Theme: Women's Studies
Beth Rietveld Oral History Interview
Life history interview conducted by Janice Dilg.
June 11, 2014
Beth Rietveld (b. 1953) served as Director of the OSU Women's Center from 1992-2011
and was an influential agent of change within both the Women's Center and the larger
campus community. A recipient of the National Women's Studies Association's Lifetime
Achievement Award, Rietveld made important contributions to campus dialogues concerning
inclusiveness for the LGBT community, salary equity for women faculty, and work-life
balance issues. Prior to her tenure as head of the Women's Center, Rietveld was,
variously, Assistant Director of Physical Recreation and Assistant Director of Student
Involvement at OSU. Her interview focuses on the arc of her career, the development
of her voice as a womens rights activist, and the changes in campus climate that she
has observed over more than three decades of involvement with OSU.
Nicthé Verdugo Oral History Interview
Life history interview conducted by Chris Petersen.
February 13, 2015
Nicthé Verdugo (class of 2015) was heavily involved with a variety of student activist
groups during her undergraduate years at OSU. An Ethnic Studies major who also minored
in Women's Studies, Verdugo spent two years on staff at the OSU Women's Center and
was also an active member of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) and
the Alta Gracia workers rights campaign, as organized by United Students Against Sweatshops,
a group that she helped to found. In her interview Verdugo discusses the development
of her own sense of identity, her activism in support of fair labor practices, the
culture of the Women's Center, and evolving conceptions of feminism among young people
today.