A message from Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Pamela Zarkowski:
I am pleased to announce a leadership transition in the Women’s and Gender Studies program that occurred in the fall 2020. The program’s new leadership is Hsiao-Lan Hu, Director, and Amanda Hiber, Associate Director.
Women’s and Gender Studies is a diversity and social-justice-focused undergraduate program that is interdisciplinary and University-wide in scope. The program was established at Detroit Mercy in 1992 as a Women’s Studies certificate program. In 2007 it was changed to the Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) Minor Program.
As an interdisciplinary field, WGS offers courses in various disciplines including English, history, philosophy, political science, psychology and religious studies. The program hosts and co-hosts numerous events each year that bring local and national artists, scholars, and activists to campus. In addition, WGS offers annual student and faculty grants in support of events, course development, and scholarship that critically examines the place of women, gender and sexuality in culture and society and how gender and sexuality intersect with race, ethnicity, religion, culture, dis/ability, nationality and class.
Rosemary Weatherston (pronouns she/her), Associate Professor of English, stepped down as Director of the Program in August of 2020 after 10 years of dedicated and student-centered leadership. During her tenure, the program established the Jane Schaberg Student Grant, the annual Feminist Scholarship Colloquium, and the Student Advisory Board. Weatherston significantly increased efforts to recruit and enroll students in the WGS minor. I am grateful to Weatherston for her leadership and tireless service.
Hsiao-Lan Hu (pronouns ze/hir), Associate Professor of Religious Studies, joined the WGS program in 2008. Ze is the first person of color, first immigrant and first non-binary person to serve as Director of Women’s and Gender Studies Program. Ze received hir Ph.D. in Religion from Temple University and is an internationally recognized scholar in feminist social ethics, intersectionality issues in Buddhism, Buddhist-Christian dialogue, and pluralist pedagogy.
Amanda Hiber (pronouns she/her), Senior Lecturer in English, joined the WGS program in 2004. Hiber has a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Non-Fiction Writing from the University of Arizona. In addition to teaching first-year writing, literature, and creative writing courses, she writes memoir, personal essay and feminist cultural criticism. Her work has been published in Southeast Review, Green Briar Review, Entropy, Bitch, and other publications.
Please join me in congratulating Hsiao-Lan Hu and Amanda Hiber.