About
The Women’s Studies Program is housed in Cottage #1, the first dormitory for women at CU. Don’t tell anyone, but the library is the best place to nap-all those generations of women around you, while snuggling into oversized couches, in a room with wall to wall books.
Getting an education ain’t easy
My path to education was long and hard. We often believe that education is easy, but for first generation students attaining an education can be twice as hard. I always knew I wanted to obtain an education. I tried several times. First, I went to Portland State University right after high school, but I left after the first semester. I didn’t know how to succeed in college. I look back and wonder what was I thinking, taking Chemistry, French, Russian, and someone other crazy class.
I knew I wanted an education so I tried attending Portland Community College and because I didn’t know how to attend a college class, I didn’t succeed.
Finally, after working in Boulder as a manager in a restaurant, I decided to try to attend school again. At first they denied my admission because of my PSU failure. At that time I was working as a manager of a business that grossed over a million a year (mid 90s), I believe my statement was, I can be responsible for a million dollars, but not take a class. That interaction led them to enroll me into Continuing Education and after proving my ability to read a book and write a 5 paragraph essay, they admitted me. I fought for the right to be at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
I graduated, summa cum laude in Women’s Studies and American Studies. My focus was on the formations of race in this country and how that impacted the gender based violence movement.
After receiving my B.A., I applied for the joint degree MSW/PhD program at Portland State University and was denied because I didn’t have a previous Masters degree. Again I went down to the program director and explained how I was a Ronald E. McNair scholar, a program designed to help first generation students get a PhD. I was accepted into the program, completed my Masters and transferred to University of Colorado to finish my doctoral studies.
My dissertation was an examination of services offered to youth who were considered to be either low or high risk for reoffending during pre-trial. My work demonstrated that youth of color were less likely to be given treatment after receiving an assessment and that led to an increase in a reoffense. But if youth of color were given treatment, it reduced their likelihood of reoffense by over 200%. I presented my results to State officials and my work was used to guide treatment funding for youth of color involved in the juvenile justice system.