Message from the Director

Dear Gender Institute Community,

After much reflection I have decided to step down as Gender Institute director after one term.

It has been my great honor to serve as director, and I am deeply indebted to all the faculty, students, and staff who make the Institute such a vibrant and essential resource at UB.

During my tenure the Institute has had the privilege of promoting research in gender and sexuality across the university through faculty and student grants. We have also brought numerous scholars to campus including the foundational Lantinx scholar, Cherríe Moraga, historian Annelise Orleck, and Sara Lipshutz and Banu Subramaniam, biologists who were part of our “Beyond Binaries: Sex, Gender, and the Natural World” series. I have also been part of conversations about the challenges of this current political moment beyond UB. Those include a SUNY-wide gender/sexuality studies network and meetings with other Gender Institute directors nationwide. From these conversations I can say with authority that there are remarkable scholars, students and staff working to promote and extend our shared commitment to feminist scholarship across the country, and indeed the world.

When I became director in the summer of 2023 I worked with the Institute’s then Deputy Director, Jo Freudenheim, and the Disability Studies Program director, Michael Rembis, to draft a proposal for a Mellon Grant, “Communities of Care,” a project that seeks to better understand and address issues faced by caregivers and those with disabilities. In Fall 2023 we learned that the Mellon foundation awarded us a 2.5 million dollar grant, an unprecedented investment into cutting-edge research and community engagement in the areas of gender, carework, and disability. Since that time, we have hired one faculty member, Lou Tam in Global Gender and Sexuality Studies (GGSS), and are currently carrying out an interdisciplinary search for two additional faculty. In addition, the grant has employed graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and staff engaged in collecting and curating stories, supporting artists and community members, and funding research.

Finally, and most importantly, I have had the pleasure of working with incredible staff: assistant to the director, Megan Vaughan and graduate assistant, Surabhi Pant. And last year I was thrilled to have a new deputy director, Noelle St. Vil, join the institute. I am also grateful to our executive committee members and everyone who participates in our programming. Much is uncertain as we face the future, but the Gender Institute’s vital role in supporting and promoting feminist research is needed now more than ever.

In Solidarity,

Victoria

Dear Gender Institute Community,

This is a difficult week with many more difficult weeks to come. Likely many of you are, like me, experiencing a range of emotions that make it challenging to face our classrooms and our research. As Gender Institute director my hope is that we can continue to provide the resources and community to lift up research on gender and sexuality at this university and in the world. This is needed now more than ever. As Pauli Murray suggests this labor is part of a long game.

“In not a single one of these little campaigns was I victorious. In other words, in each case, I personally failed, but I have lived to see the thesis upon which I was operating vindicated. And what I very often say is that I’ve lived to see my lost causes found.” ― Pauli Murray

In Solidarity,

Victoria

I am deeply honored to take on the role of director of UB’s Gender Institute. As the only research center that focuses on women, gender, and sexuality in the entire SUNY system the Gender Institute has nurtured students and scholars for more than a quarter century. For those of you who don’t know me I am a Professor of History whose work explores interconnecting themes of race, gender, and the urban world. Like many UB faculty and students I have personally benefitted from the Institute, presenting works in progress as part of the Feminist Research Alliance and at a Gender Institute Symposium organized by former director Kari Winter, “Wonder Woman and Super Men.” I also discussed my most recent book Living in the Future: Utopianism and the Long Civil Rights Movement as part of the New Books, Feminist Directions series. Carrie Tirado Bramen, my predecessor, created the New Books series and through her tireless efforts the Institute’s budget has grown dramatically and the rates of attendance at its vibrant events have multiplied. I am so grateful to Carrie, and all the former directors, for their work building and sustaining the Gender Institute. And I am thankful to be working with a wonderful team, including our tireless staff assistant Megan Vaughan and graduate assistant Surabhi Pant. I’m also honored to work next to deputy director and SUNY Distinguished Professor Jo Freudenheim. 

Because I believe so strongly in the Gender Institute’s mission, I will be doing all I can to increase the visibility of the Institute, both within the university and in the broader community. We are at a crucial moment in our history, with concerted attacks on the LGBTQ community, particularly transgender people, and the loss of reproductive rights. The Gender Institute can play a vital role at this moment, bringing feminist scholarship across all disciplinary fields to the wider public. To this end we have exciting events already lined up for the coming year, which we are kicking off with an opening reception at UB’s Faculty Club on September 14.  Jeff Iovannone will also be joining us from Cornell University in October to discuss the pioneering work of transgender activist and writer, Leslie Feinberg, whose novel Stone Butch Blues uncovered the world of working-class lesbian culture in 1960s Buffalo. Watch this space for many more events in the upcoming year. And please encourage your colleagues and students to apply for our generous fellowships, which are eligible across all fields, STEM, Social Science, Humanities, and the Arts. Finally, I urge anyone reading this to reach out. If you know about a recent book that engages feminist scholarship, please pass on that information. Interested in serving on one of our fellowship committees or participating in the Feminist Research Alliance? Let us know! Together we can face the future while learning from the past.

Victoria W. Wolcott
Director