By: Gwen Moore
The two-year hiatus in publication of IROW News was due to the Institute’s tight budget during that time. Thus, I am delighted to report that a grant from Initiatives for Women is funding this issue and the development of a world wide web site where future issues of IROW News will be available (http://www.albany.edu/irow). This is the last printed issue you will receive. To economize, IROW News will be published electronically beginning with the next issue. We invite you to read and download copies and to see the IROW web site for information about IROW activities and publications.
Due to the interval between issues, I will report on only a few of IROW’s intervening activities. Last year we hosted visiting scholars from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Bulgaria--all countries in one focus region in the Ford Foundation-funded project "Internationalizing Women’s Studies: Cross-Cultural Approaches to Gender Research and Teaching." Jointly with the Center for Latino, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies (CELAC) and the Center for the Arts and Humanities, the project has held two one-day conferences and longer faculty development institutes at the University. These have brought together international gender scholars with US scholars from the University and area, as well as from more than a dozen states for extended and intensive discussion. To illustrate topics addressed, the following papers were presented at the 1997 conference: Cheryl Johnson-Odim (Loyola University, Chicago), "Who’s to Navigate and Who’s to Steer: The Role of Theory in Feminist Struggle;" Kornelia Merdjanska (Sofia University, Bulgaria), "North American Feminism: A View from Eastern Europe;" Asunción Lavrin (Arizona State University), "Researching Women and Gender in Latin America; Not Quite There Yet;" Anastasia Posadskaya-Vanderbeck (Regional Women Program, Soros Foundation, and Moscow Center for Gender Studies), "Revolution of Her Own: Voices of Old Women in Russia;" and Nalova Lyonga (University of Buea, Cameroon), "African Literature and the Concept of Women’s Empowerment." (See Marjorie Pryse’s article)
This year we are observing IROW’s tenth anniversary. In October, the University’s Council of Women’s Groups celebrated our first decade at its annual luncheon for women. An exhibit on the history and contributions of IROW and its Faculty Associates was displayed for a month in the University Library. Also in October, Marjorie Fine Knowles (Georgia State University) was on campus as a consultant to the Ford Foundation’s assessment of the status of women’s studies research and teaching centers. After visiting Albany and five other U.S. universities with recognized women’s studies programs, Dr. Fine Knowles is preparing a report for Ford on successful strategies in building women’s research centers.
During the spring semester, Canadian film maker Louise Carré will visit to show her new film "Mon Coeur est Témoin" (My Heart is My Witness), an adventure into the world of women living in Muslim lands. A discussion with the filmmaker and other scholars will follow. For details of this program and others, as well as how to order an IROW anniversary tee shirt, see the IROW web page.
Many people deserve thanks for IROW’s recent successes. I especially want to thank Jennifer Clunie, Linda Schroll, Debbie White, and Lillian Williams for their good ideas and hard work, Judy Bedian for graphic design and Mark Schmidt for photography for IROW News, Eloise Brière and Deborah LaFond for arranging activities in honor of IROW’s anniversary, as well as Gloria deSole, Marjorie Pryse, Iris Berger and Chris Bose for articles in this newsletter. I have benefited greatly from the advice and support of members of the IROW Executive Board: Edna Acosta-Belén, Iris Berger, Chris Bose, Eloise Brière, Deborah LaFond, Michelle van Ryn, Lillian Williams and ex-officio member Vivien Ng. For recent internal funding, we are indebted to Initiatives for Women, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the University’s Vice President for Research.