Celebrating faculty: Tara Gilligan

What is the focus of your research/area of expertise?

For the last eight years, I have been focused on the criminal justice system, particularly as it shapes the lives of women and gender-minority individuals. My expertise in this area coincides with a commitment to community-based learning and research (CBLR), an approach to education that includes outreach to the community beyond Lafayette’s campus. In addition to examining gendered pathways into the carceral system, my work focuses on the process of re-entry into the community.

How do students benefit from your scholarship and research?

One of my classes, WGS 249: Women in the US Criminal Justice System, unites communities of learners who would not typically meet, as Lafayette students share classroom space each week with residents of our local jail, the Northampton County Prison. Together, my students and I interrogate the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality in the construction and maintenance of the criminal justice system. My approach to community-based teaching is fully intertwined with my approach in every classroom I enter: I work relentlessly to foster an inclusive atmosphere where students are engaged and willing to tackle difficult topics with a goal of promoting justice in their world.

I have been teaching at Lafayette since 2003, when I joined the Philosophy Department as a visiting assistant professor. After three years of teaching philosophy courses, I was invited to teach a few classes for what was then known as the Women’s Studies program. As this program has grown—offering a major in addition to the minor and expanding to become first the Women’s and Gender Studies program and eventually the Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies program—I have developed a rich repertoire of classes, including courses on masculinities and environmentalism, in additional to my CBLR course in the county prison and our introductory course. When the College created a new faculty position in 2023 with a focus on undergraduate teaching, I became one of the first lecturers. This year, I was promoted to become Senior Lecturer in WGSS.

What will you be teaching in the fall?

This fall, I will be teaching two sections of our gateway course, WGS 101: Introduction to Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies; the course uses an intersectional feminist lens to examine structures of power and inequality centering on gender, sexuality, race, and other aspects of social identity. Additionally, I will offer WGS 249: Women in the US Criminal Justice System.