The MSU Women’s Center will present a pair of programs in the coming weeks to keep you informed and inspired during this chilly season. Sack Lunch Seminar Improving Body Acceptance of Self and Others: The Montana Research will be held on Wednesday, February 22nd from noon–1pm in SUB 168. In observation of National Eating Disorders Week, Lynn Paul (EdD, RDN, MSU Extension Food and Nutrition Specialist) and Galen Eldridge (Strong Hearts Montana Research Associate) will present this program on improving body acceptance among females. Poor body image impacts health by leading to eating disorders, eating less healthfully, and reduced self-esteem and self-worth. A parent/only child obesity prevention program in Montana resulted in reduced body dissatisfaction and improvements in body esteem and appearance attitudes for the 8–12-year-old children. In a study of rural Montana adults participating in the Strongwomen Strength Training program, women improved their body image after the 10-week twice-weekly program. As a result of these programs, Montana children and women improved thoughts about their appearance and body. Children also decreased their endorsement of societal appearance ideals. Sack Lunch Seminar Turf Wars and Professionalism: The Battle for Expertise and Legitimacy in the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics will follow on Wednesday, March 1st from noon–1pm in SUB 168. Who is a professional? Which occupations are able to provide “expertise?”
These questions contain terms that are contested and rooted in shifting historical, cultural, and gendered discourses. Professions dominated by women frequently struggle with issues of professional recognition and legitimacy due to their designation as “women’s work.” Join Kristin Smith, PhD student in MSU Earth Sciences, as she explores how the field of dietetics has been enabled and constrained by its gendered history. Kristin will also discuss the strategic rhetorical devices that today’s RDs—of whom 96% identify as women—employ in their struggle to claim legitimacy, professionalism, and expertise. A special evening seminar, Lost Human: Slavery In Our Own Backyard, is set for Wednesday, March 1st at 7pm in SUB Ballroom A. Doors at 6:30pm. This panel discussion on human trafficking in Montana and beyond will feature FBI Special Agent Brandon Walter; FBI Detective Guy Baker; Dr. Lilia Tyrrell, an attorney who worked within the Cambodian War Tribunals; MSU International Relations Professor Dr. Franke Wilmer; and two survivors of trafficking. Also, join the Humble Efforts Actualizing Real Transformation (HEART) Initiative, an MSU student organization dedicated to combatting human trafficking. This event is free and open to the public and will be co-sponsored by the MSU Leadership Institute, the MSU Women’s Center, and MSU VOICE Center.
The MSU Women’s Center is a department in the division of Student Success and was created to promote greater responsiveness to the needs of university women. Their focus is to empower women and create an equitable 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 9am to 4pm during the academic year. For more information, visit www.montana.edu/women/. •
