Courage

2021-22 Courage Speaker Series

This year’s theme, Courage, reflecting on the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, brings to campus six speakers whose scholarship, writing or/and activism sheds light on the diverse experiences of American women now, and in the past. Our speakers include MI Attorney General Dana Nessel, political scientists Christina Wolbrecht and Kevin Corder, historian Deirdre Cooper-Owens, indigenous rights lawyer Sarah Deer, and poet/educator/activist Denice Frohman.
 
We hope you’ll be a part of the conversation.
 
All events are free and open to the public.
Due to the continuing uncertainty regarding outbreaks of COVID-19, dates and/or locations for all events are subject to change.

Our Speakers

  • Dana Nessel - Oct 28 - 7pm - Bernhard Center 228-South Ballroom, WMU

    A former criminal prosecutor and civil rights attorney, Dana Nessel was sworn in as Michigan’s 54th Attorney General on January 1, 2019. A graduate of the University of Michigan and Wayne State University Law School, Attorney General Nessel lives in southeast Michigan with her wife, Alanna Maguire, and her twin sons, Alex and Zach.

    Dana Nessel

  • Christina Wolbrecht - Kevin Corder - Nov 11 - 7pm - WebEx (Online)

    Christina Wolbrecht is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. J. Kevin Corder is Professor of Political Science at Western Michigan University. His books include Counting Women's Ballots (with Christina Wolbrecht, Cambridge, 2016), which received the 2017 Victoria Schuck Award, and The Fed and the Credit Crisis (2012).

    Christina Wolbrecht - Kevin Corder

  • Deirdre Cooper Owens - March 24, 2022 - 7pm - 4010 College of Health and Human Services

    Deirdre Cooper Owens is The Charles and Linda Wilson Professor in the History of Medicine and Director of the Humanities in Medicine program at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. She is also an Organization of American Historians’ (OAH) Distinguished Lecturer. A popular public speaker, she has published essays, book chapters, and blog pieces on a number of issues that concern African American experiences. Her first book, Medical Bondage: Race, Gender and the Origins of American Gynecology (UGA Press, 2017) won the 2018 Darlene Clark Hine Book Award from the OAH as the best book written in African American women’s and gender history.

    Deirdre Cooper Owens

  • Sarah Deer - April 7, 2022 - 7pm - Online - Webex

    Sarah Deer is a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma and a University Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas. Her 2015 book, The Beginning and End of Rape: Confronting Sexual Violence in Native America is the culmination of over 25 years of working with survivors and has received several awards, including the Best First Book award from the Native American Indigenous Studies Association.

    Sarah Deer

  • Denice Frohman - April 14, 2022 - 7:30 pm - Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, Kalamazoo College

    Denice Frohman is a poet, educator, and performer from New York City. She is a CantoMundo Fellow, former Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion, and National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures grant recipient. Her poems have appeared in The Adroit Journal, Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color, Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism, and garnered over 10 million views online. She’s featured on national and international stages, including The Apollo, The White House, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and over 200 colleges and universities. She has a Master’s in Education and co-organizes #PoetsforPuertoRico. She lives in Philadelphia.

    Denice Frohman