We are pleased to have Dr. Nick Syrett join us as the new Chair of the Gender & Women’s Studies Department!
To help students, faculty, and the community get to know him better, Dr. Syrett answered a few questions about his background, vision for the department, and interests in and beyond academia. Read on to learn more about his journey, leadership approach, and what excites him most about joining UW-Madison!
- What inspired you to take on this role and join the GWS team?
There are lots of answers to this question. The first is just how dynamic and exciting the department is: so many varied course offerings and such a wide and exciting array of different research specialties. The second is the University of Wisconsin, one of the best universities in the country. My father, uncle, and cousin all have degrees from UW, and they had all spoken very highly of their experiences here. And the third is the location in Madison. I’ve never lived there but the city has fans far and wide and I’m excited to discover more about it.
- Which aspects of your past experience are you most excited to bring to GWS?
Before becoming an associate dean at the University of Kansas I was chair of our Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department, and before that I was chair of the History Department at the University of Northern Colorado. So, I definitely have some experience as a department chair. That said, every university is different, and I think I’m most curious to see how the department culture in GWS and at UW more broadly is different from what I’ve experienced before. That kind of discovery always feels a bit anthropological.
- What mission or vision guides you as you begin this chapter of leadership?
The best department chairs that I have observed work in collaboration with other employees as a team, valuing the strengths that each team member brings to our collective endeavor. That’s what I will aim to do. One of the things I like best about my current job is working with my colleagues to solve problems; most of the time the solution we come up with together is far superior to anyone’s individual proposed fix. I hope to do that in GWS as well.
- Where’s your hometown, and how has it influenced your path?
I am from Peterborough, Ontario, which is a small-ish city between Toronto and Ottawa. I think the first major influence was that it made me want to live in a big city – in my day Peterborough’s youth called it Peter-boring — so I moved to New York City for college and stayed there for ten years. But Peterborough is also a university town and growing up in a place where the university occupies a central place in the culture of the city made a lasting impression on me in a really positive way.
- Who or what has influenced your professional journey the most?
Some combination of my mother and Anita Hill made me a feminist, so that’s what got me into women’s studies in the first place. Excellent teachers in high school and college led me to think that getting a PhD and being a professor might not be a horrible idea. And then I sort of fell into administration when the opportunity to chair our department came up at my first academic job. I found I enjoyed it and have been doing it ever since.
- What kind of impact do you hope to have during your time here?
I am not a believer in change for its own sake. Clearly there is lots to admire about the GWS Department exactly as it is. If there are improvements to be made, I will need time to figure out what they might be. And to do that I’ll also need to listen to students and staff and faculty colleagues. At the very least I hope I can contribute to making the GWS Department a place where anyone at the university can feel welcome and valued and excited to learn.
- Can you share a bit about your educational background?
I majored in Women’s and Gender Studies at Columbia University and then did a PhD in American Culture (called American Studies at other schools) with a graduate certificate in Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
- What’s your primary area of research or scholarly focus?
I study the history of gender, sexuality, and childhood, mostly in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century United States. I’ve published four books covering a variety of topics: masculinity in white college fraternities, especially as it relates to sexual assault; the legal and social history of young people and the age of consent to marriage; a joint biography of a same-sex couple who lived publicly as father and son; and most recently a biography of the most famous abortion provider in nineteenth-century America, called The Trials of Madame Restell. I’m also a coeditor of the Journal of the History of Sexuality.
- How does your work connect with The Wisconsin Idea?
Like many of us in the field of GWS, I study what I do because I hope it might illuminate different and more equitable ways of thinking about gender and sexuality. For me, studying gender in the past illuminates its social construction, the ways that gender operated differently in the past than it does now. To me that means that changes in the gender order are indeed possible and gives me hope that we can work toward more equitable futures for women and queer and trans people. More practically, because some of what I research relates to the law, I have supplied testimony to state legislatures working to end child marriage and I am serving as an expert witness in an upcoming trial in Kansas (where I have lived for the past eight years) that, if successful, would eliminate a number of unnecessary restrictions on women’s ability to access abortion care in the state. I’m game to use my historical knowledge to be helpful in similar efforts in Wisconsin as well.
- What are you most eager to learn or experience in your first few months or year here?
I am most excited just to get to know new colleagues and students and see how the university works. I’ve also lived in a small–ish town for years now that has limited options for eating out and so I’m eager to try your restaurants. I grew up near lots of lakes and am excited to get to know yours. And while I am Canadian and my hometown is farther north than Madison (I checked, just to reassure myself), I am still a little bit dreading the winter.
- What values or approaches shape your leadership style?
I believe in transparency and collaboration and I’m pretty much game to talk to anyone about anything related to how the department works, so if I’m in my office, please stop in. I’ll likely be the one asking questions as I get started, but eventually I’ll do my best to answer yours, or find out the answer if I don’t already know it.
- Outside of work, what brings you joy or energizes you?
I read fiction constantly. I also like to watch TV, British murder mysteries, especially. I love to cook. I am a big fan of the coasts of northern California and mid-coast Maine. And I am obsessed with my dog.
- Do you have a fun fact or surprising skill we might not know about?
I do not have a lot of skills aside from academic ones, and while today I am not all that outdoorsy, in high school I canoed (including portaging, the very worst part), snowshoed, and once went on a three-day dogsledding trip.
As Dr. Syrett steps into his new role, we look forward to the leadership, insight, and energy he brings. He will start his time with GWS officially in August and we invite you to connect with him – whether to share ideas, say hello, or collaborate on new initiatives. Look for regular updates from the chair in the future!