and activist topics, professional standards within subsets of the discipline, and fostering community connections based upon shared socio-political locations.

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The Journey Not Only the Arrival, Critical Connections Not Only Critical Mass: (Re)Thinking Feminist Movements

Have you explored our 2024 Annual Conference Call for Proposals (CFP) yet?

View the CFP