In Fall 2011, Charlotte Patterson became the new director of the Studies in Women and Gender program at U.Va. The Women's Center welcomes her in this new role!

Faculty Profile: Charlotte Patterson, PhD

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An Interview with the New Director of the SWAG Program

This semester a familiar face in the University of Virginia’s Studies in Women and Gender (SWAG) program took on a new role. In August 2011, SWAG welcomed Psychology Prof. Charlotte Patterson as its program director.

Patterson came to U.Va. in 1975 after completing her graduate work at Stanford University. Her research focuses on family and developmental psychology, as they relate to sexual orientation. She has been involved in the SWAG program since its original founding in 1981, when Women’s Center Director Sharon Davie served as director. In an interview, Patterson recalled the program’s old home in a “tiny old building” that once stood where the expansive South Lawn Project does today.

“The program has a wonderful history, and Sharon Davie was a dynamic director for the program when it began,” she said. “It’s now I think a vibrant and important part of the College of Arts and Sciences.”

The program is considering various ways to sustain and build on its history, Patterson said. With many faculty members on leave this semester, SWAG is focusing on reengaging and reconnecting with affiliated faculty, as well as looking to add new faculty members. “We’re number one concerned with maintaining the exciting program that we have,” Patterson said.

The program is also considering expanding in new ways. SWAG is looking to possibly increase course offerings in “a burgeoning area of scholarship” known as sexuality studies. “This is an area that is just exploding across disciplines,” Patterson said. “It’s natural for our program to take it up.”

SWAG has also established a faculty film series in which SWAG faculty members screen and discuss a film with program students and friends. In addition, they are looking to hold a second annual alumni panel, where SWAG graduates return to the University to discuss how the skills they learned in the program have served them since graduation.

People around the University have also expressed interest in expanding SWAG into graduate programs, or offering a graduate emphasis, though Patterson said she is not yet sure if that is a possibility. She is eager to find out what people would like to see in the program, though.

“I’m a new director, so I want to connect with our current students, our current majors and minors, as well as friends of the program across the University . . . and really hear what people think is important,” she said.

Naturally, these friends include the Women’s Center. Patterson described the two groups as “complimentary and mutually supportive” in their work.

“No one thinks that they’re identical but there are lots of areas of overlap, and I would love to collaborate with the Women’s Center in any way possible,” she said. “I would be honored to collaborate with [Davie] and/or the staff in any way that we can identify as mutually beneficial.”

Article by Kat Raichlen. Image supplied by Charlotte Patterson.

 

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