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What to do with a degree in Women's Studies?

Change in Direction Leads to "Global" Career

Alison Reeves entered Ohio State as a zoology major to become a veterinarian, but a course on U.S. women writers pointed her in a new direction. Finding herself passionate about reading, she changed her major to English and Women's Studies. Her Women's Studies adviser, Mary Margaret Fonow, suggested she do an internship at The Ohio State University Press, which convinced her to pursue a career in book publishing. Alison then completed a master's degree in liberal studies.

Alison Reeves.Following graduation, Alison was a sales representative for Longman Publishing Group in Illinois. Penn State University Press then hired her as assistant marketing manager and publicist. She became director of marketing and sales at Wayne State University Press in 1997.

In 2001, Alison was hired as a publicist and is now the publicity manager in the communications division of the National Geographic Society, one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888, the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet with its monthly journal, four magazines; National Geographic Channel; and various other media. The Society has also funded more than 8,000 scientific research projects. Its Explorers-in-Residence (EIR) program has Alison currently handling a bio-geographer; documentary filmmakers; an evolutionary geneticist; and an anthropologist.

Promotion of six New York Times bestsellers, including March of the Penguins, is among Alison's credits. She's partnered with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on Baseball as America: Seeing Ourselves Through Our National Game and Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African American Baseball. She worked on Native Universe: Voices of Indian America, the inaugural book for the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

A U.S. book tour for Hidden Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Unearthing the Masterpieces of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (by EIR Zahi Hawass) prompted Alison to visit Egypt, her most rewarding experience to date. Her recent PR work on The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival & Hope (by Zainab Salbi, whose father was Saddam Hussein's personal pilot), Alison says, "really reminded me of my years in the women's studies department at Ohio State; I am grateful for my experience there."

Other interesting projects – too numerous to mention – inspire Alison daily: "Although I did not become a veterinarian, my liberal arts degrees opened me up to a career in book publishing and now a career at the National Geographic Society that allows me to pursue all of my passions and interests."

The following letter was received from one of our Spring 2006 graduates:

September 26, 2006
I want to send a big thank you to the entire department for an amazing undergraduate education that not only facilitates critical thinking and engages me with the world around me, but demands that I be socially responsible and authentically active within my community to make it a better place for all people. A appreciate so much the work of my instructors and professors, and the administration, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for creating a program of study, in which I can claim loudly and proudly that my degree was conferred.

I am currently in the middle of the exciting and rigorous law school application process, hoping to specialize in social justice or public interest law, at Notre Dame or Howard University (keep your fingers crossed for me). I am working at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP here in Columbus as a Project Assistant, but hoping to move into a position with the non-profit Ohio CDC Association in the coming months. Hopefully I will be working on a program started through a federal grant concerning IDA’s.

You will be happy to know that I convinced by younger sister (a hard science nerd, and Freshman) to take a work study position in the Department of Women’s Studies at St. Louis University, where she assures me that the OSU Department is highly respected, and also that the staff is familiar with you all and your hard work to cultivate a reputation for gender studies in the academy. I’ll make a humanities major out of her yet!

Thanks again to the Women’s Studies family for your amazing support and challenging curriculum over the past three years. You changed the way I see my world and the way I see myself in its context, and I owe you a debt of gratitude that I fear might never be able to be repaid! Signed --- Mary-Patricia Livengood, Spring 2006 Graduate of Women’s Studies.

We asked some of our recent Women's Studies graduates what their plans were after graduation and here are their answers.

"I'm doing really well and am loving DC.  I'm working on my master's at American in Justice, Law & Society.  It's been great so far, but I'm really missing women's studies, so I'm taking a feminist philosophy class this semester which is really good so far. Beside class, I've been busy with work and internships and lots of activities.  I finished up my public policy internship with the Girl Scouts in December and started a new job with the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence.  I work with our court advocacy program and help the women obtain protection orders, emergency shelter, counseling and a variety of other things.  We're also starting a new pilot program to provide on call advocates for the police department to help the victims right after the incident as opposed to having them wait to come to the courthouse.  I've also been interning part time with the Rebecca Project.  We focus on women and drug abuse and advocate for family treatment programs.  I'm doing some really interesting research and even get to go do different meetings at the House and Senate to help advocate for better funding for treatment programs. I'm directing the Vagina Monologues again at American, so it's been pretty hectic getting everything ready for the show at the end of the month.  I've also been really involved with the Women's Information Network (a huge group of pro-choice democratic women in DC) and have been able to help plan events, go to conferences, press briefings and lots of networking and social events." Nicky Smolter

"Since graduating in March, 2003, my Women's Studies degree has led me all the way to San Francisco, where I am director of development for NARAL Pro-Choice California. Prior to my present position, I served as Education Coordinator for the ACLU of Ohio and Interim Development Director for Fred Finch Youth Center in Oakland, California. My education in Women's Studies developed my abilities as a writer, critical thinker, and leader, and provided me with a knowledge of feminism and women's history that I put to direct use in my current position." Dana Textoris

"I graduated with a major in economics and a minor in Women's Studies in 1987. Since then I have worked for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction as a Correction Officer, Account Clerk, Internal Auditor, and a Budget Analyst. I've always said a Women's Studies student encounters real life when her first post undergraduate job is in a women's penitentiary. Currently, I'm a student in Public Policy & Management, pursuing an MPA."

"I plan on attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and will be enrolled in the Library Science program. Women's Studies has greatly influenced my career strategies, in that I will be much more aware of diversity and will be diverse as a librarian."

"I will be getting a photography certificate and will be working in the media. Women's studies has made me more aware of how women are represented in the media and I would like to influence change."

"My career will be starting as the Project Director of Asian American Community Services. Women's Studies has taught me to negotiate for higher pay. I will also be using what I learned to help with social justice issues."

"I'll be attending DePaul University, Chicago, to earn my Masters of Education, Middle School degree. I want to teach Peer Power (an OSU Women's Studies course) everyday."

"I don't have a job lined up yet, but having experienced a Women's Studies education, I am certainly more aware of the need for community involvement and hope to make my own contribution wherever I end up. My priorities have definitely changed, and I know my own political awareness and involvement has influenced me to talk about issues with my friends and family, and hopefully they too will get involved in their own communities."

"I will be pursuing Holocaust Studies. Hopefully, my Women's Studies background will land me a good job between graduation and grad school."

"I will be applying to Law School working on a degree in labor law or electoral law - whatever I feel will best help me get the "foot" off of poor peoples' heads. I became a Women's Studies major because I thought it would be very useful in my future activism. This has definitely turned out to be true. The facts I've learned about social issues in such classes as Gender and Public Policy, Reproductive Rights, and Gender Discrimination have honed my understanding of the position of oppressed peoples within the United States legal system. I wouldn't be an activist without Women's Studies and maybe not a lawyer. My Women's Studies classes were exactly what I needed."

"After graduation I will apply to the Ph.D. program in History. Women's Studies has influenced my occupational choices, because I see myself looking for a position in a company that will utilize gender analysis."

"I am planning to pursue a Ph.D. in clinical or counseling psychology with concentration on women's issues and the psychology of women. Through the Women's Studies Department I have become involved with the Sexual Assault Response Network of Central Ohio as a Helpline volunteer. Women's Studies has definitely influenced my decision to focus on women's issues in psychology."

"After graduation I'm going to grad school for an MA in counseling in education. Women's Studies has opened my eyes about the unequal treatment of women in every aspect of life, and I hope I will be able to change things throughout my career."

"My aim is to work in a social or environmental justice field or to teach sex education. My Women's Studies education has demonstrated to me the NEED to be active in working on issues - global, national and local. I realize that it takes a lot of work and dedication to make changes happen. My Women's Studies education has affirmed to me the need to actively participate in the propagation of issues that are important to me. No longer will I sit around complaining."

"My Women's Studies Minor has made me more dedicated to finding/exploring careers that would use my communications skills to help women - perhaps with women's health or working for a non-profit women's agency. Women's Studies has had much impact on my community involvement because I now seek out programs to be involved with that center around helping women - from a walk against breast cancer to Take Back the Night. As a victim of violence, it helped me put this event in perspective and taught me how and what to teach my women friends about preventing violence. Women's Studies 210 was just an awesome all-around class that made me want to further my education in Women's Studies."

Careers That Past Women's Studies Graduates Have Chosen

Please e-mail us at obrien.32@osu.edu to let us know how you have been using your Women's Studies education since graduation.

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Background Art: "You Can Make Statistics Look Like Whatever You Want" by fiber artist Carol Phillips Whitt