Tineke Ritmeester, Associate Professor, is a feminist activist who joined the Women's Studies Department at UMD in 1987 and was its chair 1996-1999. She grew up in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and arrived in the USA as a domestic worker in 1966. As an undergraduate she studied sociology at the University of Missouri (St. Louis, 1972). She received a master's degree in German Area Studies from Washington University (St. Louis, 1975). She then spent several years studying social philosophy in Germany and The Netherlands. She received her doctorate from Washington University with a thesis on Rainer Maria Rilke in feminist perspective (St. Louis, 1987). Her teaching and research interests include peace and justice, male violence against women, feminist cinema, political women's autobiographies, lesbian culture, women and food, communal living, liberation movements, transnational feminism, women and music. Her primary goals in teaching are to internationalize and raise consciousness. She has published in areas ranging from Women's Studies to German to Queer Studies. Currently she is a member of the Women's Music History Project and is also working on the history of Chester Creek House, a lesbian communal household of which she has been an active member since 1994.

Beth Bartlett, Professor, was one of the "founding mothers" of Women's Studies at UMD. She was a member of the Political Science Department at UMD for 19 years, though she had been an adjunct faculty member of Women's Studies during that time as well. She became a member of the Women's Studies Department in 1999, serving as the Department Head since that time. She holds a BA in Philosophy from the College of Wooster, an MA in Political Science from Kent State University, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Minnesota. Her areas of interest include feminist theory, feminist spirituality, and peace and justice, and she teaches and researches in these areas. Her publications include Sarah Grimke's Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and Other Essays (Yale, 1988); Liberty, Equality, Sorority: The Origins and Interpretation of American Feminist Thought: Frances Wright, Sarah Grimke, and Margaret Fuller (Carlson, 1994); Journey of the Heart: Spiritual Insights on the Road to a Transplant (Pfeifer-Hamilton, 1997); and Rebellious Feminism: Camus's Ethic of Rebellion and Feminist Thought (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004). She has been nominated to Who's Who Among America's Teachers several times, and is the recipient of the College of Liberal Arts 2003-4 Teaching Award and the College of Liberal Arts 2003-4 Research Award. She shares her home with her husband and teen-aged son, both musicians, as well as two dogs and cats. She is involved in the peace and justice movement, enjoys writing, walking in the woods, and kayaking, and loves making music with her long-time women's music group, Wild By Nature.

Laura Stolle Schmidt has just joined the department as secretary. She was an activist in the Duluth Women's and GLBT communities in the 90's and has just returned from a brief 8-year sojourn in Minneapolis. Her new life in the Duluth area includes 40 acres and a tiny house with two dogs, two very old cats, and eighteen chickens.

Cindy M. Christian, Assistant Professor, holds a PhD in Political Science from Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York. Her areas of interest include international relations, international political economy, Latin American politics, and women and politics. She has taught both political science and women's studies courses over the past 15 years. She has traveled to Honduras and Mexico to study development programs and the impact of global economic policies. She is currently the Program Associate for UMD's Royal D. Alworth, Jr. Institute for International Studies. She enjoys reading fiction and spending time with her family which includes her partner, originally from Iran and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin Superior; her six-year-old daughter, Isabel (named after Isabel Allende); and her West-Highland Terrier, Miss Jean Brodie.

Angie Nichols, Instructor, earned her B.A. in German Studies, minor in International Studies from Winona State University in 1996. She earned her M.S. degree in Education, majoring in College Student Personnel in 1998 from the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. She has been the Director of Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Services at UMD since 2000, and has taught Introduction to Women's Studies, Women Identified Culture and Introduction to College Learning. Additionally, Ms. Nichols is a U.S. Army veteran (1990-94).