SoA Lecture Series: Dr. Ruth Jolie, Arizona State Museum

Thursday, October 21, 20212:00 p.m. Via Zoom Title: Examining Sexual Consent Education in Higher Education: A faculty-guided ethnographic study at a liberal arts university Abstract: Institutions of higher learning have found it beneficial to offer a freshman orientation course. The duration, credit hours, and breadth of topics cover differ, but such courses all share the goal of assisting students with a smooth transition to university life. Often, one component of these courses focuses on issues of sexual consent. Ethnographic research I conducted with a team of undergraduate student researchers at a mid-sized, Catholic-affiliated liberal arts university, sought to understand gendered differences in perceptions of consent among students. Gathering data on students with and without experience in the consent module of the freshman introductory course allowed us to investigate if and how course participation changed student perceptions of consent. Our findings indicate that those who took the course were more likely to report differences in how women and men perceive sexual consent. An understanding of how students perceive sexual consent, and university orientation courses’ role in altering perceptions, can contribute to the development and implementation of effective freshman introductory courses and Title IX training while advancing universities commitment to social responsibility and justice. Bio: Dr. Ruth Burgett Jolie is the new Associate Curator of Education at the Arizona State Museum. Her scholarly interests include gender, kinship, textiles, public anthropology, and museum studies. Before coming to ASM in August of 2021, she was Chair and Associate Professor of the Department of Anthropology at Mercyhurst University, a liberal arts university in Erie, PA. An important aspect of her role as a teacher-scholar was the incorporation of senior anthropology majors into all phrases her gender-focused research at the university. Her research to be presented in this lecture series focuses on an examination of gendered differences in perceptions of sexual consent among university students with an interest in improving education and awareness of sexual consent and related issues. FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC For more information, contact: Dr. Linda Green (lbgreen@arizona.edu)or Catherine Lehman (cml@arizona.edu)