Women's & Gender Studies Partnership Council
The Partnership Council advises USC Women’s and Gender Studies and its Women's Well-Being Initiative on community issues and opportunities related to the well-being of women and other underrepresented groups. The Council also works to strengthen the Women’s and Gender Studies Endowment and to raise money to support projects directed toward improving the well-being of women and other under-represented groups throughout South Carolina.
Council Members
Dr. Mary Baskin Waters is chair of the USC Women’s and Gender Studies Partnership Council. She is founder and CEO of Albion Research Associates, LLC, a grant writing and grants development firm. Dr. Waters is affiliate faculty in the Women’s and Gender Studies Program and the Master of Public Administration Program at USC. In 2008, she established the Dr. Mary Baskin Waters Award in Social Work and Women’s Studies, and recently established a lectureship fund for women’s human rights, global issues and grant writing. The fund partners the Women’s and Gender Studies Program with the Walker Institute for International and Area Studies.
Dr. Drucilla Barker is Professor and Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the University of South Carolina. She is a writer, a scholar and an educator. Her co-authored book with Susan F. Feiner, Liberating Economics: Feminist Perspectives on Families, Work, and Globalization, University of Michigan Press 2004, earned distinction as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title in 2005. Her published articles, ranging from explorations of the gender bias in economics to explorations of feminist methodologies, have been published in Feminist Economics, Signs, and Hypatia. She is a founding member of the International Association for Feminist Economics. In her teaching she is particularly interested in incorporating global feminist perspectives.
Dr. Sally Boyd, Assistant Vice Provost for USC’s Extended University, has responsibility for the Evening, Weekend and Fort Jackson Programs as well as Adult Student Services. She earned a B. A. in English from Furman University and a doctorate in American literature from USC. She holds the rank of professor and teaches in the Women’s Studies Program. She has published on Tennessee Williams. Prior to her current role she was a faculty member at USC and Director of its Fort Jackson Program. Dr. Boyd has served on numerous committees including Campus Safety, Women’s Studies, Affirmative Action, Assessment, Women’s Issues, Veterans’ Affairs and Faculty Club Board of Governors. She is a past president of SC Association for Continuing Higher Education and SC Women in Higher Education. Her community activities have included school improvement council, service organizations and non-profit boards. She currently serves as president of the board for Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands.
Jan Collins is a freelance writer and editor based in Columbia. For 26 years she was an editor and writer, and most recently, publications manager at USC’s Moore School of Business. Before that, she was an award-winning journalist at newspapers in Michigan, North Carolina and South Carolina, and was awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. She is the author of Next Steps: A Practical Guide to Planning for the Best Half of Your Life. She is a special correspondent for The (London) Economist, and was a nationally syndicated columnist for more than 20 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a master’s degree from the University of Michigan.
Tameika Isaac Devine is an at-large member of Columbia City Council. Devine was first elected in April of 2002. She is a founding partner in the law firm of Jabber & Isaac, PA. She received her undergraduate degree in Business Management from Hampton University and her Juris Doctorate from the University of South Carolina School of Law. She is married to Jamie L. Devine, a member of the Richland One Board of School Commissioners, and they are the proud parents of one daughter, Tamia.
Pat Dickerson, Assistant Vice President of National Alliance Operations, joined BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina in October of 1981 and has more than 29 years experience in the insurance industry. She has been responsible for several areas during her tenure. Pat was the key management person responsible for the administration of the State Health Plan, one of the largest commercial accounts. She also has managed multiple other areas, including corporate training, quality control, corporate claims development and the total claims operations for a TPA subsidiary. She is currently responsible for National Alliance operations as well as the Personal Spending Accounts Area. Pat serves as the liaison between BlueCross BlueShield of SC and the BCBS Association in Chicago.
Ann Furr practiced law in Columbia for more than 30 years. During that time she was also a part-time municipal judge and taught as an adjunct at both the University of South Carolina School of Law and the University of South Carolina. After closing her practice in Columbia, Ann lived and worked in Jordan, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan. Ann now lives in Columbia and spends time with her granddaughter Sarah.
Dr. Belinda F. Gergel has served as a member of Columbia City Council since 2008 and represents District 3. She is a career educator and spent most of her professional life as a professor and college administrator at Columbia College. She is a graduate of Columbia College and earned both an M.Ed and Ph.D. from Duke University. Since her retirement from Columbia College, Dr. Gergel has focused her attention on scholarship and civic service. She is the author of several works on SC history and most recently co-edited Matthew J. Perry: The Man, His Times, and His Legacy. She is a frequent lecturer on topics of women’s history, local history and southern Jewish history. She has served on city commissions concerned with homelessness and governance. She has long been active in local historic preservation efforts and served as President of the Board of Directors of the Historic Columbia Foundation. Dr. Gergel is a member of the Board of Trustees of Brookgreen Gardens, the Southern Garden Historical Society and Columbia Green.
Jack Hupp has a long history of service to organizations that support women. He served as a Columbia College Trustee and currently serves on its Board of Visitors. He was one of the founding community partners of USC Institute for Families in Society. He has served as chairman or president of the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce, Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties, United Way of the Midlands and the Columbia Rotary Club among others. As a retired Army Colonel, he provides a close contact with the Fort Jackson community. Jack serves on the Board of Governors of the Capital City Club, past president of the Midlands Technical College Foundation Board, is past chair of the USC Medical School Partnership Board and is on the USC Educational Foundation Board. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Association of US Army Ft. Jackson Chapter and most recently as the First VP of the Military Officers Association of America (Columbia Chapter).
Bonnie Adams Kapp is executive director of New Morning Foundation, a grant-making and advocacy organization based in Columbia. The Foundation’s mission is to advance the reproductive and sexual health of South Carolina’s young people. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2002, Mrs. Kapp was the development director for the Columbia Museum of Art. She has deep experience in non-profit fundraising, organization management, strategic planning and strategic philanthropy. She currently serves as advisor to two philanthropic funds and on the board of the Darby Family Foundation. She is married to J. Michael Kapp, has three children and two stepchildren, and is a graduate of Furman University.
Sheryl McAlister is a public relations consultant. She most recently served as Executive Director of The Alliance for Women. McAlister retired in 2007 from Bank of America in Charlotte after 18 years and was a Senior Vice President and Corporate Public Relations Executive. Her experience included public relations for many of the company’s brand-defining moments. She earned a B.A. from Columbia College. She is a graduate of The Women’s Campaign School at Yale University and Leadership Charlotte. Active in her community, she has served on the boards of Charlotte’s Community School of the Arts, the Alzheimer’s Family Services of Greater Beaufort and SC Equality. She also chaired the Columbia College Board of Visitors. A former sportswriter and sports editor, she was a member of the Organizing Committee for the 1996 Women’s Basketball Final Four. She was also involved with Charlotte’s Women’s Professional Fast Pitch Softball League team and Charlotte’s NASCAR Hall of Fame bid team. She resides in the South Carolina lowcountry.
Dr. Vanessa C. Nelson-Reed is the Education Associate for Fiscal Administration in the Office of Exceptional Children. She coordinates the distribution of IDEA Part B funds to local educational agencies, IDEA Part B funds used for administration and IDEA Part B funds used for state level activities. Educated in Colleton County Schools, she received her Bachelors Degree in Journalism from USC, a Masters Degree in College Student Personnel from Virginia Tech, and her Ph.D. from Capella University. She resides in Irmo with her husband Larry and their seven children.
Genevieve Waller is the Executive Director for Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands. Ginny earned her BA and MA in English from Louisiana Tech University and her J.D. from University of South Carolina School of Law. She practiced law for five years before joining Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands as the Executive Director. She is a member of the SC Bar’s Young Lawyers Division and the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Board Member of the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, and chair of the Sexual Assault Interest Group. She was named the 2008 SC Bar’s Young Lawyer of the Year and the 2009 Outstanding Victim Service Provider by SCVAN.