What is the Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS) at the University of Oregon?

Updated

CSWS is a research center at the University of Oregon that creates, funds, shares, and supports feminist scholarship on gender identities and inequalities. It is the right starting point if you are a UO faculty member or graduate student looking for research funding, a student new to the grant process, or a community member who wants to attend events and follow the center's work. The center has funded feminist scholarship at UO for five decades.

What CSWS does

The center's stated mission is to address "the complicated nature of gender identities and inequalities" through research. Its work runs along four lines described on its site:

  • Research — Faculty and student affiliates produce wide-ranging work on women's lives and the intersecting nature of gender identities and inequalities.
  • Funding — CSWS has funded feminist scholarship at UO for five decades, with current opportunities and past awards documented on the site.
  • Initiatives — Event programming and special initiatives build networking, collaboration, and mentorship among feminist scholars.
  • Media — As a research center, CSWS disseminates new knowledge to other scholars and educators, the public, policymakers, and activists.

Who it serves

The site names its audiences directly: UO faculty and student affiliates, the broader scholarly community, the public, policymakers, and activists. In practice, that means different entry points:

If you are… Start with
A graduate student new to CSWS funding The graduate student grants info session and the funding pages
A UO faculty member Research affiliate information and current funding opportunities
A community member or alum Events and the "Join the CSWS community" pathway
A journalist, policymaker, or educator Media resources and published research

Scale and history

The homepage gives a few concrete markers of the center's footprint:

  • 1973 — CSWS established
  • 1983 — Harris Endowment received
  • $3.5m — figure associated with the 1983 endowment milestone
  • $3m+ — given for gender research at UO

These figures are the ones the site itself displays; treat them as the center's own summary rather than an audited total.

Getting involved: events and funding

CSWS runs an active events calendar. Upcoming listings on the homepage include:

  • Fall Open House — a gathering for affiliates, friends, and community members at Hendricks 330 (CSWS Jane Grant Room), 3:00pm.
  • Feminist Futures Roundtable (PDX) — held in connection with the 49th Annual Utopian Studies Conference in Portland, Oregon (Nov. 12–14, 2026), for which CSWS is local sponsor.
  • Info Session: Graduate Student Grants — Director Sangita Gopal explains the grant funding cycle and what kinds of gender-related research and creative work qualify for CSWS funding; 12–1 p.m. in the CSWS Jane Grant Room (Hendricks 330).

For funding, the practical path is to read the current opportunities and past awards pages first, then attend the graduate info session if you are new to the process. The session is explicitly aimed at students unfamiliar with how CSWS grants work, so it is the lowest-effort way to learn what qualifies before drafting a proposal.

What to check before relying on details

Event dates, room assignments, and funding deadlines change by term. The homepage shows one roundtable location as "TBD," which is a reminder to confirm specifics on the individual event or funding page rather than the calendar summary. If you plan to attend or apply, verify the current listing on csws.uoregon.edu before making travel or submission plans.