Women's History Month 2023 Archives

March 7, 2023

Tanya Linn Bennett T’00, G’05, T’11, Associate Dean for Vocation and Formation

“Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.” — Maya Angelou My mother is an active feminist. Raising two daughters in the 1970’s, she demonstrated her own resiliency as a mother working outside the home in the New Jersey suburbs where working mothers […]

March 7, 2023

Jocelyn Freeman C’25

As a student of history I am glad that we have a month to celebrate the changes and accomplishments that belong to women of the past! I believe that women who have paved the way before me have allowed me to welcome amazing opportunities in my life. I’m able to seek a college education and […]

March 7, 2023

Melinna Sanchez C’24

For me, Women’s History Month bridges the gap between silent aspirations and the ability to achieve. It allows women to occupy space in all forms and identities and bring forth their knowledge and ideas in many spheres. Growing up with a single mother, I witnessed her womanly resilience and strength in navigating motherhood independently and […]

March 7, 2023

Michelle Brisson, Dean, Student Life

Women’s History Month, or Women’s Herstory Month as I prefer, is a celebration of the often overlooked, yet incredible contributions of women who have dedicated countless hours, energy, and creative ideas to improving our local and global communities. This month provides designated time to reflect and celebrate how women of all races, religions, ages, and […]

March 7, 2023

Heather Murray Elkins, Emerita Professor of Worship, Preaching, and the Arts

I arrived for an interview in The Forest in the spring of 1985 carrying two Drew books like talismans: Liturgies of the Western Church by Bard Thompson and the newly published, The Journey is Home, by Nelle Morton. I hoped they’d unlock the doors to the realm of doctoral study. These two texts had lured […]

March 7, 2023

Rutendo Felistas Mahachi T’23

“Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.”— Maya Angelou I remember the day I learned about Ida. B. Wells in class, I was dumbfounded, I was in awe. Reading and learning about her and other women made me start appreciating Women’s History […]

March 7, 2023

Kirsten E. M. Trambley T’20,’21, Assistant Director of Theological Admissions

I was raised as an Evangelical Christian, and I continued with this religious understanding into my early 20’s when I finally came into contact with the realizations that there are numerous ways of understanding Christianity and living into this part of my identity. A big part of my initial tiptoeing into the waters of liberal-progressive […]

March 7, 2023

Brigid Dwyer T’20,’22,’27

Women’s History Month brings me to a place of deep ambivalence. On the one hand, the drumbeat of stories of women throughout history who accomplished greatness, often in spite of (and sometimes to spite) patriarchal structures is breathtaking and inspiring. Women are fierce and wondrous, and yet our stories are contextualized and categorized out of […]