Department of Women's and Gender Studies

Dr. Asma M. Abdel Halim

Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies

Office: UH 4260 B
Phone: 419.530.2602
Fax: 419.530.4411
Mail Stop: 965
Email: asma.abdel-halim@utoledo.edu

Ph.D., Ohio University
M.A.I.A., Ohio University

LL.M., University of Khartoum, Sudan
LL.B., University of Khartoum

Asma M. Abdel Halim is a professor with The University of Toledo, Department of Women's and Gender Studies. She graduated from the faculty of Law, University of Khartoum with an LL.B. Honors in Common Law and Shari’a, Islamic Law, where she also earned a Master in commercial law. She earned a Master in International Affairs, African Studies and a Ph.D. in Education from Ohio University.

Asma taught at several universities and has been a human rights activist for the past 40 years. Her research is generally on Muslim women’s rights in Africa and other parts of the world, with a focus on feminism, women’s issues, legal, constitutional rights and human rights issues under socio-cultural and religious mandates and other related issues. Her current research project is researching Sudanese laws from a feminist perspective. She follows the evolution of law in the country especially laws that directly affect women’s rights such as Personal Status Laws (Ahwal Shakhsiyya) and Criminal law. She authored and translated books and published articles in books and periodicals, as well as attended and presented at many domestic and international conferences that address her research interests.
Asma’s research is focused now on the huge changes in Sudanese laws and politics after the downfall of the military dictatorship in the country.

Dr. Jamie Barlowe

Professor Emeritus

Phone: 419.530.2233
Fax: 419.530.4411
Mail Stop: 906
Email: jamie.barlowe@utoledo.edu
Ph.D., The Ohio State University
M.A., The Ohio State University
B.A., Indiana University

Dr. Sharon Barnes

Associate Professor and Chair

Office:  UH4260B
Phone:  419.530.2233
Fax:  419.530.6206
Mail Stop:  965
Email: sharon.barnes@utoledo.edu

Ph.D., The University of Toledo

Sharon L. Barnes earned a Ph.D. in English from The University of Toledo with a doctoral dissertation focused on the poetry and feminist theory of Audre Lorde. Her scholarly interest has remained on Lorde, especially her work on spirituality, illness, death and dying, and on other feminist poets whose work reflects similar themes. In articles such as “Marvelous Arithmetics: Womanist Spirituality in the Poetry of Audre Lorde,” “Audre Lorde’s Seboulisa: Muse for the Death Journey,” and “Marvelous Arithmetics: Prosthesis, Speech, and Death in the Late Work of Audre Lorde,” Dr. Barnes explores how Lorde’s poetry stands as spiritual theory and political witness.
After earning her PhD, Dr. Barnes held a position at Kent State University before returning to UT. She developed and teaches many of the courses in the Sexualities Studies Minor in WGST and often teaches “Global Issues in Women’s Studies,” the university’s non-western, writing intensive core course open to all students. Other areas of interest include lesbian feminist thought and culture, working class women poets, ecofeminism, feminist spirituality, and recently, women and wilderness. She is also involved in community justice organizing and is a long-time supporter of Toledo’s Take Back the Night event, one of the largest anti-violence against women events in the region. She currently serves as chairwoman of the UToledo Department of Women’s & Gender Studies.

Dr. Shara Crookston

Associate Professor

Office: UH 4220A
Phone: 419.530.2494
Fax: 419.530.4411
Mail Stop: 965
Email: Shara.Crookston@utoledo.edu

Ph.D., University of Mississippi
M.A., University of Alabama
B.A., Arizona State  University

Shara Crookston, Ph.D., is associate professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Toledo. She earned her doctorate in Higher Education at the University of Mississippi in 2009. Her dissertation, “You Know You Love Me XOXO: A Feminist Analysis of Gossip Girl Readers’ Interpretation of the College Experience,” focused on the consumer and lifestyle expectations of college women. Dr. Crookston holds a M.A. in Women’s Studies from the University of Alabama (2006), and a B.A. in Women’s Studies from Arizona State University (2004).

 Originally a Northern California native, Dr. Crookston has been teaching at the University of Toledo since 2009. Her research interests are focused on depictions of girlhood and adolescence in popular culture and reproductive justice. She is particularly interested in postfeminist narratives in teen magazines such as Seventeen and Teen Vogue. Her work has appeared in Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, Women in Sport and Physical Activity, Girlhood Studies, and Jeunesse: Young people, Texts, Cultures.

 Dr. Crookston has developed and taught several courses related to girlhood and adolescence in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Toledo. These include Girlhood in Film and Popular Teen Literature. She is currently developing a course about girls and sports participation. In addition to her academic pursuits, Dr. Crookston enjoys reading fiction, true crime podcasts, and spending time with her dogs.

Dr. Rachel Dudley

Assistant Professor

Office:  UH4220C
Phone:  419.530.6206
Fax:  419.530.4411
Mail Stop:  965
Email: rachel.dudley@utoledo.edu

Ph.D., Emory University
M.A. The Ohio State University

Rachel Dudley, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of Women's and Gender Studies and affiliated faculty in Africana Studies at the University of Toledo. She received her doctorate in Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies from Emory University, with a dissertation entitled, "Haunted Hospital: J. Marion Sims & the Legacies of Enslaved Women" (2016). Dr. Dudley also holds a master's in Women's Studies from The Ohio State University (2009) and a minor in Women and Gender Studies from Grand Valley State University in Michigan (GVSU, 2007). She has held Assistant Visiting Professor positions at both Emory and GVSU and has worked as the Program Coordinator and Advisor for Cornell University's McNair Scholars Program.

Dr. Dudley is a proud member of the Black Feminist Health Science Studies Collective and the author of two articles, including: “Towards an Understanding of the Medical Plantation As a Cultural Location of Disability” and “The Role of Feminist Health Humanities Scholarship & Black Women’s in Re-Shaping the Origin Narrative of Modern, U.S. Gynecology.” She is currently working on the completion of a book chapter entitled, “Black Feminist Field Notes: On Designing an Online Health Humanities Course in Women’s and Gender Studies,” which will appear in an anthology called From the Trenches: Health Humanities in Application.

Her teaching interests include Introductory Level Courses, Feminist Theory and Gender, Race & Health. Her research interests include Black Feminist Thought, Feminist Health Humanities, Medical History, Gender & U.S. Slavery, and Interdisciplinary Knowledge Production. Dr. Dudley is delighted to be a part of the WGST Department and the larger UToledo campus community! She loves helping students reach their goals and thrive. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to personal success audio, spending time with family and friends, watching Netflix comedy shows, yoga and taking nature walks with her dog named Wally.

Dr. Patricia A. Groves

Professor Emeritus

Office: UH 4220C
Phone: 419.530.2792
Fax: 419.530.4411
Mail Stop: 965
Email: patricia.groves@utoledo.edu

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

Dr. Jeanne M. Kusina

Distinguished University Lecturer

Office:  UH4220B
Phone:  419.530.2642
Fax:  419.530.4411
Mail Stop:  965
Email: jeanne.kusina@utoledo.edu

Ph.D., Bowling Green State University
M.A., The University of Toledo
M.B.A., Tiffin University

Jeanne Kusina, Ph.D., M.B.A., is a Distinguished University Lecturer in Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Toledo. Dr. Kusina earned a doctorate degree from Bowling Green State University with the dissertation, “Seduction, Coercion, and an Exploration of Embodied Freedom.” Her research interests center primarily around ethics (particularly biomedical and environmental ethics), social justice issues, and philosophy of art, film, and media. She is particularly keen on examining the ways in which these domains intersect. Her published articles include research on sociopolitics and temporality in cultural discourse, networked art, and film.

Dr. Kusina enjoys teaching and working with a broad range of students in a variety of settings spanning introductory level courses through upper division and graduate seminars.

In addition to her academic pursuits, Dr. Kusina is also an artist and experimental filmmaker whose work has shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Wexner Center, Harvard University, Northwestern University, Oberlin College, The Kinsey Institute, the Kaunas Biennial in Lithuania, SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco, White Box in New York, Beyond Baroque in Los Angeles, the Museo Brasileiro da Escultura in Sao Paulo, and elsewhere.

Kimberly R. McBride, Ph.D., M.A.

Associate Professor

Office:  UH 4220F

Phone: 419.530.2668
Fax: 419.530.4411
Mail Stop: 965

Email: kimberly.mcbride@utoledo.edu

Ph.D., Indiana University School of Public Health
M.A., Humboldt State University
B.A., California State University

Dr. McBride is an interdisciplinary social and behavioral scientist whose broad research focuses on the individual, interpersonal, contextual, and social factors that influence human sexuality, sexual behavior, and sexual health. She is a mixed-methodologist, with specific expertise in qualitative research. Her current research interests include sexualities, sexual and reproductive health justice, and sexual behaviors.
Dr. McBride currently serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at The University of Toledo where she teaches courses related to her content expertise. Prior to joining the faculty at UToledo in 2014, Dr. McBride served as an Assistant Professor of Public Health at Central Washington University (2012-2014) and as an instructor in the both the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the Department of Applied Health Science (2008-2012) at Indiana University, Bloomington.
Dr. McBride earned her PhD in Health Behavior with a minor in Human Sexuality from the Indiana University, Bloomington, School of Public Health in 2006. During her doctoral program, she trained at the Center for Sexual Health Promotion and held fellowships at the Rural Center for AIDs/STD Prevention and the Office for Women’s Affairs. She completed a Ford Foundation funded pre-doctoral and postdoctoral research fellowship at the Kinsey Institute and an NIH funded postdoctoral research fellowship in the Department of Pediatrics, Section of Adolescent Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis. Dr. McBride earned a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from Humboldt State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from California State University, Sacramento.
Dr. McBride is currently Chairperson-elect for the Sexual and Reproductive Health Section of the American Public Health Association and will begin her term as Chair in November 2021. In addition, she has served as a Section Representative on the Governing Council (2017-2021) and participated in other leadership activities for the organization. Dr. McBride is also an active peer-reviewer for multiple scientific journals and has a special interest in ethics related to research and publication. In 2021, she received a Presidential Recognition Award for Scholarly and Creative Activity from The University of Toledo in recognition of her highly cited research publications.
In her personal life, Dr. McBride is co-owned by two cats who occasionally allow her to enjoy gardening, birding, and art-making. She is a lover of reading, travel, miniatures, and social justice. Most notably, Dr. McBride is a bread enthusiast and registered voter.

Dr. Patricia A. Murphy, C.R.C.

Part-Time Instructor

Phone: 419.530.2233
Fax: 419.530.4411
Mail Stop: 965
Email: pmurphy@utnet.utoledo.edu

Ph.D., in Women's Studies and Rehabilitation from the Union Institute & University
M.S., in Rehabilitation Counseling from St. Cloud State University
B.A., in English Literature from the University of Minnesota

Dr. Murphy holds the Certified Rehabilitation Counselor credential from the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification.  Dr. Murphy has been teaching for the Department of Women's and Gender Studies at UT since 1999. As a co-founder of the Disability Studies Program she has been teaching disability studies courses since 2001. Dr. Murphy's research interests include feminism and disability, violence against women with and without disabilities, the impact of violence on women's educational and career aspirations and achievements, and disability history.

Linda Curtis

Secretary

Phone: 419.530.2233

Fax: 419.530.4411

Mail Stop: 965

Email: linda.curtis@utoledo.edu

B.S., The University of Toledo

Diversity Management Certificate

Linda Curtis is a secretary with twenty years of experience at The University of Toledo working alongside the chair of the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, and the directors of the Master of Liberal Studies Program, Law and Social Thought Program, Disability Studies Program and the School of Interdisciplinary Studies. Linda holds a B.S. from the University of Toledo as well as a Certificate of Diversity Management. Linda uses her positive attitude to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Her husband, three children, and two granddaughters inspire Linda daily. In her free time, Linda likes to hike at the Ohio state parks, crochet, read fiction of all types, and tries to practice yoga with intent.