Jill Bystydzienski

Jill Bystydzienski has a B.A. and M.A. in sociology from McGill University and a Ph.D. from SUNY Albany. Her research interests include women, gender, and politics in international and global perspective, with politics broadly defined to encompass established political institutions and women's movements, organizations, and actions. Her current research in this area focuses on women’s movements and feminisms in post-Soviet countries. She also does research on women and gender in cross-cultural perspective, particularly the phenomenon of crossing cultures and cultural barriers and building coalitions across difference; and has recently embarked on research on women and gender in the sciences, examining the barriers to women in science fields.

She is a co-principal investigator on two recent National Science Foundation grants that focus on women in the sciences and engineering. She is the author of many articles and book chapters as well as books. Recent publications include: Removing Barriers: Women in Academic Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics co-edited with Sharon R. Bird (Indiana University Press 2006); “Negotiating the New Market: Women Families Women’s Organizations and the Economic Transition in Poland” Journal of Family & Economic Issues 26/2 Summer 2005: 239-265; and “Women in Scandinavian Parliaments” in Sharing Power: Women in Consolidated and Developing Democracies Yvonne Galligan and Manon Tremblay eds. 203-217 Ashgate Publishers 2004.

She is currently finishing a book on intercultural domestic partnerships. Jill is honored by the faculty, staff, and students in the ISU Women's Studies Program for all her hard work and the accomplishments she made to improve the Women's Studies Program at Iowa State University.