Colleen Clemens is an associate professor at KU and is now the director of the Women’s and Gender Studies minor with hopes to change people’s perspectives on gender and equal rights.
Clemens has worked at KU since 2010 as a professor in the English Department and this fall she became the director of the Women’s and Gender Studies minor with hopes to help empower women. As the director of the minor she hopes to give the next generation a broader understanding of minorities across the world.
Her plans for the minor are to get more students to pick it up and to become more aware of the struggle that minorities and women face. When asked about possibly making the minor into a major she says that she doesn’t think that she would do it. Clemens believes that the minor is more complementary to any major that a student studies whether it be Business, Education, Mathematics, or any other course that KU has to offer.
Clemens studied at Lehigh University where she graduated with a Women’s and Gender Studies certification, at the time the certification itself had only just been established. Her dissertation focused on women’s issues in art and politics.
Upon coming to KU she started a course called Women and Violence where she shows the portrayal of women in different areas of the media as well as literature.
During an interview Clemens said that she believes that Donald Trump could have the potential to set back the work that she, and other activists like her, are doing.
“I feel like I’ve been running a marathon and when the election was over I was hoping to be able to breathe but then, when I got to the finish line, they told me ‘alright, now run four more,’” Clemens said on how she felt after finding out Trump would be the next president.
Kayla Woodington, 22, a senior at KU who will be graduating in December, says she picked up the Women’s and Gender Studies minor because she is an English major, so the classes helped fill spots on her grid sheet and that she enjoyed the classes she would be taking.
Woodington hopes to follow in Clemens footsteps. She would like to gain a certification in women’s studies as well as create an inclusive environment for all.
Woodington has taken multiple classes with Clemens and is currently working on two independent studies with her. When asked about how she liked Clemens as a professor she said that she is one of the reasons Woodington chose to the WGS minor.
Clemens has worked closely with Dr. Amanda Morris at KU since the two were hired together as well as becoming office mates. The two have worked on numerous projects together, one of which was a conference that they attended in Toronto. While there they wrote a piece together called “Manifesto for the Majority” on Raging Chicken Press.
Morris believes that because of Clemens’ passion and determination there wouldn’t be anyone better for the position of director of the WGS minor. She believes that even with all the work on her plate as the head of the minor, teaching four courses, as well as being a full time mom she will still be the best she can be. The two are currently working on bringing down her course load to three instead of four so that Clemens may give more to the minor.
“Her main goal, I believe, is empowering women and teaching them that they can do whatever they put their minds to,” Morris said after asking what she believe Clemens goal is.
This coming summer Clemens and Morris will be holding a program to teach women how to navigate the political world. They have invited women who currently work in politics to help give presentations.