Democratic Women's Caucus Member at Large
Dr. Julie Thomas
Since 2004, I have been actively involved as a member (and currently serve as a member of the Steering Committee) of the Democratic Women's Caucus. We have managed to get a number of wonderful women elected to local office - but we have a great deal more work to do (and more women to get elected!). I would appreciate being part of this process in the future.
If elected as a member of the Steering Committee, I plan to focus on training campaign teams and candidates. We have a number of other tasks and challenges facing us in 2009: to increase membership and participation (with a focus on diversity), work with the membership to develop a new candidate endorsement policy, and begin planning for the 2010 election season.
I bring experience as a teacher and researcher (Gender Studies at IU), candidate (Monroe County Council), and local campaign volunteer (where I've worked on nearly every aspect of the campaign).
Julie Thomas has taught in Gender Studies since 1997. She recently completed her PhD in Russian History and Gender Studies at Indiana University, with the dissertation “International Intercourse: Establishing the Global Discourse on Birth Control in the Interwar Era”. Julie has traveled extensively - including research trips to Russia and participation in a faculty exchange program in 2000 (to teach women’s studies in the American Studies program) with the American University of Central Asia (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan). Her areas of focus in gender studies include the construction of gender in the international arena and relationship violence prevention programming. As an active volunteer in the community, Julie is involved with: Middle Way House as an on-scene victim’s advocate and as a member (and past President) of the Board of Directors; Indiana Equality (as a member of the South Central Indiana Steering Committee). In addition, she serves as the faculty advisor for two student groups at Indiana University: Friends of Middle Way House and the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance. Julie has two projects in progress: a data study of the Monroe County Prosecutor’s response to violence against women; and an article on the research, development, and provision of birth control in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s.