Department of Women's and Gender Studies : WGST Department Faculty

Sharon earned a Ph.D. in English from The University of Toledo in 1998. Her focus of study was in feminist and literary theory and 20th C. American women writers, with a special emphasis on African-American women poets. She has continued to pursue research focused on her doctoral dissertation, entitled A Marvelous Arithmetics: The Poetry and Prose of Audre Lorde. After a stint at Kent State University, she returned to UT in 2000 as an Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary and Special Programs and an affiliate of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies. She divides her professional energies between working with underprepared students, where she teaches a pre-composition I Academic Writing course, and Women’s Studies, where she often teaches Issues in Women’s Studies, a global, non-western, writing-intensive course open to all students. Other areas of expertise and interest include women’s music and culture, queer theory and sexualities studies, “third wave” feminism, ecofeminism, and feminist spirituality. She is also interested in community organizing, in particular Toledo’s Take Back the Night event.

Office: TH
Mail Stop: 502
Email: charlene.gilbert@utoledo.edu

Charlene Gilbert, Professor, Women's and Gender Studies and Film

Charlene Gilbert is a tenured full professor in Women's and Gender Studies and Theater and Film.  For the past 16 years Gilbert has been an independent documentary filmaker, teacher and scholar.  She is national producer for public television and her current projects include an experimental media project on Henrietta Lacks, the HeLa Cells and Bioethics.  Her current research interests are focused on Race, Gender and the Media in US national elections, Cyber Communities and Constructions of Gender and Transgender Identities in Popular Media.

As an independent documentary filmmaker, Charlene Gilbert has produced two award-winning feature documentaries and several short non-ficiton films.  Her first feature documentary film, Homecoming Sometimes I am Haunted by Memories of Red Dirt and Clay, premiered nationally on PBS and won several national awards include the NBPC (1999) and Paul Robeson (2000) Awards for Best Documentary.  Ms. Gilbert also co-authord, with Quinn Eli, a companion book to the file entitled Homecoming:  The Story of African American Farmers published by Beacon Press.  Her documentar, Children Will Listen, which followed children from DC public schools engaged in a year long theater arts project, premiered at the 2004 AFI Silverdocs Documentary Festival and had its national primtime PBS broadcast premiere in the fall of 2004.  Her films and videos have been screened in numerous international and national festivals including: The Women in the Director's Chair Festival, the Chicago International Television Festival, FESPACO, the Athens International Film and Video Festival and the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema.

In addition, Gilber has presented papers, lectures and participated in roundtable discussions at the American Studies Association, the Society of Cinema Studies, The National Women's Studies Conference, the University Film and Video Association and numerous of other conferences throughout the U.S.  Gilbert is also a sought after lecturer who has been invited to give talks at Duke University, Columbia University, Clemson University, SUNY Buffalo, Purdue University and The University of Milwaukee.

Gilbert is also the receipient of several awards and fellowships including the Rockefeller Media Fellowship, Harvard University's Bunting Fellowship, and the Kellogg National Leadership Fellowship award.  Gilbert received her bachelor's degree from Yale University and her Master of Fine Arts degree from Temple University.

Ph.D., The Ohio State University
M.S.W., University of Michigan
B.A., Bowling Green State University 

Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University
M.A., DePaul University
B.A., University of Delaware