Baylor University To Celebrate Boundary Breaking Women

WACO, Texas (Sept. 14, 2021) – Baylor University’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program will host the Boundary Breaking Women’s Panel from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Thursday on the fifth floor of the Cashion Academic Center. Baylor students, faculty and staff are invited.

The panel, made up of 10 Baylor faculty members, will highlight and discuss 10 women and the ways their boundary breaking efforts redefined womanhood, said Theresa Kennedy, Ph.D., professor of French and director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program.

The biography and impact of each Boundary Breaking Woman will be presented by a Baylor faculty member. The list of boundary breakers and their presenters includes:

• Rachel Carson, Biologist, environmentalist, and author (1904–1964) Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D.
• Sui Sin Far, Asian American short story writer (1865–1914) Nicole Kenley, Ph.D., English
• Vivian Malone Jones, Civil rights activist (1942–2005) Laurie Burney, Ph.D., Accounting
• Hildegarde of Bingen, German abbess, poet, composer, diplomat, and healer (1098–1179) Laurel Zeiss, Ph.D., Music History
• Martha Coston, American businesswoman and inventor (1826–1904) Anne Spence, Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering
• Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Latin American writer, philosopher, composer, and poet (1648–1695) Moisés Park, Ph.D., Spanish
• Alice Augusta Ball, American chemist and professor (1892–1916) Bessie Kebaara, Ph.D., Biology
• Addie Davis, American Southern Baptist pastor (1917–2005) Betsy Flowers, Ph.D., Religion
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, Nigerian award-winning best-selling author (1977– ) Justina Ogodo, Ph.D., Curriculum and Instruction, School of Education
• Marie Curie, Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist (1867–1934) Vanessa Castleberry, Ph.D., Chemistry and Biochemistry

The Boundary Breaking Women’s Panel began in 2014, when the United States Treasury Department announced plans to place a woman on U.S. currency. Kimberly Kellison, Ph.D., associate professor of history and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, participated that year in a Treasury roundtable of women leaders in various fields to provide feedback on the announcement. As Kellison returned to Baylor, she created the first Boundary Breaking Women’s panel with faculty to discuss which women should be featured on currency.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 19,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.