Letter from Sara Coulter and Elaine Hedges to all faculty

[handwritten: Sent to all faculty in April '72 w/ copies of Female Studies contents left in all dept. offices] TO: Faculty r'flOM: Sara Coulter and Elaine Hedges, Co-coordinators of the Women's Studies Committee S!JBJ~CT: Women• s Studies Course~ One of the most rapidly developing national trends in college and university education is the addition to the curriculum of women's studies courses and the revision of traditional eourses to ensure a more just and adequate representation of women. To suggest some of the activity in this area, there are at least 600 women's studies courses presently offered in colleges and universities across the nation, publishers are belng urged to bring textbook materials at all levels (elementary school through college) into line with new information on women and to publish materiai on women that they have hitherto neglected, periodicals and newsletters devoted to women and women's studies are increasing rapidly, doctoral and postdoctoral research on women and their role is advancing at a rapid pace, and regional meetings of college and university faculty and administrators to discuss and exchange information on women's studies are being held in many places across the nation. The energy, activity, and variety of point of view is immense and impressive, but what is perhaps most reassuring in all this sound and fury, at least from the point of view of the faculty member contemplating ct1rriculum changes, is the basic soundness of the subject for study from the point of view of many dh;cipliries and the intellectual stature and academic credentials of thcs e 1'fho are leading the movement in the universities and colleges. Even the larger foundations (Ford, Carnegie, Rockefeller) are acknowledging the importance of women's studies and have met with a group of nationally prominent women to be advi.sed on how to invest their money in this effort. In Maryland, and especial1y in the Baltimore area, there is considerable interest in women's studius, and information is just now being exchanged on the courses available and planned at Towson, UMBC, Notre Drune, the community colleges, and other institutions. A guide to courses and programs in Mar:y land will soon be published by the Maryland Commission on the Status of Women. At Towson we have a commitment on thE~ part of the Administration to develop women's studie~ coun1e~; under the coordj nation of a Women's Studies Committee appointed by Dean Shaw. Faculty in the departments of Art, 1~:nglish, History, Modern Languages, Philosophy I and ::;oc j ology are already plannj ng and/or off er:i.ng courses in women's studies, and we hope that more f~culty will soon be sending us course proposals for their individual disciplines. The cour~~es 00 far have been regular departmental offerings which can be counted by the student toward elective credjt in the depart.mental major or, if the number of courses later permits, toward a concentration in women's studies under the General Studies option of the Arts and Science Major. We also hope to develop interdisciplinary courses. For your convenience in reviewing the courses offered at other institutions a copy of the table of contents of Female Studies I, II, II I, and TV has been left with thE:1 secretary in each department office. Tne comp]ete volumes of Female Studtes are available on campus in Cook Library and in The 1,,Jomen•s Center (Temp A-1} or can be purchased from Know, Inc., P.O. Box 10197, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15232. They include explanations of wemen•s studies programs, a large number of course descriptions and syllabi., and es~ays by instructors in the courses analyzing their experience. Towson recHives specific mention in I.TI, p. 178, and IV, p. vi. We are pleased to have recelved a separc1te library budget for women I s studies and wou.ld bri.ng to your attention the extensive number of books ( over 1100) already ordered in Lhb area during the past year (a complete .List is available from Jane Sheets). Any faculty members intert1~;ted in offering courses in women's studies or, equally impc,rtant, in i_mprovin~ the representation of women in already established courses, please contact Sara Coulter (via maiJ to the Eng.li~·;h Department or phone at x!,89 or 821-8366) or any other member of the Women's Studies Committee. Women• s Studies Committee Sara Coulter, English Jo Ann Fuchs, Philosophy ~laine Hedges, English Eric Miller, Art Donald Mulcahey, Evening College Fred Hivers, History Jane Sheets, Modern languages John Toland, Sociology Note: The Mini.mester might furnish a convenient opportunity to experiment with a women's studies appr0ach jn a particular discipline. The deadline for submission of Minimesters proposals to the College Curriculum Committee is May 15.