The Gender Education Program, scheduled to end July 1, 2009, has instead been permanently funded. This is an extraordinary change in these economically challenging times. Student and other campus community members' voices compelled the UCD Administration to continue this program that has promoted a climate of safety and respect for women on our campus since 2000. For us this change is bittersweet, as the Program will no longer be a part of the WRRC. It will be housed under the Police Department, in the Campus Violence Prevention Program. We at the WRRC are sorry to lose our colleague, Gender Education Specialist Julienne Kwong Ratanasen as a member of our staff. However we look forward to working closely with her, especially through outreach office hours held at the WRRC.

Originated through a Department of Justice grant, UCD’s Gender Education Program was housed in the WRRC and became a national model offering both professionally staffed presentations addressing links between sexism and the continuum of violence against women, and self-defense training through women-centered physical education and the campus Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) program. It has served many hundreds of UCD students and staff in empowering themselves against harassment and violence.

The WRRC has turned its' lobby walls into The Womyn's Gallery, currently hosting recent graduate Chelsea Gilmore's artwork. Stop in and check out Gilmore's abstract works. There will be a reception to celebrate this exhibit with refreshments provided. Come by for a chance to talk to the artist and mingle with other art enthusiasts!