During the course, students will be working with Lisa Fine, a historian and professor in MSU’s Department of History, to research and document the history of women’s and gender studies programs at Michigan State. 

The class, Fine hopes, will be entirely collaborative and student driven. She is reluctant to pre-judge exactly what the research and documentation will look like because it will ultimately be decided by those who participate. This could look like a website, a series of articles or a film. 

"I write books, I’m a historian, and I’m more comfortable with writing sort of very conventional books and articles," Fine said. "I thought having some undergrads and maybe graduate students involved in this, we could broaden out the products, the deliverables that result from this."

The class will begin with some of the basics about what historians do, what women’s history studies is and the historical context of the time periods students will be studying. After this, the collaboration will begin as students discuss how they want to split up the work and what they want the work to look like. 

Students will have to be active participants in the class throughout the year, Fine said, and there will be a variety of ways they can support and contribute to the project. 

"I hope everybody sort of sees a role for themselves, and it doesn't have to be everybody doing everything," she said. "But once we figure out, you know, who's involved and what they're interested in, we can sort of fall into a good collaborative group."

When Fine proposed the class to the Center for Gender in a Global Context (GenCen), they were receptive. Center co-director Aminda Smith said that a few elements stood out to her, including the ability of students to actively participate and have their names published. She also saw the value in the history itself. 

"It's just so cool to be doing history of MSU, at MSU, by MSU professors and students, and then produce something that really people are going to read," Smith said. "I mean, the idea will be that future generations can continue to read this and understand something about it."

Fine’s vision for this class was a product of her experiences and connections to the work. 

After she came to Michigan State in 1985, Fine taught the first modern U.S. Women's History course in the department. She would go on to help redesign what was the Women’s Studies Program at MSU in the early 2000s. 

The outcome of this redesign was the Center for Gender in a Global Context. Fine was both a founder and one of the first co-directors of the center from 2007 to 2016. 

Her deep connection to Women’s Studies at MSU was one of the driving inspirations behind the development of this class. Two events in the past few years, however, were what led her to have the class so soon. 

One of those events was the death of Joyce Ladenson in January of 2024. Ladenson served as the director of the Women's Studies Program at MSU from 1988 to 2001, when Fine first arrived on campus. 

"I realized, I don’t have her stories," Fine said. "Nobody talked to her about these really important, informative, and in some ways, you know, momentous things that she accomplished and contributed to MSU."

Additionally, Fine was inspired by the publication of MSU professor Pero Dagbovie’s book "Forever in the Path: The Black Experience at Michigan State University". Dagbovie’s book is a comprehensive overview of the histories and contributions of Black students at MSU, and when Fine read it, she was inspired to create something similar for women’s history. She plans to use Dagbovie’s book as a resource for her students. 

With open seats in the class still remaining, Assistant Director of Academic Programs for GenCen Pat Arnold encourages all students to enroll, especially those with a background in women and gender studies or history.  

Arnold, who has spoken to a number of students enrolled in the class, said a wide range of students have expressed interest, including those that want to do archival work and oral histories. Students are already thinking about the different things that they can bring to the project, Arnold said.  

"At MSU, to have the leaders in the field being able to work with students and mentor them in a smaller group and seminar like this across a full year and engage them in the research they're doing with their years of experience is such a rare opportunity that I don't know, I might even enroll and take the course too," Arnold said.

Of the many things students may get out of the class, Fine hopes they at least gain a knowledge of the historical process, its implications and why it’s important. She also sees herself learning a lot from her students.

"I always learn so much from them, and I'm really anticipating learning a lot in this class in particular," Fine said. "I'm going to be as much of a student in this as they are, and they'll probably teach me things that I'm not aware of, either or look at it with fresh eyes and different perspectives."