One of the reasons I love the Web is that people can interact with certain sites on their own terms, use them for their own purposes, and do it all with a relatively minimal cost. But, no creation comes without an agenda, and no person without subjectivities. As the creator of this Web site, I have ideas about who might make use of it and how they do so. To situate myself, I'll say that my inspiration for this site comes from a couple of things. As a community college graduate, I support the colleges and I want them to be available to all students who want to attend them, and I think they should offer a range of classes and opportunities to suit the interests of diverse populations. I have been interested in teaching in this area for a while as well, especially after attending an NWSA conference in 2006 and talking to more people in the field, so it's made me want to research the topic further. So I've done my best to compile the information in this site. Ideas for what features and info to have came from a variety of sources, including Women's studies faculty from community colleges and from universities, from fellow students, from community college students, from friends and my partner, from books and essays, and class assignments. Ultimately, though, the final decisions on what to include are mine. I've included a bibliography, which references essays, books, and articles that consider Women's studies at community colleges. I think this could be useful to other people who also want to do research on the topic, or anyone wanting to find out what's been written about the field in this location. The links page has links to Women's studies programs/departments at California's public universities, as well as to other sites that list Women's studies programs nationwide as well as some links to associations for Women's studies. The linked sites that list Women's studies programs, although they have many listings, do not have a section or a method for identifying which of them are at community colleges; they seem to focus more on four-years and universities. My idea here is that I want to both establish links among Women's studies at different college levels as well as maintaining a site that really pays attention to community colleges. I think the links could be helpful to community college students looking to transfer into one of the state university's departments, or to people who might want to know more about the field in California at all educational levels. The page that lists the programs, departments, and certificates is what I think of as the 'meat and potatoes' of the site. The page lists and links to the programs within California, in the hopes that such a site will bring visibility and awareness of the fact that Women's studies does exist and sometimes flourishes at community colleges. Obviously the people within the programs already know this; but I think there's a real quietness or lack of knowledge on this topic within Women's studies as a whole. So my idea of who the audience might be? I hope the site will be used by community college students looking for Women's studies options, for researchers and others seeking info about the topic, and possibly the people in the programs themselves. Overall, the goal is to help spark a discussion about Women's studies and community colleges, especially in terms of how a radical-feminist education is linked to social change. I remember reading a Women's e-News story in 2006 by Corrie Pikul called "Two-year Colleges Tough Turf for Women's Studies." In it, she quoted a community college Women's studies professor saying that it was rather hard to even know what other community colleges had Women's Studies programs, or were trying to establish them. Not being a community college Women's Studies professor, I can only speculatively agree that this is probably true (and possibly widespread), but I think that the entire field could benefit from having access to this information, even if it's just to broaden our ideas about where Women's Studies is and can be.
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