Prestigious Mellon Foundation Grant
Funds Launch of WCU’s Women’s and Gender Studies Collection

THE MELLON FOUNDATION HAS AWARDED WCU A $100,000 GRANT AS PART OF ITS AFFIRMING MULTIVOCAL HUMANITIES INITIATIVE, WHICH HAS ALLOCATED MORE THAN $18 MILLION TO SUPPORT HUMANITIES-BASED LEARNING AT PUBLIC COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES NATIONWIDE. WCU’S GRANT IS FUNDING THE CREATION OF THE WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES COLLECTION, AN INNOVATIVE, OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE THAT AIMS TO PUBLISH AND PROVIDE FREE AND RELIABLE INFORMATION ON RACE, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY VIA AN ONLINE RESOURCE.

This is the first time WCU has received a prestigious Mellon Foundation grant.

“In addition to providing free and reliable content about race, gender, and sexuality, we also aim to create dialogue by facilitating a scholarly, creative, and public community based in women’s and gender studies,” explained Lisa Huebner, WCU professor of women’s and gender studies, who credits her department chair, Professor Joan Woolfrey, with bringing the grant opportunity to her attention. The collection is Huebner’s brainchild.

The Women’s and Gender Studies Collection will launch on October 24 as part of a free public celebration of women’s and gender studies that will feature student presentations and a keynote lecture by Ijeoma Oluo, author of the New York Times bestseller So You Want to Talk About Race; Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America; and Be a Revolution: How Everyday People are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World — and How You Can, Too.

The collection is designed to serve students, faculty, and staff within the discipline of women’s and gender studies as well as educators, families, and the community, Huebner said. It will feature a wide range of formats including written, artistic, and audio/video materials that focus on the dissemination of free, trustworthy, and valid information about race, gender, and sexuality.

Huebner has spent her career, including several years in nonprofit work before joining WCU in 2007, making knowledge about race, gender, and sexuality free, accessible, and applicable to all.

“This project represents something I’ve tried to do throughout my entire professional life: bridging the gap between academic discourse and real-world application,” she said. “This site will be scholarly and offer content that’s accessible and engaging. Families will be able to use it, as well as teachers and even teenagers.”

The Mellon Foundation grant has allowed students to be involved in designing the collection logo, researching content, and creating submission guidelines and review processes. Submissions continue to be accepted and can include resources grounded in the discipline of women’s and gender studies such as teaching materials, creative works (videos and visual art), scholarly papers, and more.

“We seek submissions from creators at any stage in their careers including scholars, students, activists, and community members,” said Huebner.

The grant has also already supported a series of free, public events that bring internationally renowned scholars, activists, and writers to campus. Trailblazing feminist scholar-activists Sara Ahmed (The Feminist Killjoy Handbook, Seal Press, 2023) and National Women’s Hall of Fame inductee Loretta Ross, associate professor at Smith College and recipient of a 2022 MacArthur Foundation Genius award, presented their views on gender and equality this spring in separate programs on, respectively, “Traveling with Feminist Killjoys” and “Reproductive Justice Now.”

Huebner has tapped several WCU departments and colleagues to collaborate on the project, including the Teaching and Learning Center and the Center for Women and Gender Equity.

“The reality that I have this opportunity to work with so many amazing people within my University to make this knowledge accessible to everyone — for free — is so exciting to me,” Huebner said.

For more information, email wgscollection@gmail.com.