A note from the Chair:
L. Kaifa Roland
Chair, Women & Gender Studies
I am proud to extend a special congratulations to all our graduates! Although you are graduating into truly unique circumstances, we can鈥檛 lose sight of the uniqueness of each one of you and the gifts that you will bring to the world. We are also proud to introduce the students receiving this year's WGST scholarships and awards. We are gathering together on Zoom for a virtual ceremony, and have created this "virtual yearbook" to honor each of our graduates and award recipients, with special messages from some of our faculty, staff and students -- we hope you enjoy it!
CU was one of the very first women鈥檚 studies programs in the country鈥攁nd for that matter, one of the first in the world! Our students are part of a long and proud tradition in the study of women, gender, and sexuality. Our majors and minors and certificate recipients should be justifiably proud to be part of this intellectual tradition.
In a normal year, I would share how the 162 Women and Gender Studies majors and minors we have today鈥攍ike those of the past鈥攁re committed to academia and service to the community. Certainly, our students are recipients of the highest and most select honors for academic excellence as well as their extracurricular and volunteer pursuits. WGST majors and minors regularly excel across their courses at CU, and more than 1/3 of WGST students pursue a double major鈥攏ot to mention their paid work and the volunteer pursuits as they mobilize to enact social justice at every level. They leave CU with a local and global outlook, with plenty to say to about changing world!
But this year, I contend that grades and accolades are only part of our students鈥� success story. Beyond the inequities revealed by the pandemic, with media images of violence and death perpetrated on black, Asian, indigenous, Sikh, trans, queer, and all manner of bodies moving ever closer to the 鈥溌槎褂霸� bubble,鈥� we honor the fortitude each and every graduate has had to display just to arrive at this moment. What you have learned as members of this community is not to let this 鈥渘ew normal鈥� stand.
We look forward to seeing the mark you will make on our changing world. Congratulations class of 2021! We are proud of each and every one of you. Please stay in touch!
"That deep and irreplaceable knowledge of my capacity for joy comes to demand from all my life that it be lived within the knowledge that such satisfaction is possible." 
