2025 International Gender and Sexuality Studies Conference

October 10-11 | 9 a.m.
Nigh University Center

Our theme this year is “The Past as Knowledge.” Instead of defining the past as times, events, and modes of knowledge preceding the present moment, the 10th annual International Gender and Sexuality Studies (IGSS) Conference invites the many ways that people have based their future-forward thinking through engaging with and being inspired by the past. The past, in fact, has always been one with—and living among—the present. At a time when cultural amnesia and other forms of forgetting pervade every corner, how should we protect and make good use of archives as defense? How should the past be the current guide for our knowledge production? What epistemic value does the present-past offer us? Virginia Woolf, in Women and Writing, asks that we don’t ignore quotidian history, saying “It is only when we know what were the conditions of the average woman’s life . . . that we can account for the success or failure of the extraordinary woman as a writer.” Likewise, scholars such as Miriam David and Sue Clegg have resisted the temptation to obscure foundational second-wave feminist thinking in current research and practices. With your participation, we will take up many questions related to WGSS in multiple disciplines during our two-day conference, while sustaining a productive and positive space for students, scholars, activists, and community members alike.

This year’s keynote speaker will be Paula Sophia Schonauer (LCSW), a licensed social worker in the State of Oklahoma and the director of the Counseling Center at Oklahoma City University. A published writer, Schonauer has written fiction and on forensic social work. Schonauer’s talk will cover activism and social work in the mental and medical healthcare settings.

This conference is sponsored by the UCO chapter of the National Organization for Women. All are welcome to register.

Before submitting, please carefully review the event and your selections. Unless stated otherwise, the University of Central Oklahoma Foundation and its affiliates do not issue refunds on donations, registrations or any other services provided. In the event of inclement weather or unforeseen cancellation, the UCO Foundation thanks you for your donation.