Jan. 18, 2010

Sandra Harding to visit Morningside College as part of women’s studies series

Dr. Sandra Harding, an internationally renowned scholar, will discuss how science issues are different for women around the world, and what concerns their issues raise about sciences in the modern West, during a lecture at Morningside College at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3, in the UPS Auditorium in Lincoln Center, 3627 Peters Ave.

“Modern Western sciences are immensely powerful all over the world,” said Harding, who is renowned for her research on women’s knowledge around the globe. “We want our sciences to improve life for people, so we need more accurate understandings of what their effects have been in the past and what they could be in the future.”

Also while at Morningside College, Harding will lead a workshop and present a program as part of the Friday is Writing Day series. All of these events are free and open to the public.

Harding is visiting Morningside College as part of the Dr. R. Franklin Terry Women’s Studies Lecture and Faculty Development Series, an effort to bring a leading women’s studies scholar to campus every semester for three years.

"Dr. Harding is a shining example of an international, interdisciplinary scholar,” said Dr. Marty Knepper, professor and chair of English at Morningside and coordinator of the Dr. R. Franklin Terry Women’s Studies Lecture and Faculty Development Series.  “We are honored to have a women's studies speaker of her stature in Siouxland as part of the Terry series."

A professor of women’s studies and education at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Harding has taught at the University of Delaware and at universities in the Netherlands, Costa Rica, Switzerland and Thailand. She has served as director of the women’s studies programs at UCLA and the University of Delaware, and was co-editor of Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, one of the leading international women’s studies journals.

Harding has served as a consultant for several United Nations organizations, including the Pan American Health Organization; the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the U.N. Development Fund for Women; and the U.N. Commission on Science and Technology for Development.

She is the author or editor of 15 books and special journal issues, including “The Science Question in Feminism,” “Feminism and Methodology: Social Science Issues” and “Is Science Multicultural? Postcolonialisms, Feminisms, and Epistemologies.” She has a doctorate in philosophy from New York University.

Harding will discuss her work as a writer during a brown-bag lunch presentation at noon Feb. 3 in the Roadman Formal Lounge, 3600 Peters Ave.

She will present a workshop called “Our Knowledge and Theirs: What Can We Learn from Other Cultures’ Knowledge Systems?” from 3 to 5 p.m. Feb. 3 in the Yockey Family Community Room of the Olsen Student Center, 3609 Peters Ave. The workshop will examine the interactions of different knowledge systems – for example, how Western pharmaceutical companies use the knowledge of indigenous peoples – and the moral, political and legal issues that arise. To register for the free workshop, contact Marcie Ponder at ponder@morningside.edu.

This women’s studies series is named for Dr. R. Franklin Terry, who joined the Morningside faculty in 1967 and served the college for 25 years. As a professor of religious studies and later as academic dean, Terry championed the liberal arts and social justice. For these qualities and his significant support of feminism on campus and in the community, Morningside honors Terry with this women’s studies series.

Harding’s visit is sponsored by the former Siouxland Center for Women, the Dr. R. Franklin Terry Women’s Studies Lecture and Faculty Development Series Fund; and Morningside College.