Welcome to the Center for the Study of Global Gender Equity (CSGGE) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign! Since its inception in 1980, CSGGE (formerly known as Women and Gender in Global Perspectives, or WGGP) has strived to promote gender equity and human development through collaborative research, instruction, and service. During the last decade, under the leadership of former Director Colleen Murphy and Associate Director Anita Kaiser, the Center has made much progress on achieving its program mission and goals. As the new director since Fall 2024, I have enjoyed working with our dedicated staff, faculty, students, alumni, and community partners on the continued growth of the Center.

As we celebrate the 45^th anniversary of the center this year, we also embrace its exciting new chapter as we unveil the center’s new name, CSGGE. The new name better captures the centrality of our work over the last four decades as well as the essence of our mission and goals, and it enhances the center’s vision and visibility as we communicate our work to faculty, students, and community partners. It allows us to continue our historic focus on promoting women's access to resources and rights in the Global South in a broader and more inclusive context of gender identities, which is socially constructed in ways that are complex and evolving.

While the center’s name has evolved, our core value and commitment to promoting gender equity and human development remain the same. Interdisciplinary collaboration and global focus have always been the central focus of the center. Over the last 45 years, we have hosted or co-sponsored numerous lectures, brownbags, and symposia that were delivered by scholars with expertise in various disciplines from across the world. These programming stimulated critical conversations on important social issues through gendered lens, and they advanced our understanding of how gender inequity affects access to resources and rights, which is key for social justice and sustainable development of individuals and communities.

For more than four decades, the center has served as an invaluable platform to engage scholars, students, and community members. There are over 90 faculty affiliates from across campus who comprise a rich community of scholars. More than 160 graduate students have been involved with the center through what was originally a certificate program and is now a graduate minor on Gender Relations in International Development (GRID).  In addition, a joint Undergraduate Certificate in Global Health was established in 2016. Each year we highlight our faculty affiliates and GRID alums on our website, in our newsletters, and on social media, as well as through our annual GRID Alum and Faculty Affiliate lectures.

We have received generous gifts that provide critical support for our students and programming. We have established two endowed full-year graduate fellowships and one endowed graduate research award. The Barbara A. Yates Program Series provides support for lectures, workshops, and conferences on gender equity. We are grateful for these and other gifts that are vital for our successful collaborative research, education, and public engagement.

I invite you to look over our website and learn more about our center.  I also invite you to Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter and Instagram . I am happy to meet with you to discuss any questions you might have about the center or about how you may get involved with or support CSGGE.  Please don’t hesitate to contact me, at mzhan@illinois.edu, or Associate Director, Anita Kaiser, at arkaiser@illinois.edu or (217) 333-6221. 

We look forward to hearing from you and working with you!

Sincerely,

Min Zhan

Director, Center for the Study of Global Gender Equity
Professor, School of Social Work