KINGSTON, R.I.—April 16, 2009 — Annemarie Vaccaro, an assistant professor in the University of Rhode Island’s Department of Human Development and Family Studies, whose research interests focuses on the intersections between college student development and gender, race, class and sexual orientation, will deliver the last Dana Shugar lecture this year.

Vaccaro’s talk, Using Critical Race Theory and Feminist Perspectives to Explore the Intersections between the Race, Gender, and Educational Engagement of Non-Traditional Age Undergraduate Women will be given April 21 at 4:30 p.m. in Lippitt Hall, 5 Lippitt Road, Kingston, Room 402. Free and open to the public, the talk is sponsored by the Women’s Studies Department.

Her presentation stems from a three-year study of adult women learners at one women’s college. Some of her findings from this longitudinal study are forthcoming in the Adult Education Quarterly Journal and an edited volume entitled, Women in Higher Education and Student Affairs: Research and Practice from Feminist Perspectives.

For example, Vaccaro notes that critical race theory argues that “race matters.” Results from her study showed that differences in women’s educational motivation and supports did not vary simply by race. Instead, they varied by stage of racial identity.

Vaccaro earned her doctorate in higher education administration and her master’s in sociology with a focus on gender from the University of Denver. She also has a master’s degree in student affairs from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

For more information, call the Women’s Studies Department at 874-5150.