Associate Professor, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Email: [email protected]
Phone:  (616) 331-3136
Office:  217 Lake Ontario Hall

Education:

• PhD, American Studies, Bowling Green State University, 2002
• MA, American Indian Studies, 1994
• BA, English, William smith College, 1992

Classes:

Dr. Mason teaches WGS 255: Gender and Popular Culture, WGS 335: Women, Health, and Environment, and WGS 200: Introduction to Gender Studies. She has been a faculty director and faculty fellow for Women’s Leadership House.

Research interests: 

Her research interests center on representations of women in popular culture in two separate but related areas: breast health in mainstream magazines and representations of mothers in popular television. In both media, her analysis focuses on the role of popular culture in creating and maintaining norms around motherhood, femininity, beauty ideals, power and agency. 

Awards:

• Faculty of Distinction for 2011-2012, Omicron Delta Kappa National    Leadership Honor Society, Grand Valley Chapter (2012)
• Michigan Campus Compact Faculty/Staff Community Service-Learning Award (2012)
• National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, Silver Award for Excellence, Awarded to the Women’s Community Collaborative (2010)
• Presidential Service Learning Scholar, Grand Valley State University (2009)
• Sustainability Champion, Grand Valley State University (2009)
• Women’s Center Faculty Involvement Award, Grand Valley State University (2007)

Other interests:

Dr. Mason frequently participates in community discussions about popular culture and body image.

In Spring 2015, she served as a coach for the Georgetown Elementary School chapter of Girls on the Run, a national experience-based program designed to increase positive self-esteem and healthy behaviors in 3-5th grade girls. 

Recent Publications:

“Mags Bennett--Outlaw Mother”  in Justified and Philosophy: Shoot First, Think Later. Edited by Rod Carveth and Robert Arp. Open Court Publishers. (2015).

Unsexing Gender, Engendering Activism: Readings in Gender Studies.  2nd Edition. Edited with Danielle DeMuth, Debjani Chakravarty, and Ayana K. Weekley. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt. (2015).

“Surgical Intervention: Critiquing the Representation of Breast Cancer in US Women’s Magazines Journal of American Culture  36.4 (2013).

“Lessons to Learn”: Constructions of Femininity in Popular Magazine Breast Health Narratives in Gender Forum Issue 26 (2009).

Unsexing Gender, Engendering Activism: Readings in Gender Studies.  Edited with Danielle DeMuth. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt. (2009).

“The Selling of Breast Cancer:  A Feminist Critique of Breast Cancer Related Advertisements. In Women, Wellness and Media.  Edited by Margaret Wiley. Cambridge Scholars Publishers (2008).