School of Natural and Social Sciences

For the 2021 Mary Edwards Memorial Lecture, former Purchase faculty member Professor Dána-Ain Davis offers stories from her decades as an activist researcher and creative practitioner. Professor Davis’ major academic contributions include two books focusing on the lives of Black women, including Battered Black Women and Welfare Reform: Between a Rock and Hard Place and the acclaimed Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth. Professor Davis is also a writer of fiction and poetry, practices to which she has recently returned. Her lecture weaves these experiences together, offering a portrait of Black life, work, and art.

Professor Mary Edwards was a founding member of the Purchase College political science program and was instrumental in developing the women’s studies program and the college’s Children’s Center. Following her death in 1994, at the age of 48, her family and friends created an endowment to fund an annual lecture in women’s studies to honor Professor Edwards’ commitment to her students in order to aid in the elimination of social and political inequality.

Individuals requiring accommodations for equal access to this event should contact shaka.mcglotten@purchase.edu a minimum of five business days prior to the event.

The symposium provides an opportunity for
students to present their senior project
research to peers, alumni, family, faculty, and
members of the community.