Student Center
Welcome to our new page just for students! Here you will find things such as student events, department events, classes that may interest you, clubs(round table), and student newsletters. You will also have the Academic calendar so you can keep up with enrollments, add/drop, and if you need to change/add a major or minor.
CLAS Departmental Senior Recognition Award (2024)
WGS is excited to recognize Aileen Campbell, both for her strong work as a student and also for her leadership role in the UMaine branch of TRIOTA, the national honor society for WGS. Through her involvement in a variety of projects, including advocacy and outreach to high school students about WGS studies, Aileen has exhibited her passion for WGS studies while helping to make TRIOTA far more than a credential for a resume. Instructors who have worked with Aileen also uniformly speak to her strengths as a student. Aileen is a math and WGS double-major and many of her instructors spoke to her combined skills in math and WGS methods and perspectives. A highlight in Aileen’s career at UMaine was her work in her internship in fall 2023 with the Penobscot Nation. As an intern, Aileen helped to develop a survey and interpret the data on their youth services program, all the while not losing sight of the human beings behind the data.
The WGS Program announces the Constance “Connie” Fournier Student Travel Award
The Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program has established a new travel award, thanks to a generous bequest by a donor.
The Constance “Connie” Fournier Student Travel Award will be available to all UMaine undergraduate or graduate students whose research, scholarship, or creative/professional work incorporates feminist methods or perspectives or addresses issues of equity and justice. This award program is funded by a donation from the late Constance “Connie” Fournier, a world traveler and educator with a passion for Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
The award provides up to 600 dollars in travel expenses for conferences or other professional events to be attended this spring or summer.
You can find more information here.
Past Recipients of the Constance “Connie” Fournier Student Travel Award
TRAVEL DATES: MAY 11-29, 2025
FOR AN APPLICATION
CONTACT
Sandra L. Caron, Ph.D
Professor of Family Relations/Human Sexuality scaron@maine.edu – 207-581-3138
ABOUT THIS TRAVEL COURSE
This three week travel study program provides students with a broad international perspective on how other cultures deal with sexual and reproductive health issues.
We will visit sites in London, England, Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Stolkholm, Sweden and compare how these countries deal with issues such as teen pregnancy, contraception, abortion, sexuality education, and public policy issues related to HIV/AIDS, sexual oreintation, and prostitution.
Special lectures, field trips and on-site briefings will provide the opportunity for students to question assumptions about culture and sexuality, and to learn from societies that have different solutions to similar problems.
- This is a Spring course with a few planning meetings
- Travel will take please May 11-29, 2025
- Cost: 3 credits of tutition PLUS $5,500 program fee
- A valid passport and proof of health insurance
- Prerequisite: CHF 351 Human Sexuality or equivalent
Student Forms & Newsletters
WGS INTERNS (2023- Current)
Campus Resources
The WGS Honors’ Society is Fundraising for the Homeless Displaced from Camp Hope
By Ryan Day
October 20th, 2023
Behind the Hope House Health and Living Center is where Bangor’s largest homeless encampment, Camp Hope (also known as Tent City), had established itself to shelter a large group of Bangor’s homeless population. On the day of writing, October 20th, 2023, city officials began a sweep to forcibly remove any occupants from the Camp premises that had “refused” outreach assistance. In an attempt to lessen the crisis for those involved, members of the University of Maine’s TRIOTA (the National Women’s Gender Studies Honors’ Society) have begun accepting donations on behalf of the Greater Bangor Houseless Collective to attempt to lessen the immense blow to those affected by this sweep and recoup lost possessions. To learn more about their efforts and the severity of the issue at hand, I spoke to the team of students accepting donations on behalf of TRIOTA.
It was through this conversation that I learned the suddenness of the situation, with Camp Hope’s residents only receiving a five day notice of the city’s intentions. This short time frame ensures chaos for these Camp residents, with many not even fully sure of who exactly is going to be affected due to a lack of thorough communication. According to Sawyer Loftus from the Bangor Daily News, “Some people said they thought the X’s meant they would be removed from the site; they even scraped them off their tents. Other people thought that if their belongings had X’s, it meant they could stay.” Their existence is to be uprooted with only paper notices posted on trees, not official bulletins or buildings, informing them of such, and with less than a week to prepare. With a lack of clean homes that abide by Title 8’s requirements, either because of the low number of available locations or because of landlord disinterest, there is no clear solution for these people forced from their community and possessions that will be assuredly lost in this chaotic exile will be near-impossible to replace without outside assistance.
Bangor has had a poor history with its homeless population, with the recent April sweep of Valley Avenue failing to properly rehouse all of its residents after promises to, and the 2021 sweep of the Interstate 395 bridge leading to the death of three homeless men in a fire (Loftus). According to Kathleen O’Brien, also writing for the Bangor Daily News, the city has offered storage space for those affected but is also threatening those who refuse to leave or were unable to in time with trespassing charges, adding to the chaos of the situation. As such, TRIOTA, on behalf of the Greater Bangor Houseless Collective, is doing all they can to support these displaced individuals, accepting donations of clothes, blankets, sanitary products, and other necessities in the Central Union today from 10am until 2pm. However, their fundraising efforts won’t end today. The students I spoke with informed me that a box for donations will still be available in the Central Union for the entirety of next week, and monetary donations through Venmo will be accepted as well during that period.