Welcome to the Gender and Women’s Studies and LGBTQ+ Studies celebration of 2022 graduates. You will find a few words from Judy Houck, the Department Chair, and from Pernille Ipsen, Director of Graduate Studies.
There are also loads of wonderful quotes and photos from graduates, faculty, and staff.
Find more celebration on the Spring Commencement 2022 page and remember to hashtag your social media with #UWGrad. Best wishes as you graduate. Stay in touch. We love to hear how you are doing and what you are doing in post-graduate life.
To All of Our Graduates –
Congratulations! Your years of discovery, struggle, and determination have brought you here! We celebrate your accomplishments in the classroom and beyond. We love that you’ve shared your journey with us.
Soon you’ll be on to the next thing. On your path, speak your truth, take things on, read fat books, try new food, and take your time. You’ve got this!
– Judy Houck, Evjue-Bascom Professor and Chair in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies and Professor in the Department of History
To Our Graduating MA Students –
We are so proud of the ways that you supported each other during the last two years. You have been so important to the work of our department as energetic scholars and teachers. Thank you! We are so impressed with your work and wish you everything good on your paths.
– Pernille Ipsen, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Gender and Women’s Studies and Professor and Director of the Program in Gender and Women’s History in the Department of History

Delaney Agnew
GWS and/or LGBTQ+ Studies has taught me that there is constant unlearning to be done and we can always strive to understand and know more about people that hold different identities than we do!

Ian Bould
With my LGBTQ+ Studies education, I will be a more inclusive therapist and have a positive impact on the field.

Christine Cheung
GWS has taught me that everything is a construct. Everyone is traumatized.

Nikki Cuevas
GWS has taught me that the world is so innately wonderful and tainted. There are so many misrepresented groups that care about people in safe ways, as well as the environment, but the white patriarchy and capitalism threatens and undermines so many. Horrors exist because of them, but the knowledge of indigenous, queer, and communities of color offer hope and resilience to whatever we deal with. GWS taught me to be confident in myself and engage with what is right and uncomfortable.

Rachel Dubyak
GWS has taught me that most straight white cis men suck!

Ellorie Lacey
GWS has taught me to question old beliefs and constructs to make a more welcoming and educational environment for everyone.

Maya Gonzalez
GWS has taught me that there is always a space for open conversation.

Gabrielle Gronewold
GWS has taught me to meet myself and my experiences on a deeper level while listening to and understanding the experiences I may not know!

Cameron Jacobsen
GWS has taught me that we all need to be better listeners and more open-minded. Even if we don’t agree with someone we can learn a lot from them. I learned that advocacy is so important and that I have the ability to make a difference. Instead of simply not liking something, I should take action to make positive changes happen.

Paige Leiser
With my GWS education, I will go forth with an appreciation for my amazing experience learning from fantastic, talented faculty & have more hope for the future knowing my colleagues in GWS will change the world and make it a more inclusive, joyful, and empowering place!

Emily Nelsen
With my GWS education, I will begin a graduate program in Hispanic Language and Literatures at UC-Davis and examine how language, gender, and culture are interconnected in society and scholarly texts. I look forward to embracing the value of diverse perspectives grounded in different lived experiences concerning women's and gender issues as an instructor.

Natalia Rojas
GWS has taught me to value my unique experiences and perspectives and how to apply those, and also how to understand the perspectives of others and build a community together! I will continue to build strong community ties, both with those like me and those not, and hope to make change at both individual and institutional levels.

Ella Schultz
GWS has taught me that it is important for every person to learn about their privileges, how to be a good ally/how to lift up the voices of others, and that using an intersectional approach is crucial. (also that capitalism is the root cause of all evil). I will go into a career in politics or policy knowing how to advocate for marginalized voices, an understanding of the errors of the systems I am a part of, and how I can work towards mitigating inequities.

Maya Tunney
GWS has taught me that there is always another perspective to consider. By including people of different backgrounds, you can have a better understanding of the world around you.

Nat Xu
GWS has taught me that I can do whatever I put my mind to with a core of justice and equity at heart. I will continue to advocate for the oppressed and the unheard.

Shaniya Auxier
With my GWS and/or LGBTQ+ Studies education, I will pursue a PhD. So much research is produced and celebrated, but it is without the contribution and inclusion of marginalized voices. The feminist framework taught to me throughout my GWS journey has provided me with something invaluable and unshakeable. GWS was life-changing and I plan to apply what I've gained here everywhere I go!

Raquel Burnham
With my GWS education, I will work in healthcare to promote and advocate for more inclusive experiences for LGBTQ+ patients, and those marginalized by gender in our society. Specifically, I aim to work within gender affirming surgeries to provide the best care, and aid those transitioning regardless of their decisions on how to do so.

Priscilla Contreras
With my GWS education, I will continue to expand my knowledge about the experiences of identities different from my own, while recognizing the areas in which I hold privilege.

Erica Dick
You can't look at any situation without using an intersectional lens. Everyone has so many different identities and backgrounds and we have to acknowledge and understand this before we try to approach a problem. With my GWS education, I will do more to protect the rights of marginalized communities in whatever shape or form I can.

Emily Duernberger
With my GWS education, I will continue to consider the multiple layers of gender, sexuality, race, class and even more variables when it comes to the people around me and how I interact with others in the world.

Shelby Foss
With my GWS and LGBTQ+ Studies education, I will expand my nursing practice in obstetrics and gynecology so that it can be the most inclusive it can be and encourage and educate my peers in the medical community to do the same.

Gretchen Grams
With my GWS education, I will spend my days educating women about their bodies and bringing new life into the world as an OB/GYN. I want to be an agent for change in the way that our society looks at women's bodies and reproductive health. I have learned so much about the doctor that I want to be through my GWS classes, and I hope to be at the forefront of the movement toward a more intersectional and inclusive approach to healthcare.

Paige Hill
GWS has taught me how to ask purposeful questions and make real change in building a more beautiful world. I will continue to learn and collaborate with my communities in personal growth and activism.

Caitlyn Klostermann
GWS has taught me that interdependency and community are key in subverting hegemonic systems of oppressions. Centering lived experience and lifting voices of historically marginalized communities is necessary in achieving liberation from white supremacy, patriarchy, heterosexism, and capitalism. I will use this knowledge alongside my Statistics major to draw attention to the results of our oppressive systems and lift the stories of our communities. I hope to work as a data analyst in health care so that I can inform future policy and programs that will protect and advocate for health equity and specifically center BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities.

Sarah McLeod
GWS has taught me that asking critical questions, seeking a balance between beauty and suffering, and bringing love into all of my interactions with myself and others can truly change the world for the better. I have learned so much about my own place in the world, the caring person that I want to be, and the wonderful humans in my community that are likewise dedicated to doing the hard work to create lasting social change.

Megan Murphy
GWS has taught me the importance of amplifying marginalized voices. With my GWS education I will advocate for gender and sexual minorities, acknowledging the importance of intersectionality.

Alana Pecha

Lauren Saban
GWS has taught me to always keep an open mind, and that there is never enough learning to be done. I will be a better advocate as I pursue law school.

Lizzi Sheil
GWS has taught me that listening to peoples' experiences is the best way to learn, and I should be proud of who I am, and the GWS advocates of the past who worked to make the world a place where I can be myself.

Kylie VerKuilen
With my GWS education, I will incorporate intersectionality in all the work I do!

Amy Yadev
GWS has taught me that the world is full of hidden secrets and that people in power will try to prevent us from lifting the curtain to the oppression that exists today. I have learned to keep asking questions, question norms and that learning is a on-going process that will never end. I have learned to that doing the right thing is not easy and requires courage and the energy to want to do better. I will be a better healthcare professional. I hope to attend medical school and through my GWS courses, have learned about the inequity and health disparities present in the field of medicine. By learning the history of medicine, it's easy to see that it was based on systems of power such as racism, sexism, homophobia and by exploiting marginalized identities. The inhumanity which which this field was founded in rears its ugly head in present day medicine - there is rampant oppression and inaccessibility of medicine to those who need it most. While I cannot change the whole institution of medicine, I can challenge the status quo by being intentional, exhibiting patience throughout my interactions with patients and taking the time to understand the social factors and intergenerational traumas that are not often addressed. As a physician, I hope not only to improve health but also to help people help themselves by having my own clinic.

Shreya Bandyopadhyay
With my GWS and/or LGBTQ+ Studies education, I will utilize my experience to work for and with organizations that are dedicated to securing women's rights and reproductive freedoms in the U.S and around the world.

Maya Cherins
Everyone needs and deserves a seat at the table. GWS taught me all about fat liberation, disability justice, sexuality, trans rights and so so much more. I have learned the importance of intersectionality, of lived embodiment and of centering and uplifting diverse experiences in the overall fight for gender and queer justice and equity. I will miss this department dearly.

Abigail Crneckiy
With my GWS education, I will be able to apply a greater understanding of people's experiences to my everyday life. I am not going into a career field related to GWS, but I value having meaningful interactions with others and being able to discuss current events with a broader perspective.

Sofia Drotts
With my GWS education, I will continue to break boundaries and create safe spaces within my own community through therapeutic work.

Dean Dvorak
With my GWS education, I will bring the excellent feminist, queer, and trans activist education I have received to my work as a therapist to support my clients.

Jessica Gomez
With my GWS education, I will apply what I've learned to help create an inclusive space wherever I am and use my knowledge to have conversations about the importance of diversity and equity.

Jayda Griffin
With my GWS education, I will advocate for women and LGBTQ+ communities to ensure they have fair and adequate resources to be successful.

Johanna Hussain
With my GWS education, I will continue to fight for gender equality and queer equality in my everyday life, including in further education, in professional settings, and in personal life. Having a background in GWS and LGBTQ+ studies has and will continue to provide me with academic arguments and scholarly writing to support my efforts to encourage gender and queer equality in every aspect of my life.

Adrian Lampron
With my LGBTQ+ Studies education, I will be able to use a lens of equity and intersectionality in all of my public service work.

Caitlyn McQuiston-Keil
GWS has taught me how to be a better human. From taking various classes in the department I have gained insight into how to view issues from multiple different perspectives. I have also learned of the vast injustices that many individuals have / continue to experience---with a particular focus on health related injustices, as I have focused my GWS coursework on reproductive health. I will continue to use the knowledge I've gained from my time at Madison to fight for reproductive justice and health equity for all.

Justin Myrah
With my LGBTQ+ Studies education, I will provide LGBTQ+ affirming health care to queer people disproportionately affected by illness.

Alyssa Riphenburg
GWS has been invaluable to me. It has allowed me to take courses from life-changing professors and has shown me new lenses through which I can understand the world around me.

Allison Schopf
GWS has taught me that we all experience life differently! None of these experiences are right or wrong, but we owe it to everyone to be inclusive, representative, and accommodating. Listen to others, treat them graciously, advocate for yourself and others, and whenever you can try to help yourself and others live well.

Michaela Suski
GWS has taught me that any discipline can benefit from incorporating inclusivity and understanding into its framework and that these tenets should be interdisciplinary. The sciences are traditionally thought of as objective. Yet, scientists are human, and therefore unconsciously bring their biases with them when they conduct research. Because of this, science and GWS should not be thought of as mutually exclusive areas of study, but should instead work in tandem to eliminate discrimination in all facets of society. I have found ways to apply my GWS studies in my statistics and computer science courses here, and I am excited for a future where many others will do the same in their own fields of study.

Emma Wardour
GWS has taught me that the world around us is skewed in a way that is tailored to patriarchal notions which has thus created many of the ways in which we learn, socialize, and exist. It is our job to make this transparent to others in order to create a more just society in which we can all coexist on equal grounds. I will use my knowledge to create a life for myself that is empowering, one of which does not necessarily abide by current societal expectations but one of which allows me to be and become the best version of myself I can be.
Faculty and Staff Appreciations

Professor and Director of Graduate Studies - Pernille Ipsen
I can't believe you have made it all the way here, to this third pandemic spring. I am so tired, and I didn't have to graduate from college this year! You are amazing!
I hope you get to shape our society with all your kindness, resolve, and brilliance!

Lecturer - Kate Phelps
My students are leaders, great thinkers, writers, artists, and dreamers. They have big minds and big hearts and they know how to use them. They make me endlessly proud to be a GWS educator.
Continued resilience looks like laughter, levity, and the will to do good, mixed in with rage, sadness, and uncertainty. We have been there for each other as a learning community and it has been such good medicine.
Use your knowledge, make yourself heard, hear others, keep fighting the good fight, don't give up, and change the world.

MA Student and Teaching Assistant - Maddi Whaley
I hope you sleep for as long as you need to and find smiles in small things wherever possible.
Assistant Professor - Kelly Marie Ward
Find joy in figuring out how you want to be in the world!

Undergraduate Advisor - Susan Nelson
I wish joy, laughter, and rest (a nap even!) for our 2022 graduates.
I am proud of our students thoughtfulness, their kindness, their innovative spirit, and their totally amazing commitment to making change happen (even in very difficult moments like this one).
Assistant Professor - Ruth Goldstein
GWS and LGBTQ+ Studies students are inspiring and committed to social justice! May you be proud of your accomplishments!

Department Administrator - Jamie Gratrix
I am so proud of GWS Students & their commitment to social justice, learning, & working to create change.

Associate Professor - Sami Schalk
Students have continued to practice care for themselves and others by masking even when it was no longer required and thinking deeply together about how the pandemic impacts certain people more than others.
My students make me proud by showing up for political organizing and pushing for change inside and outside of the university.
I wish the class of 2022 pleasure, freedom and fulfillment in their next steps.

Associate Professor - Keisha Lindsay
Our students make me proud by being curious, questioning, and Kind
I hope you find continued resilience by creating and participating in support networks.
Explore new places and ideas beyond your comfort zone and have fun!
MA Students in GWS
Rodlyn-mae Banting
Jenny Fierro-Padilla
Anshu Jain
Sonia Olmos
Amy Pearce
GWS Majors
Karyn Abrego
Delaney Agnew
Sarah Akakpo
Janneke Byck
Anthony Cattani
Maya Cherins
Kelly Conaghan
Priscilla Contreras
Julia De Georgeo
Avery Dick
Emily Duernberger
Dean Dvorak
Maggie Grote
Cyrus Guderyon
Elizabeth Hodge
Sona Holsen
Rebecca Keller
Hannah Kennedy
Caitlyn Klostermann
Maggie McCormick
Sarah McLeod
Wuffa K.
Ashley Neumann
Caitlin Reiffman
Ella Schultz
Lizzi Sheil
Xi Shen
Rachel Sina
Zakia Trotter
Emma Wardour
Lacey Wedell
Brooke Wilczewski
Nat Xu
Amy Yadev
Yumeng Zhang
Crystal Zhao
LGBTQ+ Studies Certificates
Ian Bould
Anthony Cattani
Nathan Dyer
Shelby Foss
Cyrus Guderyon
Laron Higgins
Hannah Kennedy
Adrian Lampron
Rebecca Michael
Justin Myrah
Dominick Zappa
GWS Certificates
Molly Abrams
Kayana Adams
Callie Arellano
Shaniya Auxier
Shreya Bandyopadhyay
Tristin Bautista
Sophie Begin
Hazel Behling
Elisse Bergstrom
Payton Bertrang
Kathryn Binder
Allison Biskowitz
Alexandra Bleakley
Sydney Bobb
Amelia Boehning
Vivienne Brandt
Kristen Buelow
Raquel Burnham
Jatziri Campos
Olivia Canady
Grace Cano
Jennifer Caraballo
Lindsey Cardell
Sophia Carel
Viridiana Carreno
Christine Cheung
Kayla Chung
Lindsay Cohen
Lailee Connell
Angelica Contreras
Abigail Crneckiy
Nikki Cuevas
Claire Cummings
Gwendolyn Daberkow
Zari Dehdashti
Erica Dick
Amelia Dow
Delaney Drake
Sofia Drotts
Rachel Dubyak
Chloe Eggers
Talia Eiseman
Olivia Eisenhauer
Elizabeth Ellick
Julia Endicott
Keiko Engel
Shelby Foss
Tamia Fowlkes
Josie Fried
Greta Frontero
Ashley Gage
Alexis Gaillard
Laura Garling
Sylvie Gitler
Jessica Gomez
Maya Gonzalez
Gretchen Grams
Mae Green
Jayda Griffin
Gabrielle Gronewold
Nicoleia Haris
Chloe Herbrand
Justine Hill
Alexander Hind
Emma Hoff
Johanna Hussain
Alexis Huven
Kaylynn Imsande
Cameron Jacobson
Devin Jellish
Autumn Johnson
Alex Johnson-Fry
GWS Certificates, continued
Jaylina Karmacharya
Hannah Kekst
Roberta Keller
Kendall Kennedy
Danielle Keran
Kristen Koenig
Shuka Konishi
Audra Koscik
Natalia Kwiatkowska
Ellorie Lacey
Megan Lane
Grace Latzig
Sydnee Lee
Paige Leiser
Lauren Lindner
Alexandra Lindstrom
Isabella Lisak
Elizabeth Lorge
Emily Lufti
Elena Mandarino
Olivia Matts
Caitlyn McQuiston-Keil
Kyra Meach
Nicole Meerbrey
Gracie Morris
Jami Morschauser
Megan Murphy
Emily Nelsen
Kylie Nennig
Annika Nerbovig
Kendall Newman
Halli Olsen
Guilia Palermo
Monika Pantha
Alana Pecha
Megan Peterson
Molly Pistono
Haley Pitman
Kaitlyn Plautz
Simran Qureshi
Kelly Rash
Miranda Rasmussen
Talia Rawitz
Lauren Resch
Alejandra Reyther
Jordyn Rinehart
Alyssa Riphenburg
Sofia Rodriguez
Natalia Rojas
Kay Romanin, II
Felicity Rondeau
Mallory Rongstad
Arielle Rosen
Evan Rubin
Kaitlyn Saari
Lauren Saban
Jordan Sacher
Nicholas Santas
Yui Sato
Cailyn Schiltz
Allison Schopf
Jay Schrimpf
Jordan Shapiro
Hanaa Siddiqui
Sadie Stelter
Michaela Suski
Lily Trunsky
Maya Tunney
Olivia Turner
Kylie Ver Kuilen
Colette Vitiritti
Peyton Vogt
Nicole Voytovich
Sophia Webber
Madalynn Welch
Emilee Wescher
Olivia Wheelis
Sara Wilke
Mai Chia Xiong
Amanjot Yadev
Sophie Yarosh
Tanner Yops
Haoyang Yue
Samantha Zeid
Nihan Zhou