Two years ago, Rosaria Pisa and her URI colleagues felt fairly confident that the country would elect its first woman president and that gender equity would become a top priority.

“We felt that URI should be part of the conversation,” said Pisa, professor and director of URI’s Gender and Women’s Studies program and one of the coordinators of this year’s URI Honors Colloquium. “We envisioned a lively and mostly optimistic discussion about gender and gender equity issues in U.S. society and beyond.”

But in the fall of 2016, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, and what began with hopes for a positive discussion turned into a call to action.

The result of numerous conversations with faculty, staff and students turned into URI’s 2018 Honors Colloquium, “Reimagining Gender: Voices, Power, Action,” which begins Sept. 25 and runs through Dec. 4 with lectures, art exhibits, a theater production, and a film series.

Pisa said one of her big hopes with this year’s program is that the speakers inspire URI students to stay informed about the issues that affect us all and translate that awareness into meaningful action, from activism and civic engagement to public service.

The first Colloquium event features author and columnist Jessica Valenti, considered the national voice of modern feminism. Valenti’s lecture, “Gender, Power and the Future of Feminism,” will be held Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. at URI’s Kingston Campus.