(On Sabbatical Leave in 2007-2008)

Bonnie Spanier, Associate Professor at the University at Albany, believes that feminism and science create a powerful force for social change. Her book on the influence of sexist beliefs on the content of biology, IM/PARTIAL SCIENCE: GENDER IDEOLOGY IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (Indiana University Press, 1995) was praised for its significance to physicians, scientists, and feminists. She currently applies feminist critique of science and society to women's health concerns, especially the science and politics of breast cancer activism.

Professor Spanier received her doctorate from Harvard University in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. While teaching biology, she received grants from NIH, the American Lung Association, and the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College. Since then, she has received intensive education in women's studies and, more recently, in the science and politics of breast cancer (through NBCC's Project LEAD).

She has published critiques of biological determinism of sex, race, and sexual differences. Her more recent scholarship is connected to her activism about breast cancer. She is a co-founder and currently co-president of the Capital Region Action Against Breast Cancer (CRAAB!).

Professor Spanier is also an internationally recognized consultant on women's studies and curriculum transformation, particularly in the natural sciences. In Spring 2007 she was Maria-Goeppert-Mayer-Professor for International Gender Research on Women and Gender (ZFG), Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg, Germany.

Her activist work within and beyond higher education has been rewarded with the University at Albany's Bread and Roses Award and the Albany NOW's Making Waves Award.

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., Harvard University (1975)
• M.A., Harvard University (1969)
• B.A., Bryn Mawr College (1967)

GRADUATE COURSES

• Research Seminar
• Feminist Theory
• Gender Issues in Science
• Feminist Thought and Public Policy

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES

• Women, Biology, and Health
• Gender Issues in Science
• U.S. Women Who Changed Our World
• Research Seminar
• Internship Seminar

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

BOOK

Im/Partial Science: Gender Ideology in Molecular Biology. Indiana University Press, 1995.

ARTICLES

"Biological Determinism and Homosexuality." Reprinted in Same-Sex Cultures and Sexualities: An Anthropological Reader. Ed. Jennifer Robertson. Blackwell Publishers, 2004.

"'Your Silence Will Not Protect You': Feminist Science Studies, Breast Cancer, and Activism." In Mayberry, Subramanian, and Weasel, eds. Feminist Science Studies: A New Generation. Routledge, 2001.

"What Made Ellen (and Anne) Gay? Feminist Critique of Popular and Scientific Beliefs." In Marchessault and Sawchuck, eds. Wild Science: Feminist Readings of Science, Medicine, and the Media. Routledge, 2000.

"Transforming Science Curricula in Higher Education: Feminist Contributions," Science and Engineering Ethics, 6(2000), pp. 467-480.

 

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