UCLA Center for the Study of Women Streisand Center

Senior Spotlight on our student worker, Zaia Hammond!

Zaia is a 4th year Human Biology and Society major at UCLA and has supported CSW|Stresiand Center's office for the past 2 years. In her time here, she has made significant contributions to the center by spearheading our Books to Jails initiative and helping with daily office tasks.

We’d like to thank Zaia for her time and energy that she’s contributed to CSW|Streisand Center and congratulate her on completing her time at UCLA.

After graduating, Zaia will be applying to medical school!

Leisy Abrego receives 2026 Gold Shield Faculty Prize

Appreciation post for our student workers!

We couldn’t do it without you! From making our space welcoming, to running our mini library and book drive, designing our newsletter, social media posts and fantastic graphic design, they do it all!

Were endlessly grateful and so lucky to get to work with you, Zaia, Anna, Molly, Missy, Ria and Ethan 🩷

Excited to welcome Josephine and Medha to the office next year!

Senior Spotlight: Anna Li

Anna Li (she/her) is one of our Office Operations Student Workers and a 4th year Materials Engineering major at UCLA! She has supported CSW|Stresiand Center's office for the last 3 years. In her time here, she has made significant contributions to the center, working on events like “Beyond Representation: Practicing Feminist Engineering,” Faculty Writing Retreats, and helping with daily office tasks.

We’d like to thank Anna for her time and energy that she’s contributed to CSW|Streisand Center and congratulate her on completing her time at UCLA.

After graduating, Anna will attend the Cambridge Judge Business School to study Strategy, Marketing, Operations, and Organisational Behaviour and work as a strategy consultant for L.E.K. Consulting in Melbourne, Australia! Thank you Anna!

How did ideas about fetal life, personhood, pregnancy, and the law shape the pre-modern world—and how do those histories continue to shape debates today?

Join UCLA History Department for Fetal Subjects and Legal Personhood in the Pre-Modern Catholic World: Theology, Medicine, and the Law, a three-day conference exploring how religious doctrine, medical knowledge, legal systems, midwifery practices, slavery, and reproductive experiences informed understandings of fetal life from the medieval period through the nineteenth century.

June 8–10, 2026
Royce Hall 306, UCLA
Hybrid attendance available via Zoom

The conference brings together scholars from across North America and Europe to examine topics including embryology, abortion, pregnancy criminalization, midwifery, cesarean surgery, slavery, and legal personhood in the Catholic world.

Featured Keynote Lectures

Monday, June 8 | 4:30 PM
Abortion in Early Modern Italy
with John Christopoulos, Associate Professor of History at the University of British Columbia. This keynote explores abortion, reproduction, and social regulation in early modern Italy, offering new perspectives on how communities, institutions, and individuals understood pregnancy and reproductive decision-making.

Tuesday, June 9 | 4:30 PM
The Dangerous Womb: A History of Pregnancy Loss and Blame
with Kathleen Crowther, author of Policing Pregnant Bodies: From Ancient Greece to Post-Roe America. Drawing connections between the distant past and contemporary debates, Crowther examines the long history of assigning responsibility and blame for pregnancy loss, revealing how ideas about reproduction have been shaped by law, medicine, and cultural beliefs across centuries.

Whether you're interested in history, religion, law, medicine, gender studies, or reproductive justice, this conference offers a fascinating opportunity to explore the deep historical roots of questions that remain urgently relevant today.

All are welcome. We hope you'll attend in Royce Hall or online for these timely conversations.

Congratulations to CSWAC Executive Board Member Leisy Abrego for being named the 2026 recipient of the prestigious Gold Shield Faculty Prize! The award recognizes her outstanding contributions to teaching, mentorship and scholarship at University of California, Los Angeles.

We are pleased to share Dr. Leisy Abrego has been selected to receive Gold Shield's 30th Faculty Prize. Awarded annually, the Gold Shield Faculty Prize recognizes a UCLA faculty member who has demonstrated exceptional achievement in undergraduate teaching, research or creative work, and service to the university.

Dr. Charlene Villaseñor Black, Professor Emerita and 2016 Gold Shield Faculty Prize Recipient shared the following words, “Abrego is one of UCLA’s most gifted and influential teachers, in addition to being an internationally-recognized impactful scholar. Her research on Central American Studies and Illegality Studies is widely cited across multiple fields and has informed national U.S. policy, while her teaching deeply shapes the lives of our students, inspiring them to action.”

Please help us in congratulating Professor Abrego 🎊

Thank you to everyone who donated to spring quarter UCLA IGNITE clothing drive. The drive supported local women's shelters in Los Angeles. A big thanks to our student worker, Molly, for organizing!

IGNITE is a UCLA student group working to combat sexual violence across UCLA and beyond using a transformative justice framework.

CSW|Streisand Center Community Garden 🪴 ✨

Happy Spring! Our community garden plot is in full bloom!

Learn more about the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center at UCLA at https://healthy.ucla.edu/eatwell/jbs-hci-community-garden/

This week! Join us for Beyond Representation: Practicing Feminist Engineering featuring Regan Patterson.

Dr. Patterson is an Assistant Professor of UCLA Civil and Environmental Engineering, Principal Investigator of the Engineering Environmental Justice Lab, and a CSW|Barbra Streisand Environmental Justice Fellow. Her work examines how transportation and infrastructure policies shape environmental justice outcomes, air pollution exposure disparities, and community wellbeing.

CSW|Barbra Streisand Center, 1500 Public Affairs
Wednesday, May 20 | 3:30–5 PM

Open to students, faculty, staff, and community members.
Light refreshments provided.
No registration required — seating is first come, first served.