A Digital History of "Women's Studies" at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

 Danielle Rue—an alumni of UNL who majored in Women’s & Gender Studies and English in 2014 created a webpage outlining an abbreviated history of UNL’s Women’s and Gender Studies program, which was created in 1976 under the name “Women’s Studies.”  She also presented her work,  “Women’s Studies at the University of Nebraska Lincoln: A Brief Digital History,” at during WGS 2014 Fall Colloquium Series. Rue’s interest in the topic began in her WMNS 101 class, when she wrote a paper on the history of the program. After receiving funding through UNL’s UCARE program and she continued her research on the subject, focusing on the university’s positions on race, sexuality, and women’s issues during the 1960s and 1970s and the beginnings of the Women’s Studies program. Rue outlines several revolutionary events in the history of the university that helped shape our current Ethnic Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies programs. Within a short period of time, black students protested in order to gain representation on campus as well as implement a Black Studies program; students advocated against a university-wide curfew for women; and prominent local political figures protested a conference and a course related to sexuality studies. Through non-violent protests and other means, students and sympathetic faculty were instrumental in changing the university’s policies and expanding its curriculum within a few short years. Rue highlights some of the obstacles the Women’s Studies program faced for more than two decades, including lack of funding for office space, courses, and faculty and personnel, as well as its successes that have enabled dramatic growth in recent years. Rue’s project can be seen at http://unlwgshistory. wordpress.com/