By Skylar Mullin

For The Diamondback

The University of Maryland’s Harriet Tubman women, gender and sexuality studies department marked its 50-year anniversary Wednesday with an event reflecting on the program’s history and introducing a new archive project.

“Still Here: The Evolution of Momentum of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies,” held at the Stamp Student Union, featured a panel of former department chairs and alumni who offered reflections of their time in the department.

The former department chairs discussed the early years of the program, which they said required persistence and collaboration to develop. The women described the department’s expansion over the years, established new degrees and incorporated intersectional approaches to studying gender, race and sexuality.

Department chair Neda Atanasoski, who moderated the panel, said the event highlighted the effort that was put into the program’s development.

She added the political environment in which initiatives promoting diversity are being shut down across the nation serves as a reminder of how necessary this program is to the university’s mission.

“It really gave me a chance to reflect on how many years so many faculty and students worked so hard to build this program,” Atanasoski said.

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The department was founded in 1975 with the university’s first hire dedicated to women’s studies. Since then, it has grown from having a single faculty member to a program that bridges fields such as African American studies, history and sociology.

The event’s theme, “Still Here,” acknowledged the department’s 50-year history of obstacles these programs continue to face today.

Evelyn Torton Beck, who was the women’s studies program director from 1984 to 1993, told The Diamondback it’s necessary for young people to recognize the work done to create programs and initiatives like the one at this university.

“History is lost so easily,” Beck said. “All the progress that we have made in terms of accepting people who are different is not something that’s given, and I think people need to understand that.”

The Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Archive Project, presented during the event, aims to document the department’s history and the work of its faculty, students and staff.

The archive will collect personal reflection and institutional materials to help preserve the program’s development and make it more accessible to future researchers, the project organizers said.

The panelists also discussed the future of the program during the event’s Q&A portion.

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Drawing on her years of experience in difficult times, panelist Bonnie Thorton Dill emphasized the importance of staying in communities that inspire change and encouraged attendees to never give in to fear.

“Hope is invested in a history of struggle and resistance,” said Dill, a former chair of the women’s studies department and dean emeritus of the arts and humanities college.

The evening ended with remarks from the current college dean Stephanie Shonekan, and a few alumni sharing their own experience from the program.

For alumni, like Jestina Ricci, said that it helped shape who they are today, personally and professionally.

“This program really changed me as a person, and it changed my life,” Ricci said at the event. “It’s been such a good guide for me.”