GWS Alumni (2000-2009)
About Nadia Sol Ireri Unzueta Carrasco (2009) Heading link
Name: Nadia Sol Ireri Unzueta Carrasco
Current Title: UIC Heritage Garden Coordinator and a worker owner of Catatumbo Cooperative Farm, LWCA
GWS Affiliation: Undergraduate Major
UIC Degree: BA, GWS (2009)
Bio: Nadia Sol Ireri Unzueta Carrasco was born in Mexico D.F. and grew up in Little Village, Chicago. Ireri’s work is currently focused on cultivating diverse spaces for people to learn and organize together, with an emphasis on practices that are welcoming to young, Queer, undocumented folks. They have had the pleasure of working with and learning from many individuals, including folks from Organized Communities Against Deportations, Soul Fire Farm, Chicago Community and Workers’ Rights, and MiJente. They have also had the pleasure of learning from and being in community with the students, faculty and staff in the Gender and Women’s Studies program, where they first encountered the terms that reflected what they observed going on in immigrant rights organizing in Chicago in the mid 2000s, but also encountered the beautiful and inspiring possibilities of organizing that occurred (and continue to occur) across the world. Ireri is currently the UIC Heritage Garden Coordinator and a worker owner of Catatumbo Cooperative Farm, LWCA, a worker cooperative in Chicago.
About Dr. Jane Hereth (2009) Heading link
Name: Jane Hereth (she/they)
Current Title: Assistant Professor in the Social Work Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
GWS Affiliation: Graduate Concentrator and Graduate Assistant
UIC Degree: MSW in Social Work (2009)
Bio: Dr. Jane Hereth is an assistant professor in the Social Work Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Dr. Hereth’s research examines trajectories and intersections of carceral involvement and victimization among LGBTQ+ communities. Dr. Hereth’s research and teaching are informed by her social work practice with LGBTQ+ youth, survivors of violence, and individuals impacted by the criminal legal system. She received her MSW from UIC and her PhD from the University of Chicago.
What GWS Means to Me: During and beyond my time at UIC, I benefited greatly from being connected to such an amazing, engaged group of feminist scholars and organizers.
About Dr. Ariella Rotramel (2003) Heading link
Name: Ariella Rotramel (they/them)
Current Title: Vandana Shiva Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies at Connecticut College
GWS Affiliation: Undergraduate Major
UIC Degree: BA, GWS and Latin American and Latino Studies Minor (2003)
Bio: Ariella R. Rotramel is the Vandana Shiva Associate Professor and Chair of Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies. Ari is currently the Vice President of the National Women’s Studies Association. They hold a Bachelor of Arts degree for an Independent Program of Study (Intersections of Racial, Sexual and Gender Identities) from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a doctorate in Women’s and Gender Studies from Rutgers University. Their 2020 book, Pushing Back: Women of Color-Led Grassroots Activism in New York City, explores women of color’s leadership in organizations that are not singularly identified with feminism. Pushing Back addresses injustices tied to domestic work, housing, and environmental policies and practices. Ari also has published research on topics ranging from Gloria Anzaldúa’s relationship with disability, anti-LGBTQ hate crimes to public housing and content warnings in the classroom. Ari recently published in Fat Studies an article co-researched and written with two Connecticut College undergraduate students, “Weighing the Value of Femininity: Casino Cocktail Servers and Personal Appearance Standards.”
What GWS Means to Me: Everything! One of my favorite elements of my experience at UIC was how much support professors like Elena Gutiérrez and John D’Emilio provided as I created my major after a long struggle to find an academic home.
About Dr. Regina Buccola (2000) Heading link
Name: Regina Buccola (she/her)
Current Title: Chair of the Humanities, effective July 1, 2023: Interim Dean of the College of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences at Roosevelt University
GWS Affiliation: Graduate Concentrator
UIC Degree: PhD, English (2000)
Bio: Regina Buccola is Professor of English and Chair of the Humanities at Roosevelt University in Chicago, where she also serves as Director of Literature and Languages and core faculty in Women’s and Gender Studies. She has published several books on early modern British drama and culture, most recently Haunting History Onstage: Shakespeare in the USA and Canada for Cambridge Elements, as editor of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Critical Guide and co-editor, with Peter Kanelos, of Chicago Shakespeare Theater: Suiting the Action to the Word. Recent journal publications include Shakespeare Bulletin, Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England and Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation. She serves as the scholar in residence at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Her poetry has appeared in Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal and in Elia Magazine. In July 2022, a piece of her creative non-fiction appeared in Glacial Hills Review.
What GWS Means to Me: A wonderful foundation for my subsequent pedagogy and research, as well as a community of scholars to whom I still turn for professional advice. I loved my time at UIC and highly recommend it to anyone I know to have applied.