The mission of the Women's Center is to assist students with a successful, positive college experience, and to help everyone in the UNL community understand the changing roles of women and men. The Women's Center is located in 340 Nebraska Union.

We have a library, a meeting room for discussion groups, and a lounge area for conversations, studying or just relaxing. Anytime the Nebraska Union is open you can read the bulletin boards and peruse the pamphlet racks in the hall outside the Women's Center.

Resource Library

Researching a paper or preparing a presentation about a gender issue? Looking for some fun fiction or a history of women and tattoos? Need passive programming for your hall as a Resident Assistant?

Welcome back to UNL and have a happy fall 2009 semester!

The Women’s Center Resource Library includes over 2600 books on women, men, and gender issues, such as women's poetry and fiction, legal references dealing with gender issues, and informational texts spanning from sexual health to women in history. We also have many posters and videos, perfect for resident hall passive programming or a unique movie night. Our collection is included in the UNL Libraries catalog.

November's Suggested Readings

Suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born November 12, 1815. Check out her book Eighty Years & More: Reminiscences 1815-1897…Studies in the Life of Women, or one of several other books written by or about her. “Eighty Years & More movingly describes the struggle of American women toward equality.”

Author Louisa May Alcott, famous for her novel Little Women, was born November 29, 1832. Check out Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott written under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard. Published from 1866 to 1867. Includes Behind a Mask, or A Woman’s Power; Pauline’s Passion and Punishment; The Mysterious Key and What it Opened; The Abbot’s Ghost, or Maurice Treherne’s Temptation.

November is Native American History Month. Here are some resources related to Native Americans and their heritage:

Fugitive Colors, a book of poetry by Chrystos, a woman of the Menominee Nation. Winner of the 1994 Audre Lorde Poetry competition for Lesbians of Color.

Storyteller by Leslie Marmon Silko. “Storytelling is an integral part of Native American tradition…[the author] re-creates the ancient stories, in prose and poetry...with the realities of her own experience.”

Spider Woman’s Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writing by Native American Women edited Paula Gunn Allen. “[B]rings to the page the light of thought about the past and present lives of Native people.”

Food & Spirits by Beth Brant (Degonwadonti). A “moving collection about going home. Home to the physical place where you can walk the same land traveled by your ancestors.” Brant is a Bay of Quinte Mohawk from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in Ontario, Canada, who has lived much of her life in Michigan.
Also by Brant: Mohawk Trail and Writing as Witness.

A Gathering of Spirit: A Collection by North American Indian Women edited by Beth Brant. Includes poems, narratives, essays, interviews, and artistic visual depictions.

Mankiller: A Chief and Her People by Wilma Mankiller and Michael Wallis (an autobiography).

The Ways of My Grandmothers by Beverly Hungry Wolf.

Two Spirit People edited by Lester B. Brown, PhD, and Two-Spirit People: Native American Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Spirituality edited by Sue-Ellen Jacobs, Wesley Thomas, and Sabine Lang, which discuss sex-roles, sexuality, and gender in Native American communities.

We also have several posters featuring Native American history and influential Native American and Native Hawaiian Women.

Meet the Undergraduate Staff

The Resource/Library Assistant, Shasta, maintains our video, book and periodical collections and assists students in using those resources. She is always looking for new ideas about books and materials to order for our library, so let us know your suggestions. You can contact her at 472-2597 ext. 4 or womenscenterlibrary@yahoo.com.

The Volunteer Coordinator, Heidi, recruits, trains and maintains communication with the many volunteers who help us provide gender related programs to the campus. With the assistance of our volunteers she keeps the bulletin boards on the third floor interesting and informative. Visit our volunteer opportunities page to find an application, or come to the Women's Center. You can contact Heidi at 472-2597 ext. 3 or WC_VolCoor@yahoo.com.

The Programming Assistant takes a leading role in creating and publicizing educational and entertaining programs (such as speakers or concerts) related to gender issues. Kimberly works with other campus departments and student organizations to develop programs which will reflect the interests and needs of a wide range of students. If you are interested in a book discussion or have ideas for other programs, contact Kimberly at 472-2597 ext. 2.

The Men's Outreach and Education Coordinator, Justin, recruits and trains male volunteers who want to work to end violence against women and to challenge the gender stereotypes that are harmful to all of us. He collaborates with other organizations and departments to create programming that encourages men to explore society's ideas about men's roles and masculinity. Contact Brady at 472-2597 ext. 5 to join this effort.