About Us

Janet Badia, Ph.D., Ohio State University
Director & Professor of Women's Studies

 

• Office: Women's Studies, Liberal Arts, Room 35E
• Phone: 260-481-6895
• E-mail: badiaj@ipfw.edu

Research Interests: The history of women's reading; feminist theory; girl culture; women and popular culture; women and higher education; and American women writers, most notably Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton

Courses:
WOST W210: Introduction to Women's Studies
WOST W302: Girl Culture in the U.S.
WOST W302: Women's Self-Portraits in Literature & Art
WOST W302: Sylvia Plath
WOST W304: Feminist Theories
WOST W400: Disciplining Women's Studies

Nassim Abdi-Dezfooli, Ph.D., University of Maryland, International Education Policy

Office: Women's Studies, Liberal Arts, Room 35D
Phone: 260-481-0283
E-mail: abdin@ipfw.edu
Research Interests: critical pedagogy; gender and education; girl's studies; prevention of child sexual abuse; theatre of the oppressed (as a tool for social change)
Courses: WOST W210: Introduction to Women's Studies; WOST W301: International Perspectives on Women

Lisa Beringer, doctoral student, Purdue University

Office: Women's Studies, Liberal Arts, Room 35F
Phone: 260-481-6711
E-mail: beringel@ipfw.edu
Research Interests: American literature, history, and culture with an emphasis on African-American literature and history. 
Courses: WOST W225, Gender, Sexuality and Popular Culture (online)

Elizabeth Mannir, doctoral student (ABD), State University of New York, Stony Brook

Office: Women's Studies, Liberal Arts, Room 35D
Phone: 260-481-0283
E-mail: mannire@ipfw.edu
Research Interests: post-colonial theory; psychoanalysis; trauma studies; national reconciliation projects; travel writing; migrations between Europe and North Africa; North African literature and cinema; the 'sheik' romance genre and the romance industry; feminist and queer political theory and philosophy; political theology
Courses: WOST W210: Introduction to Women's Studies; WOST W240: Feminism and Food; WOST W301: International Perspectives on Women-Beyond the Harem: Women in North Africa and the Middle East

Katherine Pruitt, M.A., English, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne

Office: Women's Studies, Liberal Arts, Room 35E
Phone: 260-481-6895
E-mail: pruittk@ipfw.edu
Courses: WOST W210: Introduction to Women's Studies; WOST W225: Gender, Sexuality and Popular

Theresa Rojas, doctoral student and McNair Scholar, Ohio State University

Office: Women's Studies, Liberal Arts, Room 35 F
Phone: 260-481-6711
E-mail: rojast@ipfw.edu
Research Interests: multi-ethnic literature; latino literature; feminist studies; internationally collected artist in acrylics, polymer and gel mediums
Courses: WOST W210-Introduction to Women's Studies (online)

J. Elaine Blakemore, Ph.D., Northern Illinois University
Professor of Psychology & Associate Dean of COAS for Faculty Development

• Office: Neff Hall 388 G
• Telephone: 268-481-6400
• Email: blakemor@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Gender development of children
• Courses: PSY 36500 Development of Gender Roles in Children; PSY 34500 Psychology of Women

Noor Borbieva, Ph.D., Harvard University
Assistant Professor of Anthropology

• Office: Kettler Hall G11
• Telephone: 260-481-6266
• Email: borbievn@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Religious change and development in the former Soviet Union
• Course: ANTH E402 Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective

Mary Ann Cain, Ph.D., State University of New York
Professor of English & Linguistics

• Office: Liberal Arts 111
• Telephone: 260-481-6759
• Email: cain@ipfw.edu 
• Research interests: Rhetorical and composition theory and praxis, creative writing-composition intersections, creative writing-fiction, non-fiction; blurred genre, feminist theory and praxis
• Course: ENG W372 Composing the Self

Laurie L. Corbin, Ph.D., University of  Wisconsin
Associate Professor of French and Chair of International Language and Culture Studies

• Office: Liberal Arts 265
• Telephone: 260-481-4167
• Email:corbin@ipfw.edu

Jeannie D. DiClementi, Ph.D.,  University of Denver
Associate Professor of Psychology

• Office: Neff Hall 388 D
• Telephone: 260-481-6397
• Email:diclemej@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Methamphetamine use and HIV risk behaviors in rural populations, drug use networks, sexual networks, and undiagnosed Axis I and II disorders in rural methamphetamine users, HIV education and prevention; health disparities in medical education, prevention and outreach
• Courses: PSY 34500 Psychology of Women; WOST W240 Women and Health; WOST W340 LGBT Cultural Identity

Marcia D. Dixson, Ph.D., University of Iowa
Associate Professor and Chair of Communication

• Office: Neff Hall 230 B
• Telephone: 260-481-6558
• Email: dixson@ipfw.edu

Christine K. Erickson, Ph.D., University of California-Santa Barbara
Associate Professor of History (photo not available)

• Office: Liberal Arts 265
• Telephone: 260-481-4167
• Email:ericksoc@ipfw.edu
• Course: HIST T325 20th Century U.S. Women's History

Susan B. Hannah, Ph.D., Michigan State University
Professor of Political Science

• Office: Liberal Arts 223 
• Telephone: 260-481-0148
• Email: mailto:hannahs@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Local government; public administration; policy process

M. Gail Hickey, Ph.D., University of Tennessee
Professor of Education

• Office: Neff Hall 240 G
• Telephone: 260-481-6458
• Email: hickey@ipfw.edu
• Research interest: Diversity

Rachel Hile, Ph.D., University of Kansas
Assistant Professor of English and Linguistics

• Office: Liberal Arts 39
• Telephone: 260-481-6767
• Email: rachel.e.hile@gmail.com
• Research interests: Early modern British literature
• Courses: WOST W400 Feminist Perspective on Work-Life Balance; ENG L378 English Writers Performing Femininity

Linda M. Hite, Ph.D., Purdue University
Professor and Chair of Organizational Leadership and Supervision

• Office: Neff Hall 288 B
• Telephone: 260-481-6416
• Email: hitel@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Workforce diversity, career development, and work experiences of hourly employees
• Courses: OLS 45400 Gender and Diversity in Management

Debrah L. Huffman, Ph.D., Purdue University
Assistant Professor of English and Linguistics

• Office: Liberal Arts 103
• Telephone: 260-481-6768
• Email: huffmand@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Rhetoric and composition, composition pedagogy, rhetorical reading, writing across the curriculum

Beverly A. Hume, Ph.D.,Univeristy of California
Professor of English and Linguistics (photo not available)

• Office: Liberal Arts 123
• Telephone: 260-481-6763
• email: hume@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Nineteenth-century American literature, environment and American literature, Poe and the American short story and American women writers (1880-1920)

Carol A. Lawton, Ph.D., University of California
Professor and Chair of Psychology

• Office: Neff Hall 388 G
• Telephone: 260-481-5787
• Email: lawton@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Differences in the way that women and men, on average, process spatial information as a way to better understand exactly what is meant by "spatial skills"; methods for improving spatial skills, regardless of gender.
• Course: PSY 34500 Psychology of Women

Ann Livschiz, Ph.D., Stanford University
Associate Professor of History

• Office: Liberal Arts 252
• Telephone: 260-481-6693
• Email: livschia@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Russian and Soviet history,  Soviet childhood, the Holocaust in the territory of Belorussia
• Course: HIST T325 The "Woman Question" in Modern Europe

Wei Kitty Luo, Ph.D., University of Utah
Assistant Professor of Communication

• Office: Neff Hall 230 G
• Telephone: 260-481-5793
• Email: luow@ipfw.edu
• Courses: COM 41000 Gender Roles and Communication; WOST W301 International Perspectives on Feminism

Lisa Menegatos,Ph.D., Arizona State University
Assistant Professor of Communication

• Office: Neff Hall 230 P
• Telephone: 260-481-6685
• Email: menegatl@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: College drinking and the hookup culture, as well as parental influences on college students’ drinking behaviors

Assem Nasr, Ph.D., American University
Assistant Professor of Communication

• Office: Neff Hall 230 L
• Telephone: 260-481-6991
• Email: nasra@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Media history and policy in the Arab world, advertising, as well as cultural memory. 
• Courses: COM 42000 Women, Men and Media 

Suzanne K. Rumsey, Ph.D., Michigan State University
Associate Professor, English and Linguistics

• Office: Liberal Arts 43
• Telephone: 260-481-6770
• Email: rumseys@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Literacy, ethnography, materiality of text, cross-generational technology use, faith-based academic work, and connection between digital and cultural rhetoric

Hedayah Samavati, Ph.D., Iowa State University
Professor of Economics

• Office: Neff Hall 340
• Telephone: 260-481-6487
• Email: samavati@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Statics, economics of gender and race, money and banking, and micro-economics and macro-economics, economics of crime and economic policy

Beth Simon, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin
Professor of English and Linguistics (picture not available)

• Office: Liberal Arts 37
• Telephone: 260-481-6761
• Email: simon@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: World Englishes; language variation; creative writing; south Asia

Nancy Virtue, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin
Associate Professor of French

• Office: Liberal Arts 249
• Telephone: 260-481-6632
• Email: virtue@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Medieval and Renaissance French literature, French cinema, French-Algerian War, French popular music, contemporary French culture

Sara Webb-Sunderhaus, Ph.D., Ohio State University
Assistant Professor of English and Linguistics

• Office: Liberal Arts 117
• Telephone: 260-481-0153
• Email: webbs@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Composition history, theory, and pedogogy; literacy studies, basic writing; folklore and Appalachian studies
• Course: WOST W302 Gender, Violence and Popular Culture

Kate White, Ph.D., Ohio State University
Assistant Professor of English and Linguistics

• Office: Liberal Arts 135
• Telephone: 260-481-0536
• Email: whitek@ipfw.edu
• Course: WOST W302 Acting Up: Feminist Rhetorical Practices and Women's Rights

Georgia Wralstad Ulmschneider, J.D., Washington University
Associate Professor of Political Science

• Office: Liberal Arts 219
• Telephone: 260-481-6687
• Email: ulmschng@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Civil liberties; the first amendment; constitutional law

Mieko Yamada, Ph.D., Western Michigan University
Assistant Professor of Sociology

• Office: Liberal Arts 231
• Telephone: 260-481-0147
• Email: yamadam@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: Race and ethnic relations in the United States, multiculturalism, sociology of education, international/comparative education, evaluation research, Japan and Asian Pacific studies

Karla P. Zepeda, Ph.D.,University of Connecticut
Assistant Professor of Spanish

• Office: Liberal Arts 261
• Telephone: 260-481-6629
• Email: zepedak@ipfw.edu
• Research interests: 19th and 20th century Peninsular literature; the Spanish Civil War and literature produced by the exiles of the period; autobiographies of the exilic 20th Century Spanish women writers, focusing on the experience of exile and how it acts as a catalyst for a redefinition of the self

Executive Committee 2012-2013

• Janet Badia, Ph.D., Women's Studies (ex-officio)
• J. Elaine Blakemore, Ph.D., Psychology, committee chair
• Mary Ann Cain, Ph.D., English & Linguistics
• Laurie Corbin, Ph.D.,International Language & Culture Studies
• Marcia Dixson, Ph.D, Communication
• Rachel Hile, Ph.D., English & Linguistics
• Georgia Wralstad Ulmschneider, J.D., Political Science

Program Committee 2012-2013

• Janet Badia, Ph.D., Women's Studies, committee chair
• Noor Borbieva, Ph.D., Anthropology
• Christine Erickson, Ph.D., History
• Susan Hannah, Ph.D., Political Science
• Beverly Hume, Ph.D., English & Linguistics
• Elizabeth Mannir, M.A., Women's Studies
• Katerine Pruitt, M.A., Women's Studies
• Sara Webb-Sunderhaus, Ph.D., English & Linguistics
• Dong Lee, Women's Studies minor
  
  
  

Co-Curricular Activities Committee 2012-2013

• Janet Badia, Ph.D., Women's Studies, committee chair
• Julie Creek, M.A., Center for Women & Returning Adults
• Ann Livschiz, Ph.D., History
• Karla Zepeda, Ph.D., International Language & Culture Studies
• Melody Monday, Women's Studies Major
• Amity Pauley, Campus Feminists Officer
• Cailynn Smith, Campus Feminists Officer

Community Advisory Board

• Janet Badia, Women Studies (chair)
• Deborah Beckman, YWCA
• Julie Creek, IPFW Center for Women and Returning Adults
• Carol Butler, Community Friends of Women's Studies, Inc.
• Jeanette Dillon, Fort Wayne Women's Bureau
• Jessica Marquart, Planned Parenthood of Fort Wayne
• Tasha Sare, Center for Non-Violence
• Dorothy Woods, American Association of University Women