A retiring West Texas A&M University history professor’s contributions to gender studies will be honored at a symposium this week.
Dr. Jean Stuntz will retire this spring after 21 years of service at WT. During her tenure, she helped found WT’s gender studies program more than a decade ago.
Stuntz has been actively advancing women’s and gender studies in her research and teaching throughout her career at WT, said Dr. Amy Von Lintel, professor of art history and current director of WT’s gender studies program. She has taught dozens of courses on women’s history, as well as introductory courses on gender studies, and has prolifically published books and articles in the field.
“Jean will be greatly missed, but her legacy is vibrant and anyone who has worked with her knows what an asset she has been to our institution,” Von Lintel said.
The symposium, which will run from 2 to 4 p.m. Friday in the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex Recital Hall, will feature presentations from five visiting scholars: Dr. Angela Boswell of Henderson State University; Dr. Stephanie Cole of University of Texas–Arlington; Dr. Deborah Liles of Tarleton State University; Dr. Amy Porter of Texas A&M University–San Antonio; and Dr. Rebecca Sharpless of Texas Christian University.
“These five scholars will discuss their various collaborations with Jean over the years and will also provide insight about the current state of women’s history—how it is evolving, how it is connected to gender and identity studies, and more,” Von Lintel said.
Prior to the symposium, about 30 WT faculty, alumni and graduate students, as well as the visiting scholars, will have their recent gender studies scholarship featured at a come-and-go research fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday in the atrium of Mary Moody Northen Hall.
“My vision for this research fair is to show the wide interdisciplinarity and variety of gender studies research being completed at WT, including book and article publications, but also dance programs, fashion history exhibitions, theatre performances and art shows,” Von Lintel said. “I am just so proud of this body of work by my colleagues, and I wanted to find a way to share it and show it off.”
Stuntz will be celebrated following the symposium at a 4 p.m. Friday reception in the Northen atrium.
“When Amy told me she was doing this last fall, I was gobsmacked,” Stuntz said. “It is an amazing honor, and I am really humbled by it. It is just tremendous.”
Stuntz’s career at WT began in 2001. Her in-person and online courses have focused on Texas history, U.S. women’s history, the Spanish borderlands and world history, among other topics.
Stuntz served as WT Faculty Senate president from 2009-10. A prolific author and researcher, she has contributed to award-winning anthologies and won prizes for her own 2005 book, “Hers, His, and Theirs: Community Property Law in Spain and Early Texas.”
“When I first came to WT in 2012, Dr. Stuntz was one of the warmest and most welcoming presences on campus,” said Dr. Timothy Bowman, associate professor of history and current department head. “I was already familiar with her work, having read portions of her award-winning book ‘Hers, His, and Theirs’ in a graduate seminar with a noted borderlands historian, Dr. David Weber. After I came to WT, though, I came to know Dr. Stuntz as both an immensely talented scholar and a close friend, colleague and mentor. I am excited for her as she transitions into retirement, but she will be greatly missed in the department and on campus.”
Stuntz—with the help of Dr. Kristina Drumheller, then head of WT’s Department of History, and graduate student Alice Miller MacPhee—got a certificate in gender studies approved as part of WT’s curriculum in 2015. The certificate can be sought by students across many disciplines in WT’s six Colleges and the Graduate School.
“I came at gender studies through women’s history. The more I read from other scholars, the more I got into theories of gender studies, and it was fascinating to me,” Stuntz said. “People are all different, and I love learning about why that is — that’s the historian in me.
“I think my legacy will be bringing the knowledge of gender studies to students who otherwise will not ever known it existed—that women had an effect on history and that this is a legitimate field to study,” Stuntz said.