Farmington Faculty


Alice Adams, Ph.D.

Associate Professor - Director of Women's and Gender Studies

Ph.D., University of Iowa
M.A., Southern Oregon State College
B.A., Southern Oregon State College

In the Classroom: Engaging Students — Setting High Academic Expectations
In many of her Women's and Gender Studies classes Alice Adams tries to present a different view of how the world works and she provides facts — often from many different academic disciplines — to back up her classroom discussions.

She also works to dispel stereotypical notions her students may have about what feminism is, and in turn, provides a clearer view of what the field of Women's and Gender Studies is today and why it is relevant to their lives.

Alice also often incorporates cross-cultural, global issues into her classroom discussions. A recent global topic her classroom discussions focused on was women's issues in Iran. Here, she used Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel, Persepolis, a first-hand account of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq.

For many of Alice's students, the book was the first they had heard of the specific details of Islamic Revolution that took place in Iran during the 1980’s — a child's-eye-view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and a reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. Alice believes that exposing her students to such complicated issues of culture, politics, religion, etc., helps them to better understand domestic topics as they relate to women's issues.

Alice Adams' classes are often a blend of in-the-classroom discussions and research findings combined with a number of out-side-the-classroom assignments and projects, which often result in students wanting to take action on what they have discovered.

For example, in one of her classes Alice will assign groups of four students to "take on a topic" for an entire semester: reproductive issues, body issues, domestic violence, cross-cultural issues, and women's spirituality, etc. The students will conduct in-depth research from a variety of sources and present them to the entire class at the end of the semester.

In doing so, students not only learn to collect and evaluate data and eventually form opinions about the topic — they sometimes come away with different opinion on the topic than when they began the project. One such group project focused on body issues, a research topic that eventually focused on eating disorders among teens and young women. Another group focused on women and spirituality and instead of focusing on a typical organized religion, the group eventually focused on Wicca.

Part of what she helps students do is also to learn how to take action on things they have learned. They learn to do things such as write letters to the editor of newspapers, write to government agencies, offer peer instruction, develop policies, and more.

For example, the group that focused on teen access to birth control worked with a state agency in Maine to develop a better method of informing teens on a statewide level about protection and education. A group that focused on women and spirituality took action to start an on-campus group devoted to the exploration of the Wicca religion.


Outside the Classroom: Innovation and Excitement — Putting Theory into Practice
One of the many interesting outside-the-classroom activities Alice Adams' students recently completed was to develop a bipartisan election guide for Maine voters. The guide focused on as many issues and candidates as possible. Her students also took creative measures to encourage people to get out and vote on Election Day.

In addition to its academic offerings and internships, the Women's and Gender Studies program at Farmington supports a number of events and activities throughout the year that highlight issues of importance to women, including: the Nordica Celebration of Women in the Arts (an annual cultural event held on the UMF campus that incorporates music, dance and theater performance; readings, and more); a class trip to the annual Maine Women's Studies Conference (in which students actively participate in the statewide conference); the Women's History Month Banquet; the publication of Ripple (a feminist magazine, designed written and published by Women's Studies students); a wide range of presentations at UMF's annual Symposium Day, and much more.


A True Academic — Areas of Special Interest
A former literature professor, Alice Adams is currently involved in researching a number of cross-cultural issues. She is also interested in feminist theory and gender studies. Alice is very pleased that more students from other majors — not just those majoring in Women's and Gender Studies — are now taking many of her classes.

Alice is also working hard to dispel the notions some students have of the field of women's studies, explaining to students and others that the field is not judgmental but rather it seeks many different perspectives and that a degree in Women's and Gender Studies does not limit students' options after graduation. Quite the contrary, women's studies programs often lead students to a wide variety of career paths: law, public policy, social work, medical school, graduate school, teaching, business and entrepreneurship, to name just a few.


Respected in the Field — Noteworthy Accomplishments
Alice is very close to the completion of her latest book that focuses on a broad spectrum of transgendered issues, including the science and psychology of sexuality. Here, Alice feels there is so much disagreement as to why people experience their gender in certain ways. She believes that it’s the debate about the so-called mind/body split that's important — not necessarily finding "the answer" as to why some people have such an identity.


Outside of Academia — Personal Interests and Activities
Outside her academic role, Alice is currently actively researching the westward journey of women in the 1800’s. She travels frequently to libraries in California and Oregon to read the personal diaries and journals women kept of their journey from the Midwest to Wyoming and California during the 1800’s, often with several young children in tow.

In addition to her research endeavors, Alice is an avid traveler and is planning trips to China and New Zealand.

 

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