Professor emerita honored as part of Women’s History Month

In March we celebrate Women’s History Month and honor the women of our past, present, and future. The UWSP Women’s and Gender Studies Advisory Committee has nominated Professor Emerita Nancy Bayne as an honoree this year on our campus in recognition of Women’s History Month.

The Women’s Studies minor, now called the Women’s and Gender Studies minor, was first established at UWSP in 1976. Bayne, then a professor in the Psychology Department, became the coordinator of the program in the early 1990s. She taught Psychology of Women and Psychology of Sexual Behavior and developed a Women and Science course. She was also one of the authors of the mission statement of the Women’s Studies Program, “to raise awareness of issues of gender and gender inequality, as well as to improve our understanding of women’s lives.”

During her tenure as Women’s Studies coordinator, Bayne grew the undergraduate minor, expanding the curriculum to provide students with an interdisciplinary perspective in understanding the social and cultural constructions of gender.  In addition, Bayne created the campus’s Women’s and Gender Studies Advisory Committee that included, and still does, faculty from interdisciplinary fields shaping the curriculum that best serves students. The committee works to highlight the importance of Women’s and Gender Studies in an era when legislators are attacking gender studies curriculum and research and attempting to break down the goals of Title IX.

 Bayne also served as the university’s Affirmative Action Officer and as then the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, breaking new ground for women in UWSP’s administration.  After her retirement, she established a new “Engaged Citizenship for Social Justice” scholarship to recognize students with exceptional promise as change makers.  

We thank Professor Emerita Bayne for her contributions to women, our campus, and our Women’s and Gender Studies program.

Sincerely,

Alice Keefe
Coordinator of Women’s and Gender Studies
Chair, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies