Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Amelia began their higher education as a nontraditional community college student and subsequently completed their BA in Social Work at Rutgers University. She focused on policy and advocacy in her undergraduate career, with a specific interest in antiracist reproductive justice. Since her graduation in 2018, she has spent her time working, volunteering in local organizations, and solidifying her aspirations to make higher education more accessible and to become a better accomplice. Amelia is thrilled to continue their education at Brandeis and learn to share the liberatory power of a Gender and Sexuality Studies education.

Their interests include fat studies and fat liberation, Black and Indigenous feminisms, trans* inclusive reproductive justice, media and film studies, and postcolonial antiracism praxis. 

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Monica graduated with a BA in Spanish & French (double major) with a minor in sociology from Manhattanville College in 2019. She is interested in racial theory, intersectionality, social justice and global feminisms. She wants to further research the experiences of women of color worldwide through an intersectional lens to move towards equal representation for women in all fields.

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Lizz earned a BSBA in Economics with minors in Creative Writing and Business Law from the University of Miami and then joined the Brandeis community as a staff member in 2018. She is academically and personally interested in the intersections of race, gender, and religion.

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Lydia graduated with a BA in History and English from Vassar College in 2021. She is interested in reproductive justice, issues of autonomy and agency, and the historical intersections of race and gender in the United States.

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Jessie Neal (they/she) received her degrees in History and Gender and Women’s Studies from the University of Arizona. In their undergraduate experience, Jessie devoted much of her time to digging deeper into the institutionalized violence that the educational system perpetuates, specifically in the united states. She focuses on how this system has affected the lived realities of Indigenous, Black, Queer and other disenfranchised communities both historically and contemporarily. Continuing this work at Brandeis, Jessie is thrilled to explore equitable solutions to these issues and dive deeper into her research.

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Julie earned an M.litt in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in Performance, as well as, an M.F.A. (Acting Emphasis) from Mary Baldwin University and The American Shakespeare Center in 2006. She has twenty years of experience as an actor (mostly, in theatre, with some work in film, television, and voice-over) and thirteen years of experience as a part-time professor of theatre, communication, Shakespeare, and English. Currently, she teaches through Boston University's Prison Education Program and performs with Firefly Theatre Company and The Glass Horse Project. Additionally, she is a freelance folk and fantasy painter. Julie intends to research how the Salem witchcraft hysteria was created by men in positions of power, as well as how the character of the witch has evolved in literature.

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Jennifer graduated from the University of Kansas in 2013 with a BA in Anthropology and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Her research interests center on the intersection of fashion, sexuality, and identity. She is largely concerned with the material and aesthetic embodiment of marginalized sexualities in the U.S.

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Julie graduated from The College of New Jersey with her BA in International Studies in 2018. As a Joint MA student in Anthropology and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Julie plans to research refugee identity, and the influence of NGO's and humanitarian organizations on the lives of refugees and public perception of refugee resettlement.

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Kailoni earned their BA in Africana Studies from San Francisco State University in 2019. Their interests are Queer Studies, Critical Race Theory and African Diaspora aesthetics.

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Kati graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2020 with a B.A. in English with minors in Women & Gender Studies and Business Administration. She is interested in gender and sexuality construction in modernist works, queer theory, and social justice. She would like to dive further into researching the construction of female characters by male modernist authors and the role those female characters play both in the fictional narrative and in society more broadly.

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Rachel graduated from Cornell University in 2015 with a BA in Spanish and minors in international relations and feminist, gender, and sexuality studies. She currently works as a Brandeis staff member at the International Students and Scholars Office. Her research interests include marginalized immigrant communities (especially LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers), cultural integration, and the intersection of race, gender, and culture.