The MSU Women's Center is a department in the division of Student Affairs and was created to promote greater responsiveness to the needs of university women.  Our focus is to empower women and create an eqitable campus environment by offering educational programs to the university population about gender and women's issues. The Center is open to all students, staff, faculty, and community members, male and female. The Center is physically accessible and a place for students to stop by, relax, and explore their concerns, issues, and options through information and conversation. Campus and community members are encouraged to become involved in the Center through work-study, volunteer, and internship positions.

Hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. during the academic year when classes are in session.

Anyone is welcome to volunteer at the Women's Center in a variety of capacities. You can work with existing programs or coordinate new ones.

Internship opportunities and referrals are also available at the Center; just stop in and talk to a staff member for additional information.

For further information and specific details, contact the Women's Center either by phone @ 994-3836, via email at danforth@montana.edu, or by visiting our office in SUB room 372.

The staff at the Women's Center is prepared to answer questions or make referrals in areas such as academics, career choices, child care, counseling, crisis, employment, legal rights, re-entry, scholarships, and more.

The Geraldine Fenn Memorial Library is in the Women's Center and contains a large variety of reference materials. These materials can be checked out by students, staff, faculty and community members. The Center also subscribes to a few major feminist periodicals and alternative press publications.

The "Womanifesto" is our newsletter which contains news, herstory, book reviews, opinions, and calendars of events that are of special interest to women. The "Womanifesto" is published three or four times per year and is distributed on and off campus at no charge to the reader. Articles, illustrations and suggestions are welcomed and can be left at the Center.

Programs

Weekly Sack Lunch Seminars feature local, state, and sometimes national speakers. These informational seminars cover a wide variety of topics and convene every Wednesday from Noon - 1:00 pm in the Strand Union. The seminars are free, fun, and open to everyone!

The Shannon Weatherly Memorial Lecture Series is an annual event presented by the Women's Center in honor of past MSU student and Women's Center board member, Shannon Weatherly. An endowment was created by Shannon's family and friends to bring nationally known feminist speakers to the campus. These lectures are usually given during the fall semester; they are free and open to the public. Past presenters have included singer/songwriter Holly Near, psychologist and author Charlotte Davis Kasl, activist and award winning film-maker Stacy Kabat, cartoonist Nicole Hollander, scholar and author Dr. Juliet Schor, performance artist Alicia Quintano, comedienne Maria Falzone, and scholar Dr. Diana Russell.

National Women's History Month is March, and we like to celebrate this event all month! Through a variety of programs with guest speakers, films, displays, and articles, we highlight notable women in history and look at the latest focus among today's women historians.

The Latin American Speaker Series is an annual program co-sponsored with coomunity Action for Justice in the Americas and the Montana Human Rights Network each spring and features speakers who travel here from latin American to discuss their activism fostering peace in war-torn communities.