Transforming Scholarship: Why Women's and Gender Studies Students Are Changing Themselves and the World: A Practical Guide to Women's and Gender Studies

Transforming Scholarship is a user-friendly work of practical guidance and inspiration for supporting a student's interest in a Women's Studies degree. It focuses on three of the major barriers students face when exploring Women's Studies: a lack of awareness that Women's Studies constitutes an academic field; the negative response a student often faces when announcing to the world that he or she is interested in Women’s Studies; and the perceived lack of employment and career options that supposedly comes with graduating with a Women's Studies degree. This book will support students to think critically about what they know, how to demonstrate what they know, and how to prepare for life both personally and professionally after the degree.

Integrated into this book is the authors' research. They surveyed over 900 women’s and gender studies graduates (1995-2010) from around the globe ranging from Georgia State University to University of Ghana about their experiences as a student and their career paths. This is currently the largest global data set about contemporary women's and gender studies graduates!

Michele Tracy Berger is Associate Professor in the Department of Women’s Studies at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill. She holds adjunct appointments in the Department of Political Science and the Department of City and Regional Planning. Her books include Workable Sisterhood: The Political Journey of Stigmatized Women with HIV/AIDS (Princeton University Press, 2004) and the co-edited collections The Intersectional Approach: Transforming the Academy Through Race, Class and Gender (University of North Carolina Press, 2010) and Gaining Access: A Practical and Theoretical Guide for Qualitative Researchers (Altamira Press, 2003). Her teaching and research interests include multiracial feminisms, qualitative methods, and HIV/AIDS activism. She is also a lifestyle coach and conducts seminars on women and leadership and creativity. In 2004, she launched The Creative Tickle?, a coaching practice that focuses on innovation and resourcefulness development, helping individuals and organizations to understand and harness the power of creativity for the 21st century. Michele writes a blog about the everyday practice of creativity: http://micheleberger.wordpress.com/.

Cheryl Radeloff is a Disease Investigation and Intervention Specialist II with the Southern Nevada Health District. She is also an adjunct professor of Women’s Studies at the College of Southern Nevada. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2004. Her dissertation was entitled "Vectors, Polluters, and Murders: HIV Testing Policies toward Prostitutes in Nevada". Prior to joining the Southern Nevada Health District, she was an assistant professor of Women’s Studies at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She has co-authored several book chapters, including a chapter in Wright’s (Ed.) Sex Offender Laws: Failed Policies, New Directions entitled "Sex Offenders, Mandatory HIV Testing, and Intentional Transmission" (Springer Publishing Company, 2009) with Erica Carnes, a chapter in Atwood’s (Ed.) Porn.co: Making Sense of Online Pornography entitled "How do I Rate? Websites as Erotic Looking Glasses" (Peter Lang Publishing, 2009) with Dennis Waskul, as well as written essays on safer sex, feminist pedagogy, and feminist methodology. She is in the process of becoming certified as a sex educator with the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT)