2009 - Second Annual, Dr. P.B. Poorman Award for Outstanding Achievement on Behalf of LGBTQ People

Mariamne Whatley - UW-Madison

Mariamne Whatley has been writing, teaching and advocating for LGBTQ issues at the UW-Madison and in the broader community for over 30 years. A pioneer in LGBTQ issues, Mariamne worked tirelessly on her campus to create UW-Madison’s LGBT Studies Certificate. She helped design the curriculum, taught the only health/biology course in the program, and advised the LGBT Studies students. As a professor in Gender and Women’s Studies, she has made sure that LGBTQ issues always play a central role in her women’s health courses. As a dean and professor in the School of Education, she also integrated LGBTQ issues into her classroom and into the school as a whole “to help future and current teachers see that they have a major role in making the classroom a safe and productive environment for all their students.” Mariamne won a grant to develop a course on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Health. This Gender and Women’s Studies course in is now fi lled to capacity each time it is off ered and will culminate in a textbook that examines how issues of sexuality and gender intersect with those of race/ethnicity, class, and disability to aff ect access to good healthcare outcomes for LGBTQI people. Mariamne has published books and articles on women’s health and sexuality, constantly moving LGBTQ issues to the core of the argument. Her words best summarize the relationship between her teaching and scholarship: “In writing on these topics, I have always emphasized the need to avoid and counter homophobia, heterosexism, and heteronormativity in order to provide appropriate healthcare and sexuality/health education.” Her education of students, future teachers, and the broader public is not limited to her teaching, writing, and administrative work. Mariamne collaborated with PB Poorman, with Christine Flynn Saulnier, and others to defi ne and build the vision, mission, goals and structure of the UW System Inclusivity Initiative. She has since been a core member who, in the words of other initiative colleagues, brings her “political awareness, advocacy skills, and deep commitment” to the work of the initiative and remains a “consistent positive force” through which to bring its goals to fruition.