Happy Women’s Equality Day and welcome back to campus! We’ve missed seeing and hearing from all of you and we’re looking forward to catching up.
We had a very eventful summer during which we finished an incredible second year of the Rocxxy Summer Internship in Feminist Activism and Leadership program (stay tuned for a post about this summer’s program and our awesome interns) and planned out a bunch of interesting events for the 2014-2015 year.
Rocxxy interns and staff on a field trip to the Women’s Rights National Historic Park in Seneca Falls, NY this summer
SBAI also went through some changes this summer with Honey Meconi completing her term as SBAI Director in June. She is spending the next year on sabbatical, after which she will continue her research and teaching at the University of Rochester. While our goodbyes were sad, we’re so happy that SBAI will have her as an associate for years to come.
Meet SBAI Director, Nora Rubel at one of our welcome back events
We were so pleased with Nora Rubel’s appointment as Director of SBAI. Nora is an Associate Professor of Religion and Classics and she specializes in: American religious history; American Judaism; African American religion; Black Judaisms; religion and foodways; ethnicity and immigration; new religious movements; religion and gender; representations of religion and gender in literature; religion and popular culture. We’d love for undergrads, grads and faculty to come up to SBAI for one of our welcome back events over the next couple of weeks. Take the opportunity to meet our new director, eat some delicious free food, enjoy great conversation, and get to know SBAI a little better! We’ll be holding a wine and cheese gathering for faculty on 9/4, a dinner for undergraduates on 9/10, and a luncheon for graduates on 9/15. Follow the links for further information and how to RSVP.
We are also very excited for our Meliora Weekend event on Saturday, October 18 at 9:00 am. We are hosting a breakfast and panel discussion: “Best Perspectives for Women in STEM: The Rochester Perspective.” The event is entirely free and we will be providing breakfast. Students, faculty and alumni will come together to enjoy a breakfast buffet and panel discussion featuring University of Rochester alumnae and faculty working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. These women will share their stories, discuss issues women face in these professions, and offer valuable perspectives to those involved and those who wish to become involved in these fields. The breakfast and panel discussion will take place in Salon D of the Meliora Restaurant. If you’d like to attend please register through the Meliora website here.
And finally, we are THRILLED to announce that we’ll be hosting Laverne Cox (!!!) at the University of Rochester for An Evening with Laverne Cox on Saturday, October 18 as a part of Meliora Weekend. Get more information and your tickets (they’re selling fast!) here. Laverne Cox is an Emmy nominated actress and TV producer who stars as an incarcerated trans woman on the Netflix series Orange is the New Black. Through this role she has reached a huge audience and uses her success to broaden the reach of her advocacy for LGBTQ communities.
Laverne Cox is coming to Rochester!
“Laverne is the first trans woman of color to produce and star in her own television show, VH1’s TRANSForm Me, which was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award. Laverne is also the first trans woman of color to appear on an American reality television program, VH1’s I Wanna Work for Diddy, for which she accepted the GLAAD Award for Outstanding Reality Program. Laverne was named one of Out magazine’s “Out 100,” one of the country’s top 50 trans icons by The Huffington Post, and one of Metro Source magazine’s “55 People We Love.” Laverne’s critical writings have appeared in The Advocate and The Huffington Post. A graduate of Marymount Manhattan College, Laverne holds a degree in Fine Arts.” -Excerpted from her full biography, read the rest here.
We have eagerly anticipated the beginning of the fall semester, and we’re so glad it’s finally here! Check out the SBAI site later this week for an up-to-date list of all of the events we have scheduled for the coming year!
