CGSH Spring 2025 Workshop

Panel #1: Beyond the Binary: Exploring and defining the spectrum of sex and gender in health

Science, medicine, and society increasingly recognize sex and gender as spectra rather than binaries. In clinical settings, genetic mutations, intersex variations, and hormonal conditions (e.g., PCOS) shape both visible and invisible traits, influencing health outcomes. At the same time, evolving societal norms are allowing for a broader spectrum of gender and identity.  This panel will explore the latent definitions of sex and gender from multiple disciplinary perspectives, allowing for deeper discussions in subsequent panels. 

Panel #2: Interdisciplinary challenges and opportunities

Studies of gender and sex in health reveal the necessity of interdisciplinary research. Sometimes a social scientist needs a widget; sometimes a life scientist needs feminist theory. In this session, we ask panelists to share how they reconcile the variable ways our disciplines think about sex and gender, how they find ways to share power and ideas in their research projects, how they might leverage the various incentive structures and norms of their discipline to try and ask new and valuable questions.

Panel #3: Research in uncertain times

At a time where the definition of interdisciplinary research continues to expand, it is important to consider how the university can support scholarship that connects humanists, scientists, social scientists, engineers, artists, and the community. Our university is faced with uncertain funding futures at a time where the value of public higher education is also under attack. In this session, we ask panelists about ways that interdisciplinary efforts can flourish on campus, the role of campus research institutes in that growth, and ways to connect the work we do on campus to our local, state, and national community.