Women's Studies Faculty
Dr. Sarah Allred
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Social Inequality
sallred@berry.edu Bio: In sociology, understanding and explaining social stratification is a core concern for many reasons. One of which is the many significant ways in which social inequality shapes and molds our life chances, life choices, and quality of life in general. I believe strongly that a liberal arts education must involve an introduction to the fundamentals of the social construction of difference, a framework of difference that remains justification for structured inequalities. Such difference as a social construction includes notions of gender, race, disability, and class. My teaching of Social Inequality: Race, Class, and Gender offers an important compliment to the WNS program.
Dr. Carrie Baker
Assistant Professor of Sociology & Anthropology
Introduction to Women’s Studies Gender, Law & Society
Women’s Studies Seminar
cbaker@berry.edu
Dr. Christina Bucher
Associate Professor of English, Rhetoric & Writing, Women’s Literature
Women Directors
Gay and Lesbian Studies
cbucher@berry.edu
Dr. John Countryman
Associate Professor of Fine Arts-Theatre
Women and Drama
jcountryman@berry.edu
Dr. Cherry Granrose
Professor of Management, Business, Gender and Business
cgranrose@berry.edu Bio : I became interested in women’s studies when I was a thirty two year old divorced mother of three trying to support my family. I decided to go back to school to get my PhD and study working mothers, who were just beginning to be an academic topic in the mid 1970s. I did my dissertation about college women’s intentions to return to employment within the first three years after their first birth (that shows you how much times have changed, because that was considered early return to work in those days). Following graduate school in 1981 I obtained a job in a business school with 140 men and four women, only one of whom was tenured. That surely kept my interest in women’s careers alive as a matter of self preservation. I did get tenure there but I knew the literature about unequal performance appraisals so I worried for six years whether it would be given to me by a series of three all-male tenure committees. When I came to Berry College in 2000, I thought those days of being a token were long gone until I discovered that I was the only female full professor at Berry except for two administrators, the Dean of the Education School and the Associate Provost , who was also a Professor of Education, a fine but stereotypically female occupation. Thankfully, I again was tenured by committees full of men and several other women have also gained tenure and promotion to full professor so that tokenism is no longer so strong at Berry, although I was still the only tenured female full professor in a business school, a situation that is changing. This long personal history of wanting to have more female peers confirmed by my long time interest in fairness and equality has kept my interest in women’s studies alive for thirty years.
Dr. Harvey Hill
Associate Professor of Religion, Biblical Women
hhill@berry.edu
Bio: I first became interested in women’s studies while I was in college, but my formal study really began as part of my graduate education. Being married to a specialist in women’s studies, Professor Carrie Baker, helped too! At Berry, my primary contribution to the women’s studies program is a class on Biblical Women. I enjoy teaching it in large part because I find the students in women’s studies classes to be so insightful and engaged. In addition to the students, I enjoy the material. The feminist interpretation of the Bible is one of the most important and interesting areas of contemporary biblical scholarship.
Dr. Ellen Johnson
Associate Professor of English, Gender and Language
ejohnson@berry.edu
Dr. Anne Lewinson
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Women in Global Perspective
alewinson@berry.edu
Dr. Jeffrey Lidke
Associate Professor of Religion
Women in World Religions
Goddess Traditions in Asia
jlidke@berry.edu
Bio: My interest in Women's Studies comes from my field and textual research
on goddess traditions in South Asia as well as my appreciation for the
political issues that are a primary concern in the field. One of my primary
mentors at the University of California was Barbara Holdrege and her
insights regarding the study of women in religion continues to be
deep inspiration in my own teaching and writing.
Dr. Susan Logsdon-Conradsen
Associate Professor of Psychology
Health Psychology in Sociocultural Context
Introduction to Women's Studies
Psychology of Women
Seminar in Women's Studies
sconradsen@berry.edu
Dr. David McKenzie
Professor of Religion & Philosophy
Christian Faith & Feminist Critique
dmckenzie@berry.edu
Dr. Christy Snider
Associate Professor of History
U.S. Women’s History
csnider@berry.edu
Dr. Virginia Troy
Associate Professor of Fine Arts
Women & Art
vtroy@berry.edu
Dr. Lara Whelan
Associate Professor of English, Rhetoric, and Writing
Women's Literature
lwhlean@berry.edu Bio: Dr. Whelan first began teaching Women’s Studies at University of Delaware in the late 90s, under the mentorship of Dr. Barbara Gates, who was involved in starting some of the first Women’s Studies programs in the United States. Dr. Whelan’s interest in Women’s Studies grew out of her work in Victorian literature and culture, a field that has been heavily influenced by feminist theory. Wary, at first, of its potential to be perceived as “indoctrinating” students, she quickly discovered that, far from presenting a monolithic view of the world, Women’s Studies throws open the doors of the classroom to make room for a multitude of perspectives. Experiencing this multiplicity can often be transformative for students, which is what makes teaching these classes some of the most enjoyable and meaningful professional experiences in higher education.