Welcome to the Gender and Women’s Studies and LGBTQ+ Studies celebration of Winter 2020 graduates. You will find graduates’ photos and brief reflections on what GWS and/or LGBTQ+ Studies has meant to them.
Find more celebration on the Winter Commencement 2020 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.

Kiley Eck
GWS has taught me so much about the reproductive injustices that have been felt by women for centuries around the world. In the future I would like to continue my education in how to change our societies norms in order to allow for the free expression of all people. I plan on one day becoming active in my community's politics to create protections for women's autonomy and to make sure that no women or members of the LGBTQ community are persecuted against again.

Lauryn Hugener
GWS has taught me how to see the world from many different points of view, and how we can really care and look out for those around us with understanding and compassion. There are so many unique identities and issues that are equally deserving of our time but are glazed over so quickly in our everyday life, and GWS has opened my eyes to those.

Hayley Snell
GWS has taught me to be observant and understanding. I have learned that there is power and resistance in our identities and all the small choices we make as we go about life. GWS has taught me that empathy and compassion are essential parts of the movement. We have so much to learn from one another and we are not alone.

Christiana Fowlkes
With my GWS education, I will understand and fight against the systems that lead to the disparities that queer black women face.

Liberty Moore
With my GWS education, I will implement my knowledge of equity and social justice in research and academic settings. I want to use my GWS background to work towards increasing diversity and acceptance in my field.

McKensey Van Wie
With my GWS education, I will apply my critical thinking skills and an open mind to my future career as a speech-language pathologist. In this field, I hope to work with transgender/gender non-conforming individuals in the attainment of their gender affirming voice via voice feminization. I believe that with my small contribution to advocacy and allyship for the LGBTQA+ community it can have a tremendous impact on those I encounter.

Madeline Frieseke
With my GWS education I will continue to think critically about social justice issues and use the voice that these classes have helped me discover to stand up for myself and others.

Elisabet Pietz
LGBTQ+ Studies has taught me how to critically examine the world around me, and has equipped me with the necessary tools to strategize potential solutions. I plan on using my education to become a bilingual, culturally competent, actively anti-racist physical therapist.

Grace Wallner
GWS has taught me that…there is a whole world of people who go through life like I do, and who see hope for a better, more accepting, and more communal future!
Graduating Students in Gender and Women's Studies
GWS Major
Elizabeth Brayden
Hayley Jo Snell
McKensey Van Wie
LGBTQ+ Studies Certificate
Liv Arndt
Elisabet Pietz
GWS Certificate
Liv Arndt
Karissa Ebert
Kiley Eck
Ariel Feldman
Christiana Fowlkes
Hattie Frieburg
Madeline Frieseke
Abigail Hanson
Hailey Heath
Lauryn Hugener
Abby Lehman
Jennifer Leunig
Liberty Moore
Timothy Schauf
McKenzie Schmitz
Samantha Stroebel
Cathy Tran
Grace Wallner