Newcomb Summer Session is a selective pre-college program designed to educate students for gender equity, offered by Newcomb Institute of Tulane University. Students entering their sophomore, junior, or senior year of high school will get a preview of the college classroom while forming a strong community centered on exploring gender issues and social change.
Educating undergraduates for gender equity in the 21st century.
Newcomb Summer Session is designed to inspire students to end gender inequality in their generation. With more students joining the public conversation on how gender affects our world—from the “confidence gap” to the #MeToo Movement—Newcomb Summer Session empowers students to put feminist ideas into social action. Through discussion-based seminars, workshops, and collaborative projects, students learn strategies for taking on leadership roles in and beyond the classroom, finding a public voice, tackling real-world issues, and strengthening college applications.
Program Highlights
- • Hands-on coursework
- • Learn from talented faculty in the heart of New Orleans
- • Explore potential careers
Courses
Newcomb Summer Session offers courses offers on-campus and online courses. Each course features a mixture of seminar discussions and collaborative projects. On-campus courses are one week in length, and students can opt into a two-week residential experience to take two courses. Online courses run for two weeks.
Students may take any course or combination of courses; all courses work synergistically to deepen students’ understanding of gender, leadership, and social change. See more about our courses here.
2023 Newcomb Summer Session
On-campus course offerings:
- • Decolonizing Feminisms (June 20-23)
- • Women's Advocacy (June 20-23)
- • Reconstructing Civility (June 26-30)
- • Women Leading Change: Case Studies on Women in Organizations (June 26-30)
- • Media and Reproductive Rights (July 3-7)
- • D.I.Y. Feminisms: Libraries, Archives, & Creative Activism (July 10-14)
- • Dismantling Rape Culture (July 10-14)
Online course offerings:
- • Dismantling Rape Culture (July 17-28)
Applying to Newcomb Summer Session
A completed application consists of an essay and current report card. Limited needs-based scholarships are available, with priority given to Louisiana residents. In order to be considered for our scholarship opportunities, you must submit both your course selections and your scholarship application by the financial aid application deadline. If you need assistance completing your application or have questions about scholarships, email summer@tulane.edu for more information.
Meet Our Instructors
Bernadette Birzer
D.I.Y. Feminisms: Libraries, Archives, & Creative Activism
Bernadette Birzer is the Archivist for Collection Management and Digital Initiatives at Newcomb Institute. Bernadette holds an MLIS and Graduate Certificate in Archives and Special Collections from the University of Southern Mississippi, a Master of Liberal Arts (with an emphasis in gender and sexuality) from Tulane University’s School of Professional Advancement and is also a Certified Archivist via the Academy of Certified Archivists. Bernadette is currently pursuing a Digital Archives Specialist Certificate (DAS) from the Society of American Archivists and just became a National Heritage Responder via the American Institute for Conservation/FAIC. Professional interests include the digitization, preservation, and sustainability of both digital and physical collections; extensible processing techniques, ArchivesSpace; reparative and inclusive descriptions in descriptive metadata, decolonizing libraries and archives, and disaster preparedness. Personal research interests include historic preservation through a feminist lens; creating art; exploring gender and sexuality in American pop culture; breaking down colonial residues; and how archivists can be activists.
Clare Daniel, Ph.D.
Media and Reproductive Rights
Clare Daniel is an Administrative Assistant Professor of Women's Leadership at Newcomb Institute. She received her doctorate and master's in American Studies from the University of New Mexico and her bachelor's degree from Macalester College in German Studies and English with a Women and Gender Studies minor. Her book Mediating Morality: The Politics of Teen Pregnancy in the Post-Welfare Era was published in 2017 by the University of Massachusetts Press. Her work has also appeared in Signs: Journal of Women and Culture in Society, the edited MTV and Teen Pregnancy: Critical Essays on Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant, and the library science journal Collection Building. She periodically teaches courses in the Department of Communication, the Gender and Sexuality Studies program, the Honors Program, and the Spark Residential Learning Community.
Jacquelyne Thoni Howard, Ph.D.
Decolonizing Feminisms
Jacquelyne Thoni Howard is the Manager of Technology Initiatives at Newcomb Institute. She has a Ph.D. in U.S. History from Fordham University. Her background includes digital humanities, online education, and instructional technology. Jacque is also a historian of Borderlands history who works at the intersection of the gender, family, and colonial cultures. In her current project, she examines the experiences of women and families in the French Lower Louisiana Borderlands. Jacque has taught the history of gender, history of race and empire, digital scholarship practices, and the history of science and technology as the main themes in several undergraduate courses. These courses include U.S. History to 1865, U.S. History Since 1865, Western Civilization I, History of Modern Europe, Understanding Historical Change - U.S. History.
Hannah Knipp
Dismantling Rape Culture
Hannah Knipp is a social worker with research interests in sexual violence prevention, social-emotional learning, sexual health, and children and families. She grew up in Fort Worth, Texas and attended Texas Christian University. During this time, Hannah volunteered as a Rape Crisis Interventionist and interned as a case manager at a local housing program for people living with HIV/AIDS. In 2011, Hannah relocated to New Orleans and spent four years teaching early elementary school at a local charter school. Working as an educator within the local school system inspired her to return to her roots of social work and in 2016, Hannah completed her Master of Social Work at Louisiana State University. During her program, she worked with children and adolescents in an inpatient hospital setting. After graduation, Hannah worked for three years at a local charter school as the Social and Emotional Learning Coordinator, where she developed and implemented a school-wide SEL curriculum with grades PK-4. During this time, Hannah became a licensed clinical social worker.
Anna Mitchell Mahoney, Ph.D.
Women Leading Change: Case Studies on Women in Organizations
Anna Mitchell Mahoney earned a B.A. from Loyola University in Mass Communications, a M.A. in Women’s Studies from the University of Alabama, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Rutgers University. She joined Newcomb Institute as an Administrative Assistant Professor of Women’s Political Leadership in August 2014. In 2016, she became Director of Research for the Institute.
She has taught a range of courses at the university level including Introduction to Women’s Studies, American Government, Congressional Politics, American Race Relations, and Women and American Politics. Anna’s research is centered on women’s representation and gendered institutions which is explored in her manuscript on the origins of women’s caucuses in state legislatures.
Anna is a member of several community organizations including the Women United of Southeast Louisiana United Way, American Association of University Women, the League of Women’s Voters, and was named in 2016 to the Louisiana Women's Policy & Research Commission.
Chloe Raub
D.I.Y. Feminisms: Libraries, Archives, & Creative Activism
Chloe Raub (NC ‘07) is Head of the Newcomb Archives and Vorhoff Collection of Newcomb Institute. She is active in the GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums) Wikimedia community and Art+Feminism, a global campaign to improve coverage of women and non-binary artists on Wikipedia and encourage greater diversity among Wikipedia editors. She is a past board member of the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana and former Co-Chair of the Society of American Archivists Women’s Collections Section. She holds a B.A. in Anthropology with a minor in Women’s Studies, an M.A. in Anthropology and Museum Studies from George Washington University, an M.S.L.I.S. in Library Science and Cultural Heritage Information Management from Catholic University and is a Certified Archivist.
Aidan Smith, Ph.D
Women's Advocacy
Aidan Smith is the Director of Newcomb Scholars Program and teaches its first year seminar, The History and Philosophy of Higher Education: The Role of College Women. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard College and holds a master's degree in mass communication from the University of Florida. She completed her doctorate in American Studies at the University of Hawaii in 2013. She also coordinates Newcomb’s feminist film initiatives.
Her first book, Gender, Heteronormativity, and the American Presidency, was published by Routledge in October 2017
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I take more than one course?
Yes! Students can attend any combination of sessions.
Which course(s) should I choose?
All Newcomb Summer Session courses foster leadership, collaboration, and college-level reading and discussion.
Will I receive college credit?
Newcomb Summer Session does not offer college credit. You will receive a certificate of completion.
Who is eligible to apply?
Rising high school sophomore, juniors, and seniors in good academic standing are eligible.
Is there homework?
Students will be expected to read approximately 50-100 pages of provided text before the program begins. There will be additional reading assignments throughout the program; expect around 30 pages per night.
I am a male or non-binary student. Can I apply?
Yes! Newcomb Summer Session welcomes all students who are motivated to study gender equity studies, feminist ideas, and social change.