MTSU’s final Women’s and Gender Studies Research Series lecture of the fall 2019 semester will examine the plight of Puerto Rican women affected by Hurricane Maria.

Dr. Donna Dopwell, an assistant professor of social work, will speak at 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, in Room 100 of the James Union Building, 516 Alma Mater Drive.

A campus map is available at http://bit.ly/MTSUParkingMap. Off-campus visitors attending the event can obtain a one-day permit at www.mtsu.edu/parking/visit.php.

The event is free and open to the public.

Dopwell and graduate research assistant Jasmine Reyes have developed a bilingual, mixed-methods assessment of the social and emotional needs of Puerto Rican women since Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. territory Sept. 20, 2017.

“Women have been affected in particular, as gender role expectations in Puerto Rico compel women to do for others without regard for themselves,” Dopwell said. “There remains a set of unmet needs among Puerto Rican women two years after the hurricane.”

Each academic year, the Women’s and Gender Studies Research Lecture Series presents a wide range of feminist perspectives from MTSU faculty and students at informal gatherings.

For more information, contact the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at 615-898-5910 or womenstu@mtsu.edu.

— Gina Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)

This photo from the Federal Emergency Management Agency shows an aerial view of a damaged home in the mountainous area of Naranjito, Puerto Rico, after Hurricane Maria struck in September 2017. Homes, businesses, roads, bridges, and government buildings suffered major damage from strong winds and heavy rain, and a new report by the American Society of Civil Engineers indicates that two years later, the island’s infrastructure is “at a breaking point.” (File photo courtesy of Andrea Booher/Federal Emergency Management Agency)