Women's History Month: The Advocates for Social Justice and Education

University Communications
March 25, 2014

In honor of Women’s History Month, we're highlighting University of Arizona women whose achievements have had a lasting impact on the campus and beyond. This is the last piece in a five-part series in which we have shared stories about several important and influential women – students and employees – whose contributions have helped shape the UA.

Since Clara Fish – the UA's first student – raised funds to build a school to teach underserved students in the early 20th century, UA women have help build a legacy of service and support.

Today, we profile active, service-oriented UA students and employees who have worked to advance educational opportunities and engagement, especially among historically underserved groups, both on and off campus.

Laura N. Banks-Reed, who earned four degrees from the UA, all in the College of Education, has dedicated her career to improving educational opportunities for students. She is the owner of LNB Enterprises, an educational consulting firm, and has served as a national board member for the YWCA and national secretary for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. Banks-Reed was given the UA Black Alumni's Phenomenal Woman Award, the UA's Distinguished Citizen Award and the YWCA's Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award, among numerous other honors. The Tucson Unified School District named the Laura Nobles Banks Elementary School in her honor and her name was added to the African American Women's Arch in the UA Women's Plaza of Honor.

Photo credit: Christine Scheer

Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy (above), a UA research associate, is a longtime faculty member and former head of the UA Department of Gender and Women’s Studies. Prior to joining the UA, Kennedy was a founding member of women's studies at University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, one of the first programs of its kind in the nation. She has written seminal and groundbreaking articles and texts on social movements, women's history, working-class lesbians and LGBTQ history, among other topics. Her publications include "Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of A Lesbian Community," which received the Jesse Barnard Award for the best book on women in her field of sociology as well as a Lambda Literary Award in 1993. The Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy Endowment was founded in her name after a group of colleagues and friends raised money for the fund.

India Spartz, director of Special Collections at the UA, previously served as the senior archivist at Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and has more than 20 years of experience in the field of special collections and archives management. She has been called to participate in local, regional, national and international archival and library conferences and has served as a guest panelist and grant reviewer for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Annette Kolodny, a feminist literary critic and activist, is a College of Humanities Professor Emerita of American Literature and Culture. Kolodny is recognized for her investigations on the experiences of women, especially challenges women and ethnic minorities experience in higher education.

Photo credit: Beatriz Verdugo/UANews

Carol Bender, University Distinguished Outreach Professor (above), directs the UA's Undergraduate Biology Research Program. The program has helped to enhance undergraduate education at the UA, supporting thousands of undergraduates in research projects. Bender began her tenure at the UA in 1988 and has since grown UBRP from a program of 19 students and 13 faculty mentors to one that supports more than 140 students each year and includes hundreds more faculty mentors. Bender also oversees the Biomedical Research Abroad: Vistas Open! – or BRAVO! – Program, which involves students in research in dozens of countries abroad. In 1997, Bender participated in the Fulbright-sponsored International Education Administrators Program in Japan, and in 2011 was invited to participate in the Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Seminar in India.

Elizabeth Arnot-Hopffer was invested in social justice, diversity and educational advancement. Having earned three degrees from the UA, Arnot-Hopffer served as a bilingual elementary, a middle school teacher, a bilingual resource specialist, a curriculum specialist and a principal designee. She was known for establishing innovative math and music programs. Also, Arnot-Hopffer served as a clinical assistant professor in the UA College of Education. In 2009, she was appointed principal to Los Ranchitos Elementary School in the Sunnyside School District. Arnot-Hopffer passed away in 2009.

Photo credit: Beatriz Verdugo/UANews

Miranda Joseph (above), an associate professor in the UA's gender and women's studies department, is an expert researcher in the relationships between economic processes and social formations. In particular, her scholarship focuses on women's, LGBT and ethnic studies. Joseph – who also teaches in the English department and School of Geography and Development – has served in a range of special appointments, including Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Queen Mary University of London and a visiting scholar at the Arts & Humanities Research Council Research Centre for Law, Gender and Sexuality at the University of Kent. The UA Institute for LGBT Studies Miranda Joseph Lecture Endowment was founded in her name.

Marti Lindsey, director of community outreach and education for the UA Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center, was given the 2013 Society of Toxicology Public Communications Awards. Lindsey, co-director of the Keep Engaging Youth in Science program at the UA, has invested her work in advancing science research careers to high school students, and addressing various science and toxicology issues with Native American and senior communities in Arizona. Also, Lindsey has been involved for a decade in the Tucson cleanup of trichloroethylene, a harmful human carcinogen.

For other UANews coverage during Women's History Month, view:

 

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