Distinguished Professor Emerita Mary Jo Bona was recruited to Stony Brook University in 1999 with the opportunity to build the field of Italian American Studies. However, it was her passion for women’s studies that drew her to connect with that program at Stony Brook and help to build the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) into what it is today.
During her 25-year tenure, Bona’s advocacy and subsequent leadership helped develop what started as a single course into a full department with undergraduate and graduate programs and faculty spanning more than a dozen disciplines.
Now, wanting to continue the momentum in WGSS after her retirement, Bona and her spouse, Judith Pfenninger, have established the Bona Distinguished Lectureship in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
“We thought about ways we could support the department in the future after I retired,” said Bona. “Our hope is that this lecture series highlights the department in a way that senior scholars elsewhere will take an interest in the university.”
Upon hearing of the New York State Endowment Match program and Simons Infinity Investment Match Challenge, Bona and her spouse thought an endowed lectureship fund was a good way to help the department grow in visibility and stature. The lectureship fund will provide support to host an annual public lecture at Stony Brook by a distinguished speaker whose field of expertise falls within the interdisciplinary scope of the department.
“I’ve spent my life in school, and I wanted to leave something to the institution of education where I spent so much time supporting, believing in and interconnecting with,” said Bona.
Read the full story by Christine McGrath in SB Matters.
Add comment