Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality

🎉 Alumni Spotlight: Congratulations, Zainab Abdali '26!

We are thrilled to share some wonderful news! Zainab Abdali, who just graduated with her PhD in English and with the CSWGS Graduate Certificate, will be staying at Rice University this fall as the Chao Center's new Postdoctoral Associate for Asian Studies Leadership and Engagement!

📚 Zainab’s research focuses on contemporary South Asian and Arab Anglophone art and literature. Her dissertation project, "Reading the War on Terror: Towards an Abolitionist Horizon" (advised by Dr. Betty Joseph and Dr. Alden Sajor Marte-Wood), deeply examines the literary, visual, and material forms of anti-war resistance and solidarity emerging from the War on Terror.
⭐A Leader on Campus and Beyond:

Zainab’s commitment to community and advocacy shines through her work. She is a co-founder of the Rice Asian Diasporic and Asian American Research Collective (RADAAR), which serves as a crucial hub for research, community-building, and advocacy in Houston and across Texas. Before her time at Rice, she also brought her talents globally as a Fulbright scholar teaching English in Nairobi, Kenya.

Please join us in celebrating Zainab as she transitions from a graduate student to her new role!

⭐ Alumni Spotlight: Exciting Updates for Dr. K. Eliza Williamson!

Join us in celebrating the incredible recent achievements of Anthropology and CSWGS alum, Dr. K. Eliza Williamson (PhD ’19)!

We are thrilled to announce that this fall, Dr. Williamson will be joining the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS) as an Assistant Professor of Anthropology.

A cultural medical anthropologist, her vital research focuses on care in the contexts of crisis and social inequality, primarily in Brazil. We also highly recommend checking out her most recently published work: a chapter titled "Debilitating Care: Mothers and Children in the Aftermath of Zika in Brazil," featured in the new edited volume Histories of Disability in Latin America (Johns Hopkins University Press).

Congratulations, Dr. Williamson, on your new professorship and publication! We are so proud of the impact our CSWGS alumni continue to make in the world! 👏

🔗 Read her new chapter here: https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/54026/histories-disability-latin-america

⭐ Faculty Spotlight & Huge Publishing News! ⭐

Join us in congratulating CSWGS Graduate Certificate alumna Laura K. Richardson on her book deal!

Her novel, Pornostiltskin, has just been picked up by Zando Books and will be published under the pseudonym Elle Richardson. The book is also prime to go global as foreign rights have just been sold to Germany.

🎬 The Book: It's a sex-positive, warm-hearted comedy set in a Blockbuster Video in 2001. Pornostiltskin follows a virgin cinephile who moonlights as an amateur p**n director--making films inspired by Hollywood classics--who finds herself trapped in a love triangle between two aspiring actors.

Laura has been an amazing part of the Rice community for over 10 years and served as a Lovett RA from 2016 to 2022. We are so incredibly proud of her and cannot wait to read this!

Keep an eye out for the release in late 2027/early 2028! 🎉

⭐ Recent Special Lecture

It was an absolute honor to host MacArthur Fellow, acclaimed author, and scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer last week for the Marian Fox Martel Distinguished Lecture in Gender and Science!

Her profoundly moving lecture, "Love, Land, Language: Healing Our Relationship with the Natural World," challenged a packed McMurtry Auditorium to rethink our environmental discourse and encouraging us to embrace Indigenous knowledge.
Robin Wall Kimmerer's presence at this event was made possible in cooperation with our generous campus partners: The Center for Environmental Studies, The Cherry Reading Series and the Walter Isle Memorial Endowment of the Department of English and Creative Writing, The Department of History, The Office of Sustainability, and The George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing

We are also deeply grateful to Basket Books and Art for partnering with us to provide book sales during the reception. Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make this evening so unforgettable!

🔗 More on Robin: https://www.robinwallkimmerer.com/about

⭐ Student Spotlight: Visionary Partners' Fellow Tabitha Koch

Join us in congratulating CSWGS Graduate Certificate student Tabitha Koch, a recipient of this year’s Visionary Partners' Dissertation Fellowship!

Tabitha’s research centers on women legislators and how they deal with the gendered expectations of their constituents.

📚 Her recent publications and works-in-progress explore:

- How women legislators are credited for their accomplishments compared to men
- How committee assignments and local orientation affect evaluations of women representatives
- Public tolerance for violent threats against women politicians

🔗 See more about Tabitha: https://sites.google.com/view/tabitha-koch/home
🔗 Read her coauthored work here: https://www-cambridge-org.ezproxy.rice.edu/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/gendered-perceptions-of-legislative-influence/B919170826B9F125992C37151387F992?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=bookmark

⭐ Faculty Feature
We’re excited to welcome new CSWGS Associate, Dr. Michelle Smirnova!

Michelle Smirnova is an Associate Professor of Sociology and the founding Director of Housing & Neighborhoods at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research. Her research explores the root causes of inequality, especially how well-intended policies can sometimes backfire. Drawing on Black Feminist thought, she focuses on the insights of those directly affected by social issues—people who understand, cope with, and resist structural violence.

🔗See more: https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/michelle-smirnova

⭐ Student Spotlight: Double Grant Winner Sierra Malvitz!

We are excited to celebrate Sierra Malvitz, a 3rd-year PhD student in Political Science and CSWGS Graduate Certificate student, who has just secured two grants to fund her research on gender, politics, and family cues!

🏆 The Awards:

The Carrie Chapman Catt Prize for Research on Women and Politics: A highly prestigious competition rewarding significant research in gender and politics. (Since its inception, this fund has awarded $176,000 to 148 research projects!) Sierra was named a runner up!
SSRI Pre-Dissertation Research (PDR) Grant: Awarded by the Social Sciences Research Institute, this $3,000 grant supports exploratory pilot projects to build robust dissertation plans.

📚 The Research: "What Voters See in Parents"

Sierra’s funded project investigates the intense scrutiny placed on the family lives of political candidates as she explores how the pressure to signal parenthood has evolved into a political litmus test for legitimacy.

See more about Sierra: https://sites.google.com/view/sierra-a-malvitz/bio?authuser=0

⭐ Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Carly Thomsen’s Spring Scholarship

We are thrilled to highlight the incredible work of Dr. Carly Thomsen, a feminist and q***r studies scholar whose work constantly pushes academic material beyond the bounds of the traditional classroom!

Dr. Thomsen is having a remarkably busy and impactful spring semester.

Here is what she has been up to:

📚 New Publication: She recently published a new piece in ASAP/Review (Read here: http://bit.ly/4m2QzhX)

🗣️ Recent Presentation: She shared her insights at the Reproductive Justice Futurisms Think Tank organized by Loretta Ross and Jallicia Jolly.

🗓️ Recent Talk (April 2): Recent Talk (April 2): At the Queering Reproductive Justice panel at Washington University, she shared themes from her forthcoming book: Reproductive Justice, Queerly (UC Press).

🗓️ Upcoming Talk (April 10): She will be presenting at a crisis pregnancy center symposium at the Boston University School of Law.

🔗 See more about Carly here:https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/carly-thomsen

⭐ Student Spotlight: Visionary Partners' Fellow Maranda Joyce

Join us in congratulating CSWGS Graduate Certificate student Maranda Joyce, a recipient of this year’s Visionary Partners' Dissertation Fellowship!

Maranda’s research could not be more timely as she is tackling critical issues at the intersection of gender, race, and politics.

📚 Her recent publications and works-in-progress explore:
-Public tolerance for violent threats against politicians (and whether the public is less tolerant of threats against white women)
-How culture war conflicts lead to school superintendent turnover
-Homeschooling as a racial retreat
-The spread of online extremism

🔗 See more about Maranda: https://sites.google.com/rice.edu/marandajoyce/bio?authuser=0

⭐ Faculty Feature

We’re excited to welcome new CSWGS Associate, Dr. Eve Dunbar!

Eve Dunbar is a Professor of English and Creative Writing whose research and teaching focus on late-19th-century to contemporary African American literature and culture, with particular emphasis on Black feminism, labor, segregation, and politics.

🔗 Read more: https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/eve-dunbar