COLUMBIA, Ky. – Themes from classic pieces of modern literature, current events, a popular 1980s television show, and original works of fiction, poetry and prose were on display at the 2025 Dr. Kara Mollis Conference on Women’s and Gender Studies, held Wednesday, April 2, at Lindsey Wilson College.
The interdisciplinary conference, sponsored by the Lindsey Wilson Women’s and Gender Studies Program, annually features academic projects by Lindsey Wilson students that focus on a broad range of gender issues. This year’s conference had four sessions, along with a brown-bag lunch that included a far-ranging conversation on “Masculinity, Manhood and the American State.”
“It’s just so impressive how thoughtfully our students talked about sensitive issues and topics in a very inclusive way,” said English professor Rachel Carr ’13, who is the college’s women and gender studies program coordinator and helped organize this year’s conference. “What’s especially exciting was to hear students talk about how they discovered their passion and developed their leadership skills through their research projects for the conference.”
Senior capstone projects
A student who found professional direction from their work was Aven Bryant ’25 of Perryville, Kentucky – one of four students to present a senior capstone project at the conference. Bryant, who presented the paper “Ecofeminist Backlash,” plans to pursue a master’s degree in business with a focus on project management as a way to get into public advocacy work.
Among the many current events addressed at the conference, which was held in the Thomas D. Clark Reading Room in the Katie Murrell Library, was the impact of social media.
That subject was explored by Mia Weigel ’25 of Hustonville, Kentucky, who discussed how social media can cause emotional contagion, which is when a person’s emotional state is unknowingly shaped by those around them. Weigel said a person’s feelings can be affected by the content they view on social media, then reinforced by algorithms behind the social media platforms.
Jerrica McFarland ’25 of Tompkinsville, Kentucky, looked at how gender bias in healthcare failed AIDS patients, especially gay men, who contracted the disease in the 1980s and ’90s, and Janna Plains ’25 of Oakland, Kentucky, also focused on healthcare with her paper, “Reproductive Equality.”
Honoring a Lindsey Wilson pioneer
The conference is named in memory of Mollis, who was a Lindsey Wilson English professor from 2007 until her death in 2021 at the age of 45. She was also the inaugural dean of the college’s School of Arts and Humanities, and she founded the women’s and gender studies program.
Carr, who was one of Mollis’ advisees as a Lindsey Wilson undergraduate student, said that “continuing this conference and providing these professional opportunities for students is one way I get to carry on her legacy and memory.”
English professor Allison Smith, who succeeded Mollis as dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, said a quote by American writer Audre Lorde, which Mollis kept on her Lindsey Wilson office door, kept playing in her mind during this year’s conference: “Your silence will not protect you.”
“All day, we witnessed student after student breaking that silence, speaking truth to power,” said Smith, who also organized the conference. “Kara did that difficult, important work every single day. If you worked within 100 yards of her, you knew that. So when I see that passion in our students, too, I know she would be so proud of their work and Rachel’s leadership of the women’s and gender studies program.”
Prose, poetry and a short story
A morning session – “Bodies, Texts, Transformations: Gender in Creative Practice” – showcased three distinctive and memorable original works: the prose piece “Smarter Than I Sound” by Megan Whitson ’26 of London, Kentucky; eight poems, collected under the title “American Women,” by Lilly Streeval ’26 of Columbia; and a short story, “Black, Buzzing, Beguiled Spot,” by Morgan Bryant ’26 of Shelbyville, Kentucky.
An afternoon session on “Narrating Gender” illustrated students’ diverse interests and points of view when attention turned to four pieces of popular culture – the classic 1892 short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, works of writer Margaret Atwood, the 2012 novel Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, and the late-20th century television situation comedy The Golden Girls. The day concluded with a roundtable on women, service and leadership.
For Carr, the day was as much an inspiration as it was a demonstration of academic excellence.
“These students are going to be such forces for good in the world,” she said.
PHOTO – Lindsey Wilson College student Megan Whitson ’26 of London, Kentucky, reads her essay, “Smarter Than I Sound,” at the 2025 Dr. Kara Mollis Conference on Women’s and Gender Studies, held Wednesday, April 2, in the Thomas D. Clark Reading Room in the Katie Murrell Library.
PHOTO – Lindsey Wilson College English professor Rachel Carr ’13 speaks at the 2025 Dr. Kara Mollis Conference on Women’s and Gender Studies, held Wednesday, April 2, in the Thomas D. Clark Reading Room in the Katie Murrell Library. Carr is also the college’s women and gender studies program coordinator.
PHOTO – Lindsey Wilson College English professor Allison Smith, who is also dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, moderates a panel at the 2025 Dr. Kara Mollis Conference on Women’s and Gender Studies, held Wednesday, April 2, in the Thomas D. Clark Reading Room in the Katie Murrell Library.
(Duane Bonifer – Lindsey Wilson College)