College of Arts and Sciences
Susan Douglas to Speak at Women’s and Gender Studies Symposium

Douglas_bookThe mass media messages women receive today demand conflicting and confusing roles. The 19th annual Women’s and Gender Studies Symposium on Friday, April 25, will explore the roles of women and how they are portrayed in the media.  

Susan Douglas, a columnist, cultural critic and author of Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message that Feminism’s Work Is Done,will be the symposium keynote speaker.  Douglas will help kick off the symposium with a book talk and signing at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 24, in the Founder’s Suite of the Bone Student Center.

The symposium will begin at 9 a.m. Friday, April 25, in the Old Main Room of the Bone Student Center. The morning will be filled with student panels and research presentations, performances and spoken word. The annual program scholarship will be presented over lunch.

Douglas will give the symposium keynote address from 1 to 3 p.m. She will explore the themes of her book Enlightened Sexism . There will be multiple afternoon panels following the keynote address.

Her most recent book, Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message that Feminism’s Work Is Done examines the evolution of the women and girls in the media with an eye toward a new phenomenon, which Douglas calls “enlightened sexism.”

Enlightened sexism is feminist in its outward appearance, but sexist in its intent.  It takes the gains of the feminist and civil rights movements as a given, and then uses them as permission to resurrect retrograde images of girls and women as sex objects, mommies, helpmates and eye candy whose value is defined by their appearance and biological destiny. Examples can be found in the meteoric rise in makeover, matchmaking and modeling programs on TV and online.

Douglas is a professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and also author of Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media. Her scholarship has appeared on The Today Show, Working Women and NPR’s Fresh Air and Talk of the Nation.

The event is free and open to the public. Lunch will be provided for those who RSVP to Mandy Dartt at (309) 438-2947 or email wgstudies@ilstu.edu.

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COM Week to Feature Comcast Sports VP

Phil Bedella

Phil Bedella

Speakers from the Comcast Sports Network InStyle magazine are among those who will highlight Communication Week 2014 from Monday, April 14, through Thursday, April 17. With the theme of  Envision, Engage, Embark , COM Week will link successful alums and professionals with students. Speakers from Cisco, the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Weber Shandwick, In Style, DBY Events & Invitations and Everygirl round out the keynotes.

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School of Communication Wins Award

ISU seal CAS wideThe School of Communication has been selected as the recipient of the Central States Communication Association’s (CSCA) Outstanding Undergraduate Communication Program Award.

The award was presented at the CSCA Conference in Minneapolis on April 5.

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Richardson Named Scholar for the Dream
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Flourice Richardson

Flourice Richardson, doctoral student in the English Studies program, was honored with the Conference on College Composition and Communication’s (CCCC) Scholars for the Dream Award at its annual convention last month. CCCC is a conference of the National Council of Teachers of English. This award is prestigious in the disciplines of rhetoric and composition, and this was the most competitive year in the history of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). (more…)

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More News from the College

Greetings from the Dean!

Dean Gregory SimpsonWelcome to the College of Arts and Sciences at Illinois State University. I invite you to explore on this site the many programs, majors, and minors that we have to offer you.

New way of recognizing faculty accomplishments!

The College recognizes that the receipt of individual fellowships and awards is an honor and we would like to be able to acknowledge the accomplishment of those faculty who receive this type of external funding.

Please help us recognize these accomplishments by completing the short form found here. (DOC)

Events and Deadlines

April 16 –  School of Biological Sciences – Molecular and Cellular Biology Seminar Series- Samantha Atkinson will present “Genetic analysis of Ton2 dependent processes in microtubule organization in Arabidopsis.” Room 121, SLB, noon.

April 16 –  Department of Sociology and Anthropology – Dr. Kevin Hunt of Indiana University will present a talk entitled. “Savanna Chimpanzee Ecology Throws Lights on the Origin of Bipedalism.” Room 208, Moulton Hall, 7:00 p.m.

April 17 –  School of Biological Sciences Seminar Series – Dr. Jim Goodson of Indiana University will present “Mechanisms of Gregariousness and Territoriality in Birds.” Room 210, Moulton Hall, 4:00-5:00 p.m.

April 18 –  Department of Chemistry – Eric Grabowski of Illinois State University will present a literature seminar. Room 225, Julian Hall, 3:00 p.m.

April 18 –  Department of Physics Informal Seminar Series – Professor Douglas Twitchell will present “Usable Security.” Room 309, Moulton Hall, noon.