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2026 Gender Studies Conference Program

19th Annual Gender Studies Conference Schedule

April 6, 2026
ACAD 300 (Academic Building)
University of Houston–Downtown

9:00 – 9:15 AM – Welcome Session
Room: A-300 White Oak | Moderator: Dr. Kristin Anderson, Professor of Psychology

  • Opening remarks

9:15 – 10:30 AM – Panel 1: Intersectional Voices: Gender, Race, Communication, and Resistance
Room: A-300 White Oak | Moderator: Dr. Courtney Baugh, Assistant Professor of Psychology

  • Leelianna Garcia – Who is More Destructive through Love? 
  • Ximena Gonzalez – Dulces Fuerzas y Corazón (Sweet Strength and Heart): Celebrating Influential Mexican Women 
  • Dr. Tristan Jackson – Breaking First-Generational Barriers: A Journey Through Gender, Race, and Higher Education

10:45 AM– 12:00 PM – Panel 2: Gender, Health, and the Body: Inequality in Diagnosis, Treatment, and Social Roles
Room: A-300 White Oak | Moderator: Dr. Shahnjayla Connors, Associate Professor of Health and Behavioral Science

  • Ophelia Palomo – The Liberated Housewife: How Feminist Therapy Encourages Balance to the Gender Role Inequality
  • Kylie Ramirez – Unseen & Under-diagnosed: How Autism Presents Differently in Girls
  • Marla Marin – Negotiating the Self: Fractured Identity and Gender Norms

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM – Lunch Break Room: A-300 Houston

1:15 – 2:30 PM – Panel 3: Gender, Identity, and Representation in Contemporary Society
Room: A-300 White Oak | Moderator: Dr. Annalee Ring, Assistant Professor of Philosophy

  • Claudia Chappelle – “Black, Fat, and a Girl? Pick a Struggle.”
  • Zayra Espinoza – Women in Agriculture Policy and Politics
  • Leslie Morgan – Poetry of the Masked Invasion

2:45 – 4:00 PM – Panel 4: Gender and Inequality in Contemporary Society: From Socialization to Labor Markets and Identity
Room: A-300 White Oak | Moderator: Dr. Yajaira Ceciliano, Assistant Professor of Sociology

  • Mateo Aragon – “Not to be Gay”: A Research Study on What it Means to Grow Up as a Young Boy of Color
  • Bernardina García-Vargas – Beyond the Pipeline: Women Navigating Gendered Workplace Dynamics in Software Engineering
  • Sabrina Stanton – The Gender Pay Gap: An Analysis of its Modern Impact
  • Azziana Guerrero – Grief in Female Teens to Adults
  • Alex Mendoza – Gender-Essentialism: An Analysis on Anti-Trans & Transmedicalist Rhetoric

4:00 PM – Closing Remarks
Room: A-300 | Moderator: Ms. Nisreen Elsayegh, Lecturer of Psychology