Featured Post from Southern Utah University

Nevertheless She Persisted - Women’s History Month

Feb 27, 2018

2 min

An annual celebration declared each year, Women’s History Month highlights the contributions of women to history and society. The National Women’s History Project’s theme this year is Nevertheless She Persisted: Honoring Women Who Fight all Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The phrase, “nevertheless she persisted” came about in February 2017 when Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, was silenced during Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing for Attorney General.


Dr. Cynthia Kimball Davis, director of graduate programs at Southern Utah University and a former university Title IX and Clery Act Director, believes no one should be silenced when being discriminated against.


“Anyone can take a stand against injustice. Whether it’s writing a letter to an editor, speaking on Capitol Hill, within your community or in your school or defending yourself or another and just saying, ‘no, that is not okay’; particularly since, discrimination is never okay.”


Dr. Davis is grateful for Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day to not only celebrate past and present women’s accomplishments, but to remember them. “We learn from those brave and courageous women. They are our pioneers. They’ve paved the way. Now it is up to each one of us to do the same."


Recently, along with Dr. Jennifer Hunter, Dr. Davis presented at the national Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Conference in Orlando, Florida. Together, they won the Learning Effectiveness Strand award for their presentation on, “Non-Traditional Student Perceptions of Belonging in an Online Course.”


“If you don’t know what to stand-up to or for, ask yourself what you are passionate about, what brings you joy, happiness, sadness, frustrations, etc. Then go forward, in a positive means, and make differences, even if they are small ones. Just be aware, though, that small actions create ripple effects, too. Thus, be prepared for positive tsunamis.”


Dr. Davis is Southern Utah University Women’s Network president-elect. In this role, she is excited to include not only women in the community but all women at SUU, to include students, providing opportunities to learn from each other along with other women who have not been afraid to speak-up, lead and do. Dr. Davis also works to be a hope-based communicator and community leader. In fact, she is a nationally requested speaker regarding hereditary breast and ovarian cancer mutations.


She is familiar with the media and available for an interview. Simply visit her profile.


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