Faculty & Staff
The Women's and Gender Studies Department is truly interdisciplinary. WGS has four core faculty that are each jointly-appointed to both WGS and a “home” department. Additionally, faculty from other Cal Poly departments also teach for WGS. All regular WGS instructional faculty serve together on the Women's and Gender Studies Advisory Board. Advisory Board members share their valuable perspectives and experience with the department and are dedicated to supporting WGS as it strives to enrich the curriculum and empower students. Please find below, first, the WGS core faculty, second, the list of faculty who constitute the additional members of the WGS Advisory Board, and finally, information about WGS staff.
Back Row: Andrea Nash, Jane Lehr, B. Christine Shea, Devin Kuhn, Patrice Engle, Rachel Fernflores
Front Row: Jean Williams, Mary Armstrong (on leave 2009-10), Shawn Burn
Missing: Camille O'Bryant, Jean Wetzel
WGS Core Faculty
Shawn Burn (2009-10 Interim WGS Chair)
Dr. Burn is Professor of Psychology and Child Development. She is the author of The Social Psychology of Gender (McGraw-Hill) and Women Across Cultures: A Global Perspective (Mayfield/McGraw-Hill). She has conducted research on gender as a social identity, tomboyism, gender conflict, and prejudice against gays and lesbians. Dr. Burn also works with Cal Poly's sexual assault risk reduction program (SAFER). Dr. Burn teaches Women in Cross Cultural Perspectives (WGS 311).
Mary Armstrong, (on-leave 2009-10)
Dr. Armstrong is an Associate Professor of English and Women's & Gender Studies, as well as Chair of Women's and Gender Studies (Ph.D., English, and Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies, Duke University). Her research focuses on LGBT issues/Queer Studies and on the role of Women’s Studies in advancing equity in the STEM disciplines; her work in literature explores how Victorian fiction organizes/is organized by the formulation of modern sexual identities. Professor Armstrong has authored numerous articles on feminist theory, as well as essays on Victorian writers such as Charles Dickens and Charlotte Brontë. Dr. Armstrong teaches Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies (WGS 301), Sexuality Studies (WGS 340), Seminar in Women's and Gender Studies (WGS 401), Feminist Theory (WGS 450), and Women Writers (ENGL 345).
Rachel Fernflores (WGS core faculty)
Dr. Fernflores is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Women's & Gender Studies (Ph.D., Philosophy, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada). Much of her work involves examining intersections between issues in philosophy of interpretation and feminist concerns about the adequacy of language to express the truth about women's experiences. Dr. Fernflores teaches Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies (WGS 301), Feminist Theory (WGS 450), and Ethics, Gender, and Society (PHIL 336).
Devin Kuhn (WGS core faculty)
Dr. Kuhn is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Women's & Gender Studies (Ph.D., Women's Studies in Religion, Claremont Graduate University). Her research interests include women's moral agency, religion and popular culture, and ethics of social justice. Her dissertation investigated ways that transgressive forms of femininity are used to subvert patriarchal militarism and to develop an ethic of joyful resistance as a source of political transformation. Dr. Kuhn teaches Religion, Gender and Society (WGS/RELS 370).
Jane Lehr (WGS core faculty)
Dr. Lehr is an Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies and Women's & Gender Studies. She received her PhD (2006) and MS (2002) in Science & Technology Studies from Virginia Tech, with concentrations in the social, cultural, and political studies of science and technology, and Women's Studies. In 2005-06, she served as a Post-Doctoral Research Officer in the Center for Informal Learning and Schools (NSF ESI-0119787) in the Department of Education and Professional Studies at King's College London. Her current research explores the relationships between science and engineering education and issues of social justice and social responsibility. Dr. Lehr teaches Gender, Race, Science, and Technology (WGS/ES 350).
Additional WGS Advisory Board Members
Patrice Engle
Dr. Engle is Associate Chair and Professor of Psychology and Child Development at Cal Poly State University. She is a developmental psychologist specializing in the relationships between nutrition and child development, and women's status and empowerment. Her research includes the impact of women's work on child outcomes, role of men in families, and the psychological context of feeding in malnourished populations. She was Senior Advisor for Early Childhood Development at UNICEF in New York for almost 5 years, and was chief of Nutrition and Child Development in India for UNICEF for over 2 years. She has consulted for WHO and the World Bank, and received her Ph.D. from Stanford. Women in Cross Cultural Perspectives (WGS 311).
Camille O'Bryant
Dr. O'Bryant is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees from Smith College ( Northampton , MA ) and her Ph.D. in Sport, Leisure, and Somatic Studies from the Ohio State University. Her areas of specialty include sociological and psychological aspects of sport and physical activity, aquatics and emergency response (first aid, CPR) training. Her specific areas of interest are in social justices, gender, and race/ethnicity issues in physical activity and sport. Dr. O'Bryant has published articles and made a variety of scholarly presentations on how race/ethnicity and gender impact socialization into sport-related careers. She teaches a variety of courses in Kinesiology. She is also co-chair of Cal Poly's Black Faculty and Staff Association as well as a member of the board of directors for the Sexual Assault Recovery and Prevention (SARP) Center of San Luis Obispo County. Dr. O'Bryant teaches Sport and Gender (KINE 323).
B. Christine Shea
Dr. Shea is the author of more than 30 papers, articles, and book chapters on organizational behavior, communication, and gender issues. Her current research interests include fairness in the workplace and women's employment. Dr. Shea serves on the board of directors for the San Luis Obispo Rape Crisis Center and is involved in educating the public about violence prevention. Dr. Shea teaches Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies (WGS 301), Gender and Health (WGS 401), Women in the Workplace (WGS 401), and Gender and Communication (SCOM 421).
Jean Wetzel
Dr. Wetzel received a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Kansas. Her specialty is the history of Chinese painting. At Cal Poly, she teaches courses in Asian Art, Buddhist Art, and most aspects of Western art, including a course on women in art. Her recent publications have focused on the study of courtesan culture and the role of women of the courtesan class as painters during the Ming Dynasty in China. Dr. Wetzel teaches Women as Subject and Object in Art (WGS/ART 316).
Jean Williams
Dr. Williams is an Associate Professor in the Political Science department. Her areas of specialty include the politics of gender, race, and class, social welfare policy, and urban politics. Dr. Williams has published articles on social movements, sex education policy, and homeless and battered women. She is the author of A Roof Over My Head: Homeless Women and The Shelter Industry (2003), and The Politics of Virginity: Abstinence in Sex Education (2008) with Alesha Doan. Dr. Williams teaches Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies (WGS 301) and The Politics of Ethnicity and Gender (POLS 310).
Staff
The WGS Department is extremely happy to enjoy the continued organizational skills, as well as the professional support, of the WGS Administrative Support Coordinator, Ms. Andrea Nash. Ms. Nash won College of Liberal Arts award for outstanding staff member in 2004 as a result of her dedication, loyalty, and commitment to working with faculty to produce the best scholarly program of which the WGS Department is capable.
