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Mercer University > Community Engagement > Service-Learning > Women's and Gender Studies
Women’s and Gender Studies Program
201 Willingham Hall



Students in the Women's and Gender Studies (WGS) program are involved in bettering the lives of women by partnering with diverse community and international organizations. They work at the local battered women’s shelter, raise relief funds for the women of Darfur, sponsor an annual production of "The Vagina Monologues" to raise awareness of violence against women, and collect supplies for women in the local AIDS shelter.  WGS students have traveled to Tanzania and Kenya to distribute anti-malaria mosquito netting or to build water purification stations so that African women don’t have to walk miles everyday for drinking water.  Through the WGS program, Mercer is making a difference in the lives of women.

The WGS program offers diverse opportunities for students to be involved in:

  • community activism
  • lobbying at the state capitol
  • fund raising for local and international women’s organizations
  • study abroad service-learning courses in countries such as Guatemala and Kenya
  • scholarship and field research on women and gender
  • student organizations advocating for women’s health and safety


Other Service Projects Developing from this Program

  • Each year, the WGS program sponsors the Clothesline Project, a nationwide project showcasing T-shirts made by survivors of domestic abuse or sexual assault.
  • Students have compiled a directory of women-oriented social services to be made available throughout the Macon community.
  • Students collaborate with the Student Affairs office to create programming around the issues of alcohol abuse and sexual assault or date rape.
  • In addition to working directly with clients and their children, students support the Crisis Line and Safe House of Central Georgia by raising funds to provide new clothing for sexual assault victims and by assisting the capital campaign to build a new battered women’s shelter in Macon.

How to Get Involved

Most WGS courses have a service-learning component and are identified as “v” courses.  Students can also join student organizations that advocate for gender justice such as FMLA (Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance); Common Ground, Mercer’s gay-straight forum; and Amnesty International, which monitors the status of women internationally.

Faculty and Staff Contacts

Mary Alice Morgan
Director, Women’s and Gender Studies Program
morgan_ma@mercer.edu
(478) 301-2571

Carmen Hicks
Senior Administrative Assistant, Women's and Gender Studies Program
hicks_cg@mercer.edu
(478) 301-2562

 

“Service learning at the Safe House opened my eyes to the harsh reality of domestic violence in Macon and to the network of support necessary to assist those affected.  More importantly, working with the women there forced me to further action -- it became my responsibility to help.”
Katie Still ‘07

“Through my service-learning project at the AIDS Diversity House, I learned so much that I had forgotten about the joy of serving others.  My sense of community has changed to include the women of Diversity House and women like them.  On campus, it is easy to go weeks without seeing a single person in need except for the occasional homeless person at a gas station.  This is not the world in which I want to live.  The women of Diversity House opened my eyes to what a challenge these women really have.  They are separated from their families; they have to wake up each day reaching and searching for the positive--they are living with AIDS, not dying from AIDS.  I believe it is important when doing Women’s Studies to keep in mind that women are not statistics or case studies.  They are people with faces and lives, and we owe it to them to use what we learn for their benefit.”
Allison Byars ‘07

“With knowledge we carry a great burden, disguised as a blessing, to reach out to others.  Through service-learning projects in Women's and Gender studies, we work to heal the wounds of oppression, and in effect, we heal ourselves.”
Jacqueline Johnson ‘09

“I have found service-learning courses to be the most rewarding of my coursework.  Far from being easy, these courses challenge students to interact with people outside of the college bubble to find solutions to difficult questions.” 
Grey Morrison ‘09

“Though the prospect of service learning was initially intimidating, I found the process quite rewarding.  Getting my head out of my books and my hands into an active project not only gave me the opportunity to "do" feminism but also illuminated my study of feminist theory in a way that would not have been possible otherwise.”
April Trussell ‘05
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