UIS professors publish book on teaching gender and sexuality in the university classroom

University of Illinois Springfield faculty members Michael Murphy and Elizabeth Ribarsky have published a new book entitled Activities for Teaching Gender and Sexuality in the University Classroom. The book, published by Rowman and Littlefield Education, is available in paperback and electronic formats.

“This is the first interdisciplinary collection of activities devoted entirely to teaching about gender and sexuality,” said Murphy, a UIS assistant professor of women and gender studies. “It offers both new and seasoned instructors a range of exciting exercises that can be immediately adapted for their own classes, at various levels, and across a range of disciplines.”

Activities are self-contained, classroom-tested, and edited for ease of use and potential to remain current. The book is designed to serve as a desk-reference for gender studies and sexual communication educators.

“Each activity is thoroughly described with a comprehensive rationale that allows even those unfamiliar with the material/concepts to quickly understand and access the material, learning objectives, required time and materials, directions for facilitation, debriefing questions, cautionary advice, and other applications,” said Ribarsky, a UIS assistant professor of communication.

For the reader’s benefit, each activity is briefly summarized in the table of contents and organized according to themes common to most social science classrooms: Work, Media, Sexuality, Body, etc. Many activities also include handouts that can be photocopied and used immediately in the classroom.

The book is available for purchase on Amazon.com and the publisher’s website. For more information, contact Murphy at mmurp4@uis.edu or Ribarsky at eriba2@uis.edu.