Sack Lunch Seminars

Sack Lunch Seminars are Free, Informal, and Open to Everyone!

Bring your lunch and join us!

"For what is done or learned by one class of women becomes, by virtue of their common womanhood, the property of all women."

-Elizabeth Blackwell (first U.S. female physician)

January 25 How to Relax When You're Busy

SUB 168 Noon-1pm

Join Dr. Shapiro for this workshop in relaxation techniques offered to patients of MSU’s Student Health for sixteen years. Learn practical, self-soothing techniques that can be practiced anywhere and provide a respite from stress and tension. Instruction includes patterned breathing, visualization, and auto-suggestion.

February 1 Refugee Women: Building Community Through Technology

SUB 168 Noon-1pm

The Women's Refugee Commission reports there are currently 42 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) worldwide. Of these, 80% are women, children and young people. Women are particularly vulnerable in situations of forced displacement, often facing gender-based violence and sexual abuse. Female refugees who have resettled in developing countries often have difficulties adjusting to their new lives and may lack opportunities to develop language and career skills in their new countries. Jessica Marks, a Masters student in the Public Administration program, is working on a project to create online educational opportunities and community networking for resettled refugee women. Join this discussion to learn about the many challenges facing refugee women, celebrate their strengths, and see how you can contribute to this growing project.

February 8 Advancing Women's Rights: Views From Cuba

SUB 168 Noon-1 p.m.

Want to see Cuba up close and personal? Ever wonder why the majority of scientists, doctors, teachers and technicians are women on this small island? Or why gender equality, education, and health care are priorities for Cuba? Join Adele Pittendrigh, Seminar Director and former Associate Dean of CLS (MSU) and Jan Strout, Adjunct Faculty and co-chair of the US Women and Cuba Collaboration, as they share tales of adventures and lessons from Cuba. With an illustrated presentation, see Cuba's natural beauty and hear stories of their experiences participating in the 2011 International Women's Conference at the University of Havana and traveling across the island as part of the US Women's Research Delegation.

February 15 Migraine Headaches in Women

SUB 168 Noon- 1 p.m.

Join us for this presentation with Dr. Debra Hill-Busselle who will address the fact that migraine headaches are much more common in women. Twenty-five percent of women have migraines, yet only 50% of people with migraines have been properly diagnosed. Migraines are often misdiagnosed as stress and tension headaches, and Dr. Hill-Busselle will discuss what a migraine headache is, what common triggers may be, and the influence of hormones on migraines and what we can do to treat these highly painful headaches.

February 22 Eating Disorders: Hope and Healing

Procrastinator Theater, SUB Noon-1pm

Come join Marlisa A. Papp, Certified Holistic Health Educator & Licensed Addiction Counselor, as we celebrate and commemorate National Eating Disorder Awareness Week for a discussion of the possibility of recovery and how people have fully healed and survived this sometimes deadly disease. Learn how many are living full and productive lives free from obsession with food and body image by learning the causes of Disordered Eating, practicing the benefits of mindfulness, letting go of core beliefs, and holding on verses letting go. Each person's journey towards healing is as unique as the individual. Marlisa will share both her professional and personal experience and her journey towards healing from anorexia and bulimia. She will discuss helpful tips for those who continue to suffer and what the road to recovery looks like.

February 29 International Views of Women: Trends and Issues in Education

SUB 168 Noon-1pm

The Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA) of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. State Department, provides secondary-school teachers from Europe, Eurasia, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Western Hemisphere with unique opportunities to develop expertise in their subject areas, enhance their teaching skills, and increase their knowledge about the United States. TEA teachers traveled to the U.S. to participate in a six-week professional development program at MSU beginning in February. This event, presented by MSU's Office of International Programs in partnership with the Bozeman Public schools and MSU's Department of Education to welcome twenty-two English teachers to Bozeman, a handful of whom will discuss educational issues in their respective countries and how these issues affect them as women.

March 7 The Awakening of New Womanhood in America

SUB 168 Noon-1pm

This women’s history seminar, led by Mary Biehl, a PhD student in American Studies at MSU, focuses on the late 19th century American feminist ideal of the New Woman – a woman who pushed against the limits that society placed upon her between the 1890s and the 1920s. Rather than subscribe to the tenants of the Victorian-American Cult of Domesticity, most of the primarily middle-class New Women left the sphere of the home to pursue the “unfeminine” worlds of higher education, working professionals and politics on the grounds of there being equality between the sexes. Mary will discuss how aspects of New Womanhood intertwined with the suffragette movement into what we know today as First-Wave Feminism and will also visually trace the portrayals and perceptions of New Women through various mediums of turn-of-the century American culture, such as literature, advertisements, essays, art, theater, etc.

March 21 Naturalizing Gender Hierarchies and the Invention of Sex in the Eighteenth-Century

SUB 168 Noon-1pm

Contemporary scholars are increasingly willing to discuss the construction of gender, but often overlook the historical construction of sex. Throughout the eighteenth-century, Enlightenment science encouraged the exploration and categorization of the natural world, leading to the invention of the biological sexes. Join Natalie Scheidler, graduate student in the MSU History program specializing in race and gender in U.S. History, for this discussion of the ways in which understanding how identities have historically been assigned to biological and gendered bodies assists in the understanding of contemporary sex and gender norms. More importantly, it identifies spaces for the reconstruction of conceptions of the biological sexes and the identities associated with the biological and gendered body.

March 28 Pow Wow Planning 2.0

Procrastinator Theater, SUB 168 Noon-1pm

Join us for this informative session about the intricacies of planning a large scale university pow wow. MSU's April pow wow is the only free university pow wow in Montana. Come and learn about the depth and breadth of planning, organizing and fundraising that the MSU students do in order to present this stellar event for the campus and community year after year!

April 4 Be Healthy and Disease Free!

SUB 168 Noon- 1 p.m.

Do you hate the idea of being healthy and like the idea of being diagnosed with a disease? Would you rather not know the vital components necessary for reaching optimal health and wellness? We didn't think so! Join Bozeman chiropractor, Dr. Kimberly Maxwell and empower yourself through knowledge that can help lead you to great health. Come join the revolution of transformation as we present the five vital components necessary for reaching your optimal health and wellness.

April 11 Voices of Survival

SUB 168 Noon -1 p.m.

Approximately one in four women and one in seventeen men will experience a sexual assault in their lifetime. In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the MSU VOICE Center will host a panel of survivors who will share their experiences of healing after trauma. Through hearing their stories, we can all become better advocates and strive to prevent sexual violence in our community--because one victim is too many.

April 18 Prevention in Action: Green Dots for Men

SUB 168 Noon-1 p.m.

Sexual violence prevention is often viewed as a "women's issue," but men play a vital role in ending sexual violence. Members of MSU's Men Stopping Rape (MSR) program will highlight how Montana State University men are involved in the movement to address and reduce sexual violence on campus.

"What I am proud of, what seems so simply clear, is that feminism is a way to fight for justice, always in short supply."

-Barbara Strickland

Sack Lunch Seminars are free, fun, informal, and open to everyone!
Sponsored by the Women’s Center, a department in the division of

Student Affairs and Services
SUB 372, 406-994-3836

Bring your lunch and join us!