Women Who Tell Our Stories
Menstrual Care Drive
March 1-31
Pedroso Center, El Centro, Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies
Contact: Fawn E. Pochel at f-pochel@neiu.edu
There is a growing crisis known as period poverty affecting millions of women, nonbinary and trans folx worldwide who do not have access to menstrual care products such as tampons and sanitary pads. This Women’s History Month NEIU is working across campuses to collect donations for Connections for Abused Women & their Children (CAWC) to help alleviate some of the financial burden their community members face daily.
Sister Talk: Breaking Bread
3:00-4:00 p.m. March 1
Pedroso Center (North Lobby)
Contact: Fawn E. Pochel at f-pochel@neiu.edu
Sister Talk welcomes all female/femme BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) identified students to come enjoy a meal together in celebration of Women’s History Month. These weekly BIPOC sisterhood meetings (not cis-terhood) are created to give women a brave space to connect, share, and participate meaningfully within our campus community. We meet every Wednesday in collaboration with Counseling Services from 3:00-4:00 p.m.
Trivia Night at Pedroso Center
4:00-6:00 p.m. March 1
Pedroso Center (North Lobby)
Contact: Fawn E. Pochel at f-pochel@neiu.edu
To kick off Women's History Month, Pedroso Center invites trivia fans to test their knowledge and join us in celebrating "Women Who Tell Our Stories" with an evening of fun. Bring your history and pop culture knowledge. A picture round, music round, plenty of random facts and interesting tidbits are all included. Participants can enjoy showing off what they know or just being the one with a lucky guess. The three top-scoring teams will win fabulous prizes. (Teams are limited to groups of four).
Queer & Disabled at NEIU Panel Discussion
3:00-4:00 p.m. March 2
Online via Zoom; sign up to attend
Contact: Fawn E. Pochel at f-pochel@neiu.edu
LGBTQ+ people continue to be underrepresented and what representation there is often centers around white, cisgender, neurotypical, able-bodied people. During this panel we will hear from members of our NEIU community about their experiences being queer and disabled at Northeastern Illinois University.
Watch Party at Pedroso: "A Black Feminist Disability Framework"
12:00-1:30 p.m. March 6
Online via Zoom and Pedroso Center (North Lobby)
Hosted by the Office of Equity Diversity and Inclusion for more information about the event reach out to Dr. Shireen Roshanravan at smroshanrava@neiu.edu, For more information about the watch party at Pedroso contact Fawn E. Pochel at f-pochel@neiu.edu
In this presentation, Moya Bailey will engage NEIU faculty, staff, students on key disability justice frameworks that inform her thinking about Black people’s unique experiences with disability and dreams of new possibilities for Black disabled folks and their communities through the application of an “ethics of pace” and Stacey Park Milbern’s concept of disability doulas.
This event is a collaborative effort between the Angelina Pedroso Center and the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
The Importance of Self-Care: A conversation with Dr. Kimya Barden
4:30-5:30 p.m. March 6
Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies
Contact: Monica Smith at m-smith5@neiu.edu
Join us in conversation with Dr. Kimya Barden on the importance of self-care at Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies.
The Inaugural International Women’s Day and Angelina Pedroso’s B-day
5:00-6:30 p.m. March 8
Main Campus, Alumni Hall
Contact: Fawn E. Pochel at f-pochel@neiu.edu
A panel of women authors who have engaged research and historical text that provide culturally responsive research and publishing. Dinner will be provided.
Celebration: Women Who Tell Our Stories: Learn about possibilities in publishing culturally responsive text that explore diverse historic and pedagogical experiences.
Featured Authors
Lilia Fernández is professor in the Department of History at University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). She is a 20th century U.S. historian, whose work focuses on Latinos, urban politics, and economic inequality. Her first book, "Brown in the Windy City: Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Postwar Chicago," was published in 2012 by University of Chicago Press. She is currently at work on a second book manuscript on Latino workers, students, and elites in the city. She is the author of many journal articles and book chapters as well and the founder and director of the Latino New Jersey History Project, a student-led, community-based, public humanities research initiative. Dr. Fernandez earned her bachelor’s degree at Harvard University, a master’s in educational policy at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego. She is a native Chicagoan, born and raised in the Windy City.
Dr. Durene I. Wheeler is currently a professor in the Department of Educational Inquiry & Curriculum Studies where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the Educational Foundations Program (EDFN), Community & Teacher Leaders Program (MATCL), African & African American Studies (AFAM) along with Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGS). Dr. Wheeler has served as program coordinator for AFAM and WGSS academic programs. Additionally, Dr. Wheeler served as the founding graduate facilitator and advisor for the Master of Arts in Community and Teacher Leaders (MACTL) program at NEIU.
Dr. Wheeler’s teaching and research interests include historical intersections of race, class, ability, and gender in U.S. education, practical application methods of critical and feminist pedagogy, and helping teachers and parents foster socially just classrooms and school environments. Her current research examines and explores writing and investigating Black women’s mental and emotional health related to their roles as workers and parents. She has presented at various international, national, and regional conferences on intersectionality, social justice in education, culturally conscious classrooms, anti-racist pedagogy and praxis, and women’s work. Dr. Wheeler is a proud single parent.
Dr. Wheeler is co-editor along with Drs. Perlow, Bethea, and Scott of the anthology "Black Women’s Liberatory Pedagogies: Resistance, Transformation, and Healing Within and Beyond the Academy." This text addresses the pedagogical practices of Black women in and outside of the academy across multiple disciplines.
Shireen Roshanravan Is an experienced cultural worker and evidence-based strategist building broad-based coalitions to advance racial and socioeconomic equity inside and beyond higher education. Dr. Roshanravan’s scholarship has always been rooted in grassroots community and coalition building. She is the co-editor of "Asian American Feminisms and Women of Color Politics" (University of Washington Press 2018) and "Speaking Face-to-Face: The Visionary Philosophy of María Lugones: (SUNY Press, 2019).
Sign-up is required to attend.
Healing Centered Workshop with Ananka Shoney
3:00-5:00 p.m. March 9
Pedroso Center (North Lobby)
Contact: Fawn E. Pochel at f-pochel@neiu.edu
Walking Wednesday: Walk for Water
12:00-1:00 p.m. March 22
Lech Walesa Hall lobby
Contact: Fawn E. Pochel at f-pochel@neiu.edu
On the fourth Wednesday of March we will be walking with purpose to highlight the World Water Day 2023 campaign. This year, the focus of the United Nations observance is on accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis. The global campaign encourages people to take action in their own lives to change the way they use, consume and manage water. In order to not center the settler-colonial narrative or risk reproducing the violent erasure of Indigenous histories, peoples, and landscapes that have existed in Chicago since time immemorial by reinforcing the myth of Indigenous disappearance, normalizing settler worlds, jurisdictions and futurities. Pedroso Center Coordinator Fawn Pochel will lead a facilitated walk centering traditional ecological knowledge of our local area with a focus on water sovereignty.
This event is a collaborative effort between the Angelina Pedroso Center and the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
Situating and Screening of "the Woman King"
6:30-9:30 p.m. March 23
Location: Pedroso Center, and online via Zoom; sign up to attend
Contact: Dr. Durene I. Wheeler at d-wheeler@neiu.edu
After signing up, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
NEIU screening of the African American Film Critics Association selection for Best Picture, "The Woman King" starring Viola Davis. Set in the 1820s, General Nanisca trains the next generation of Agojie Warriors, an elite all-female fighting force in Dajomey, Africa, known today as Benin.
This event is co-hosted by African and African American Studies, Angelina Pedroso Center for Diversity and the NEIU Libraries.
Sex Positivity Panel
10:50 a.m.-12:05 p.m. March 28
Pedroso Center (North Lobby)
Contact: Fawn E. Pochel, f-pochel@neiu.edu
Join us in conversation with Robin C. Heggum, MPH and Jennie Lasko, RN BSN, to discuss intersections of sex positivity including topics related to LGBTQ+ and racialized issues.
Art & About: Creative Space for Femme Liberation
3:00-5:00 p.m. March 29
Pedroso Center (North Lobby)
Contact: Fawn E. Pochel, f-pochel@neiu.edu
Join the Pedroso Center as we host a drop-in art space. A variety of art supplies will be provided for participants. This space is for female/femme students, faculty and staff to be creative and enjoy each other’s company.
Documentary Screening & Discussion: Sin’s Invalid: An unshamed claim to beauty
7:00-9:00 p.m. March 29
Pedroso Center
Contact: Dr. Laurie Fuller, ls-fuller@neiu.edu
Join us for the screening of "Sin’s Invalid: An unshamed claim to Beauty." This documentary celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and queer and gender-variant artists. Discussion will follow after the film screening.
Representing Latinx Feminisms in Social Media with Sarah Bey-West and Genevieve Ramos
4:15-5:30 p.m. March 30
Main Campus, Room SU 216
Contact: Dr. Sarah Bey-West, smwest2@neiu.edu
Join us in conversation with Dr. Sarah Bey-West (They/Them) and NEIU alumni, artist and advocate Genevieve Ramos (She/Her/Hers) as they explore how Latinx feminisms are represented within the evolving world of social media.
6th Annual Women in Science Conference: Day one
9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. March 30
Main Campus, Alumni Hall
Every year, NEIU Center of Health and ChicagoCHEC co-host the annual Women in Science Conference to celebrate the outstanding women who dedicate their lives to the sciences. The 6th Annual Women in Science conference will celebrate women’s contributions to the field of public health. This event aims to bring together the NEIU community, students, faculty and many others for a didactic/interactive conference of presentations and activities centered around public health.
Free and open to the public. Advance sign-up required to attend.
This event is co-hosted by NEIU’s Center of Health and ChicagoCHEC. Contact Alicia Kholamian at ahkholamian@neiu.edu with any questions.
Trans Day of Visibility in Conversation with the Puerto Rican Cultural Center
3:00-4:00 p.m. March 30
Pedroso Center
Contact: Aidon Perera, a-perera@neiu.edu
Join us in collaboration with Student Health Services and the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in celebration of Trans Day of Visibility.
Black Girlhood Summit
8:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. March 31
Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies
Contact: Dr. Oliva Perlow, o-perlow@neiu.edu
6th Annual Women in Science Conference: day two
10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. March 31
Online via Zoom; advance sign-up required to attend.
Every year NEIU Center of Health and ChicagoCHEC co-host an annual Women in Science conference to celebrate the outstanding women who dedicate their lives to the sciences. The 6th Annual Women in Science Conference will celebrate women’s contributions to the field of public health. This event aims to bring together the NEIU community, students, faculty and many others for a didactic/interactive conference of presentations and activities centered around Public Health.
Free and open to the public. Read presenter's bios.
This event is co-hosted by NEIU’s Center of Health and ChicagoCHEC. Contact Alicia Kholamian at ahkholamian@neiu.edu with any questions.
Queer and trans lives: Supporting Gender Affirming Schools and Communities
7:00-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 4
Online via Zoom
Zoom webinar
Meeting ID: 469 401 1359
Passcode: TBD
Sign up to attend. Open to the public.
Join this virtual conversation with leading Chicago-area educators and organizers. Panelists will reflect on the national landscape for gender and queer affirming school policies and practices and offer their insights on local resources and more.
Presenters:
Dr. Corey Blake is a trans, nonbinary music educator on Chicago’s Northwest Side and a co-chair of their school’s GSA and of the LGBTQ+ Committee of the Chicago Teachers Union. Blake participates in the GSA Leadership Committee through Chicago Public Schools’ Office of Student Health and Wellness.
Mo Anderson (they/he) has experience in nonprofit management and diversity, equity and inclusion. They are planning an initiative centering mutual aid, to support Black and brown LGBT+ youth in the Midwest access to HRT, food, gender affirming surgery, and more.
Lindsey Williston (she/her) is a longtime Chicago Public Schools educator and co-chairs the LGBTQ+ Committee of the Chicago Teachers Union and her school’s GSA and is a union delegate. She has collaborated with many community-based organizations that support college and career readiness, mentoring, and student enrichment. Lindsey has been involved in the LGBTQ+ rights movement for more than 20 years.
