KPBS Midday Edition

First Women's Studies Department In Nation Celebrates 50 Years

By Maureen Cavanaugh / KPBS Midday Edition Co-Host, Brooke Ruth / Senior Producer of Audio News

Published March 10, 2020 at 9:29 AM PDT

This story was published more than 4 years ago.

A gathering of the women at SDSU in the 1970s.

SDSU educators are marking the 50th anniversary of the women's studies department.

Over the weekend women around the world took to the streets to mark International Women’s Day. Many of those parades turned into protests as tens of thousands of women called for an end to violence against women and an end to financial inequality.

Those same goals were in the forefront 50 years ago, when San Diego State University founded the first women’s studies department in the country. This spring semester, SDSU educators are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the department.

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And, while there’s much to celebrate, there’s still a long way to go — in the workplace, in the home and in politics — for women to take their rightful place in present-day culture.

Doreen Mattingly, professor and chair of the women's studies department, and Huma Ahmed-Ghosh, a professor in the department and former department chair, joined Midday Edition on Tuesday to discuss this milestone and what they expect of the department in the next 50 years.

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Maureen Cavanaugh

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Maureen Cavanaugh has been a familiar voice for KPBS listeners for more than 15 years, serving in a variety of capacities including announcer, host, and producer. As host of KPBS Midday Edition, Maureen has interviewed a wide range of notables, such as comedienne Sandra Bernhardt, actor John Lequizamo, author Chuck Palahniuk, composer Marvin Hamlisch, artist Robert Irwin, and designer Zandra Rhodes. But of all the interviews Maureen has conducted, her most special was with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Before joining KPBS in 1997, she worked as a news anchor for KSDO and KOGO News Radio in San Diego. While working for commercial radio stations in San Diego and in Salt Lake City, Utah, Maureen reported on both hard news and lifestyle features. Maureen has received three "Golden Mike" awards from the Radio and TV News Association of Southern California for economic reporting and breaking news. She has also received a "Best of Show" and “Best Radio Newscast” awards from the San Diego Press Club and the "Flo" Award from Public Radio Program Directors Association for Best Public Radio Announcer in a large market. Maureen is a native of Queens, New York, but after more than 20 years in San Diego she feels she qualifies as a real Southern Californian.

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Brooke Ruth

Brooke Ruth is the senior producer of Audio News. She previously served as a producer for "KPBS Midday Edition" and a web producer. Before joining KPBS, Brooke was a web editor for four newspapers and a local television station. She began her career in news at the Imperial Valley Press. She has also been part of the web teams at the Napa Valley Register, North County Times, and U-T San Diego. While pursuing her undergraduate degree at UCLA in psychology, she worked on the student newspaper, the Daily Bruin.

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