Annabel Bucknam, sophomore Women's and Gender Studies minor/Psychology major, with her Promise Award certificate.
The Ethnic and Gender Studies Promise Award was given to Annabel Bucknam on May 6.
Bucknam, is a sophomore Women’s and Gender Studies major with a minor in Psychology. A transfer student from Genesee Community College, Bucknam is completing her first year at Fredonia and is interested in mental health counseling, with a focus on the LGBTQIA+ community.
The Promise Award recognizes a student in good academic standing majoring or minoring in an Ethnic and Gender Studies program, who demonstrates commitment to its values and learning outcomes as they complete their degrees and work toward their next steps.
The award is supported through the McVicker Ethnic & Gender Studies Scholarship established through the Fredonia College Foundation.
Fredonia’s Ethnic and Gender Studies Program is celebrating major accomplishments as the academic year comes to a close. Several students are graduating with the EGS major in addition to several of the minors associated with the program.
While this is only the third year for the EGS interdisciplinary major, several students are completing requirements to earn the B.A. in Ethnic and Gender Studies: Sivan Adler (also a B.F.A. Acting major, Honors program member and a recipient this year of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence); Mason Fuller (also a Social Studies Adolescence Education B.S. major) and Owen Wagner (also a member of Fredonia’s Honors program). All three students are past recipients of the EGS Program’s Scholar-Activist Award. Wagner will be attending the State University at Buffalo’s graduate program in Library Science and English, and Fuller will be attending the State University at Albany’s graduate program in History. Additionally, Emily Stoll — a former Promise Award winner — and Victoria Iskra, both dual majors in EGS and the English Adolescence Education B.A./M.A., have completed their B.A. in EGS and are continuing with master’s programs next year. Several graduating students are completing minors in Women’s and Gender Studies, African American Studies and Latine Studies this year as well.
Another milestone takes place this year: Professor Jeanette McVicker, a faculty member in the Department of English for the past 38 years, who stepped into the coordinator role for the new Ethnic and Gender Studies program when it was approved three years ago, is retiring from SUNY Fredonia. She has been a longstanding presence in this interdisciplinary field, going back to her first time as director of Women’s Studies when that minor was reinstated in 1996, after being deactivated in the 1980s. Several faculty members followed her in the position as the program expanded to a major in Women’s and Gender Studies and minors in Ethnic Studies were added to the curriculum.
Dr. Heather McEntarfer, who is an Associate Professor of English, will take over as EGS Coordinator starting in Fall 2026. She holds a Ph.D. in English Adolescence Education and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Dr. McEntarfer’s work in the field is extensive: her master’s degree work included a focus on school desegregation, and she has served as a faculty advisor to Pride Alliance. McEntarfer is actively involved in research and pedagogy centering diversity, gender studies and teacher candidates’ work around gender and sexuality in education programs. McEntarfer gave the faculty keynote for the Ethnic and Gender Studies Symposium in April, based on her recent publication highlighting the value of transgender teachers.
