Young Women's Leadership Institute Online

Summer 2021 Programs Have Ended!

Congratulations and Thank You to all students who completed our Young Womens Writers Institute, Steminists in Training Institute and Young Women's Leadership Program.

Stay connected by checking back for information on our upcoming Academic Year and Summer 2022 Programs.

We look forward to seeing you all soon!

The Program and Structure

The Young Women's Leadership Institute embraces the complex relationship between gender and leadership as its focus. As an YWLI participant you should be curious, passionate, and ready to develop your skills as a leader. The Institute will allow you to develop trailblazing qualities and push you in new directions as you explore leadership through a feminist lens. Students are given the opportunity to tackle a problem in the world and work in small groups to design and execute a solution using the skills they’ve gained in courses and workshops. You will also have the opportunity to meet with women in workplaces throughout the city to learn about the skills and tenacity needed to stand out in today’s workforce.

Program Dates: Sunday, July 18 - Friday, Aug 6, 2021

Virtual Orientation: Sunday, July 18, 2021
First Day of Classes- Monday, July, 19, 2021

Tuition and Fees- $3,125

Program Structure

This institute is completely virtual. Classes are delivered synchronously at a mutually beneficial time for our students on both the east and west coast. We understand this will be a strain for some of our international students and will work with on ways to make the most of your class schedule. Classes take place on Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Friday midday from either 10:30 AM- 12:00 PM or 11:30-1:00 PM EST (please refer to your individual class) and Tues and Thurs afternoons from 2:30- 4:00 PM EST. Enrichment and student life activities will be held in both the early day and evening time frames (10am EST- 8pm EST)

Curious about how we are bringing the Young Women's Leadership to you? Check out our institute webinar!

The Curriculum

Instructor: Tom March

Without understanding the obstacles and discrimination that a group has faced, on cannot fully appreciate that their demand for equal treatment is in fact a struggle for civil rights. Covering queer U.S. History and Culture from the early 20th Century through the present, this course introduces students to how enforcement of and reaction against institutionalized discrimination have shaped the LGBTQ experience in this country. Students will learn not just about events but often-overlooked people who shaped the course of this history - often heroically. Our study of historical sources will be supplemented by visits from influential and dynamic guest speakers in the arts and humanities. Students will have an opportunity to study our guests' work in advance and discuss it with them when they visit. This course is not restricted to students who identify as LGBTQ - this history is important for everyone, so allies are welcome and encouraged!

Time: Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Friday 11:30 AM- 1:00 PM EST

Tues and Thurs afternoons from 2:30- 4:00 PM EST.

Instructor: Oliver Murphey

Issues surrounding crime and policing are at the forefront of contemporary politics. From gun violence and mass incarceration to the policing of America’s borders, partisan voices are mobilizing the political energies and passions of Americans and New Yorkers to address how local, state and federal institutions should police society and individuals. This class will offer the opportunity to explore the history and politics of the theory and practice of policing citizens’ behavior, and how political movements on the left and the right have sought to change policy and practice to pursue and define justice and order. The class will involve a detailed examination of key debates surrounding prison reform, gun control, immigration, the use of deadly force by police officers, and the definition of crime and deviance. By exploring the deep histories of these debates students will better understand and advocate for change in the present. Students will compile a final project that presents a detailed plan to for a change they wish to see in the justice system, articulating why they feel the change is important and what practical steps will be necessary to achieve that change.

Time: Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Friday 10:30 AM- 12:00 PM EST

Tues and Thurs afternoons from 2:30- 4:00 PM EST.

Instructor: Lisa Bacon

This course will focus on the work of the United Nations (UN) and is intended for students interested in deepening their understanding of international affairs. Over the three weeks, students will learn the basics of the various important UN bodies and functions and subsequently explore global human rights, the sustainable development goals and the UN’s impact on current events. Guest speakers, who are current professionals in the UN system, will be invited to engage students in discussion.

Time: Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Friday 11:30 AM- 1:00 PM EST

Tues and Thurs afternoons from 2:30- 4:00 PM EST.

Instructor: Jamie Krenn

Explore the psychology behind media and how it affects you, your peers and the public at large. If this sounds right up your blog - our course will examine the Internet, mobile media, video games and how learning and media go hand in hand to facilitate understanding and decision-making. You will be introduced to psychological theories and research, and the cognitive processes of media development. Guest speakers will include those from Nick, Jr.; Sesame Street, Advertising and others.

Time: Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Friday 10:30 AM- 12:00 PM EST

Tues and Thurs afternoons from 2:30- 4:00 PM EST.

Instructor: Ali Syed

Gayle Rubin’s seminal essay “The Traffic in Women: Notes on the ‘Political Economy’ of Sex” explores the “sex/gender system” by analyzing the history of women as objects of exchange between groups in society to facilitate alliances and kinship through their reproductive labor. For centuries this exchange has also thrived in the market of royal young women as widely chronicled by their representations in media. One such depiction is James Boulton’s gripping podcast on the history and historiography of the "Queens of England," which identifies the following criteria shaping a queen’s success in life and in legacy: sex – her ability to produce an heir to secure the peaceful transition of power; power – her ability to shape alliances and affect the flow of capital; and god – her ability to uphold the divine myths that justify her reign. This course will also consider shifting notions of sex, power, and god that represent the increasingly complex relationship between identity, knowledge, and media in the modern era as we explore the concurrent changes in the social, political, and economic systems that made it possible for millions to worship the massive media culture icons of the 20th century: the Disney princess, First Lady Jackie Kennedy, and Princess Diana. By exploring these changes in the works of scholars like Tim Wu and Bernard Harcourt we will gain a deeper sense of contemporary sexual politics in “expository society” as we determine the criteria for evaluating the success of the modern celebrity. Finally, we will consider how the celebrity reality [tv] industrial-complex shifts notions of sex, power, and god by exploring the emergence of icons “famous for being famous” in the 21st century whose command of attention and social influence in the digital age represents power, capital, and divine myth befitting a queen: Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian West.

Time: Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Friday 11:30 AM- 1:00 PM EST

Tues and Thurs afternoons from 2:30- 4:00 PM EST.

Instructor: Gisela Cardenas

This is an Applied Theater class that seeks to introduce the students to theatrical ways of exploring and understanding the world around us. The core belief is that participation in theatre and the arts are both a human right and a positive contribution to community action, justice, and social change.

This class is directed to students interested in acting, directing, designing, and writing that seeks to explore, and change the discourse surrounding femininity. Using simple objects, the body, and voice, this class will work on myths and stories from around the world as the source material to create a series of devised theater pieces exploring myths about female empowerment. The class's overall idea is to use the unique talents of each individual involved to create a piece of theater that stresses the muscles of collaboration, improvisation, and visual storytelling.

Traditionally understood as based on words and linear storytelling, contemporary theater has explored new strategies that encourage the audience's participation as active storytellers. In this way, current theater practices stimulate the creation of non-traditional narratives. The literary aspect of theater has left center stage to start sharing equal footing with other elements to amplify our imagination's power.

The class will run as a workshop over Zoom. It will involve physical exercises, games, and writing prompts to create scenes and collages as resources for creating scenes.

Time: Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Friday 11:30 AM- 1:00 PM EST

Tues and Thurs afternoons from 2:30- 4:00 PM EST.

The Instructors

Thomas March

Queer Studies

Thomas March is a poet, teacher and critic based in New York City. His work has appeared in The Believer, Bellevue Literary Review, The Good Men Project, The Huffington Post, New Letters, Pleiades, and Public Pool, among others. His poetry column, "Appreciations," which offers appreciative close readings of poems from recent collections, appears regularly in Lambda Literary Review. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize in poetry, and he is a past recipient of the Norma Millay Ellis Fellowship in Poetry, from the Millay Colony for the Arts. Aftermath, his first poetry collection, was selected by Joan Larkin for The Word Works Hilary Tham Capital Collection and will appear in Spring 2018.

Oliver Murphey

Activist New York

Oliver Murphey is a recent graduate from Columbia University’s History PhD program, with a background in 20th century U.S. political history, foreign policy and Latin America. A native New Yorker with an undergraduate degree from the University of Edinburgh and an MPhil in Historical Studies from Cambridge, he returned to the City of his birth to teach at Columbia, and now teaches at Fordham and Hunter. He also guides historical walking tours of New York, and teaches high school students at the Dalton School.

Lisa Bacon

The United Nations and Global Impact

Jamie Krenn

Psychology of Media

Jamie L. Krenn holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology: Cognitive Studies from Teachers College, Columbia University. She also holds three masters degrees in developmental and cognitive psychologies as well as a Bachelor of Science in Art Therapy. She is a Curriculum Consultant for Nomster Chef cooking education project that hopes raise a healthier generation of kids and a happier generation of parents by teaching kids to cook through media. She currently oversees a masters program at Teachers College, Columbia University entitled “Children’s Media: Analysis & Evaluation.” Dr. Krenn is also an expert and author of Screen Time: Media and the Developing Mind housed within Psychology Today Magazine's website. You can find her latest articles here. In the past, Dr. Krenn has been a Research Assistant for the Little Einstein Series, which appeared on the Disney Playhouse as well a Curriculum Consultant for Maker Studios, which produces the popular YouTube.com program Wonder Quest and I Wonder the educational supplement to Stampy Cat’s program based on the Minecraft video game. Her research interest includes the socio-emotional effects of media, children’s educational television, and culinary cognition.

Ali Syed

Sex, Power, God

Ali Syed is a doctoral candidate in sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center. He also holds an M.A. in sociology from City College and a B.A. from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU. Since 2015 he has worked at Barnard as a Teaching Assistant in the Departments of Sociology and Political Science and started teaching as an Instructor for the Pre-College Programs in 2019. Ali has also taught courses for several years in sociology, political science, urban and ethnic studies, gender and sexuality, social theory, research methods, and law and society at the following institutions: NYU, the Macaulay Honors College at City College, Hunter College, BMCC, FIT, and the Bard College Prison Initiative Microcollege at the Brooklyn Public Library. Finally, he is also an experienced educator of “early advanced learners” and serves as a lecturer in the CUNY College Now program as well as an examiner for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme of which he is also a graduate.

Gisela Cardenas

The Badass Beauty: losing fear and reclaiming the power of play

Leadership In Action - Program Director.

malla pic

Malla Haridat

Malla Haridat is as award winning entrepreneur, author, and founder of New Designs for Life Inc. an innovative training company. (NY State and NYC MWBE certified).

Malla has been recognized by the Mayor of New York City for her work as a mentor to entrepreneurs.

She has won the NYC Small Business Award for entrepreneurship innovation.

The New York Times did a full-page article on her work and said “Malla Haridat gets people thinking like an entrepreneur.”

Malla Haridat is a contributor to Black Enterprise, HuffingtonPost and has been quoted by Fox Small Business, ABC and Inc.

She has worked with Black Enterprise Magazine Entrepreneur Conference and sits on the Board of Advisors for Barnard College’s Entrepreneurship Group.

Malla has a degree from Columbia University and is the former Vice President of College Relations for the New York chapter of the National Board of African-American HR professionals.

She specializes in teaching people how to tackle the big question marks in their life to get the most important answers needed to experience success.

Malla started her entrepreneurial pursuits at age 16 when she sold the car she inherited from her grandmother to start a vending machine and when she’s not working, she resides in Westchester County where she is teaching her young daughter how to take advantage of life through entrepreneurial thinking.