Laura C. Harris Series

Laura C. Harris Series 2022-2024

Transnational Youth Liberation Movements

The Laura C. Harris Series theme for 2022-2024, Transnational Youth Liberation Movements, brings youth to the center of feminist scholarship, anti-racism, and liberation movements. Young people are mobilizing on the ground and in digital spaces on issues of gendered and racialized violence, the feminization of global poverty, the gendered impact of climate change, Indigenous land rights, reproductive justice, the resurgence of religious fundamentalism, and more. To these issues and others, the lives of women, young people, and children are intimately connected. This theme examines the urgency for such mobilizations and how they are creating sustainable coalitions and solidarities. Youth as a liminal space between childhood and adulthood is critical to examine for its in-betweenness and potential for transformation and change. Importantly, it is also a space to engage Denison students in thinking about their involvement in these issues, and in creatively imagining and building a just and viable future.

Fall 2023

Samar Yazbek, October 10

Training for Change workshop with Nicole Ektnitphong, October 21

Spring 2023

Joy Harjo, February 7

Judy Batalion, February 22

 Zahra Ali, March 23

Robin Wall Kimmerer, March 28

Fall 2022

Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice in Post-Dobbs Ohio, September 13

Thiossane West African Dance Institute, September 22

Olena Nikolayenko, October 10

Jasbir Puar, October 19

Solidarity from the South: Albinism Activism in Tanzania, October 27

The late Dr. Laura C. Harris was a pioneer in the medical profession and the embodiment of the Denison ideal. A member of the Class of 1916 (earning the Ph.B., or Bachelor of Philosophy), Dr. Harris was the first woman ever to receive a medical degree from Syracuse University. She also did post-graduate study at the University of Pennsylvania before beginning her medical practice in New York in the 1920s.

A pioneer medical educator among women, she was appointed clinical professor of pediatrics at the State University of New York Medical Center at Syracuse.  Her teaching career spanned more than 30 years. In 1951, Dr. Harris was honored with a Denison Alumni Citation and in 1981 with an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.  She died in 1987 at the age of 93.

The Laura C. Harris Endowment, the result of a major bequest from Dr. Harris’ estate, stands as a tribute to her memory, evidence of her clear commitment to women’s achievement and reinforcement of her belief in the importance of undergraduate education.  The objective of the Laura C. Harris Symposium is to enhance and promote the education of young women as students and as professionals and serve to promote the career opportunities and carry on the pioneering spirit of women students at Denison University.

Learn more about the Laura C. Harris Series and the Women's and Gender Studies program at Denison University by visiting the program's webpage.