Women studies department grants first doctoral degrees

Two women have secured their places in UW history.

Serena Maurer and Mae Henderson are the first people to ever earn a doctorate of women studies at the UW -- a milestone that has been 30 years in the making.

Nancy Kenney, director of the women's studies graduate program, said the first doctorate degrees are a sign of how far the program has come over the years.

"It's very much a sign of our maturity," Kenney said. "It's the coming of age, the entrance into the adult world of the academy."

The women studies program started in 1970, when graduates could earn a bachelors in general studies with an emphasis in women studies. It wasn't until the 1990s that women studies became its own department.

Kenney credited Sue Ellen Jacobs, the original director of women studies, as being the first to envision a graduate program. Her efforts were continued by Susan Jeffords, former director of women studies, who began the paperwork for a graduate program.

When Shirley Yee became the department chair in 1995, the criteria to start a graduate program had already been met. Kenney said that Yee was the person who really shepherded the proposal through the channels to get it approved. The women studies department is now operating under chair David Allen.

The first group of students was admitted into the women studies doctoral program in 1998. Maurer was part of that group.

A graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont, Maurer received a bachelor's degree in American Literature with minors in Spanish and women studies. When the women studies graduate program opened up, Maurer was already at the UW working on a master's degree in what is now the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs. Her interest in domestic violence issues persuaded her to switch programs.

"Serena was the first to do everything," Kenney said. "We have jokingly called her our guinea pig from day one."

Maurer said that being one of the first to go through the program has had its up and downs, but she has enjoyed helping to shape the program.

Although Maurer initially intended to explore domestic violence issues for her dissertation, she ended up studying how people in the Yakima Valley talk about Mexican migration through the medium of letters to the editor. She then talked to Mexican-born women about their migration and how they characterize themselves.

One of her biggest challenges has been playing two roles: doctoral student and mother to two young daughters, both of whom she had while in graduate school.

"In some ways I feel like it's been harder, but [my daughters] have also given me motivation to do the work," Maurer said. "They keep me grounded."

In 2000, Henderson was admitted as the first African American woman in the program. A native of Los Angeles, Henderson received her bachelors in sociology from California State University, Long Beach with a minor in women studies.

Henderson said she has sometimes felt isolated in her classes as the only African American woman.

"Being the only African American and seeing the world through a different lens ... always put me on the peripheral of mainstream thought and ideas about women," Henderson said.

Henderson fought through her trepidation to honor the legacy of women who came before her and fought for her to gain a higher education.

"My being able to represent my grandmother, my great-grandmother and my mother, who did not have the opportunity to do this, makes it just that much more special," she said.

Henderson said a huge hallenge for her has been the absence of focus on African American women in the curriculum and the fact that there are no African American faculty members teaching the classes. Students would benefit greatly from an African American voice in the classroom, she said.

In her dissertation, entitled "Fractured Mothering: African American mothers at the crossroads of expectation and reality," Henderson used the voices of 10 African American women to explore the lives of mothers who live away from their children.

Both Maurer and Henderson have taught classes while in graduate school, and said they want to continue teaching in the future.

Kenney said that people who go into women studies are the "cream of the crop," and both doctoral graduates are no exception.

"[Maurer and Henderson] are two of the brightest people you'll ever talk to in your entire life," Kenney said. "They're just phenomenal human beings who are going to have an impact on the academy for years to come."