Women Studies/Contributors' Biographies

Kimberley Boggus

Kimberley was born in Sacramento, California to a white mother and a black father in 1979 who met in San Francisco as young hippies focused on changing the world, Carter was President and Brown was Governor of California, she was destined to be politically engaged.

After High School Kimberley moved to Omaha/Council Bluffs area and started volunteering for campaigns and eventually took a position with the Iowa Democratic Party for the 2004 Presidential Campaign. At the same time she married and was plugging her way through community college.

A few moves around the country led her to Des Moines in late 2010, where she again found herself working in politics, most recently for Next Gen Climate for the 2014 midterm election. In 2013, Kimberley was awarded Activist of the Year by the Iowa Democratic Party and in December 2014 was in the Des Moines Register’s Top 50 Most wanted Democrats.

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is a seventh year student majoring in journalism and mass communication at Iowa State University.

Dana Lynn

Dana Lynn is a graduate student getting her Masters in HCI from Iowa State University. She has taken classes in areas such as: User Interface Implementation for Web Application, Design & Ethics, Models & Theories in HCI, Emerging Practices - Designing the User Experience, Cognitive Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction and Web Mapping and would like to continue her practice after graduation. She is also interested in: Learning Experience Design, Design Collaboration, Design Research and Technology & Innovation. When she is not working or studying Dana likes to practice yoga, go to flea markets and farmers markets.

Colbie Scholten

Colbie Scholten is a senior at Iowa State University majoring in Secondary English Education and minoring in Technical Communications. She has taken classes in areas such as: Shakespeare, British Literature and Women’s Studies courses and would like to teach English courses in schools in the United States or even out of the country after graduation. She is also interested in traveling, reading, collecting and listening to old records and baking.

Macey Simmons

Macey Simmons is a senior at Iowa State University majoring in Liberal Studies and minoring in business. She has taken classes in accounting, finance, and liberal studies. She is ready to graduate and start exploring different options for careers. She is also interested in Ballet and reading.

Jhaustin Thomas

Jhaustin Thomas is from Atlanta, Ga before coming to Iowa State he attended a juco in Texas which is a two-year college called trinity valley he got his AA degree there. He transferred to Iowa State for football his major is liberal arts but he plans on changing it to business. He has one brother and sister. Also lives with his single mom. He is 22 years old his birthday is April 13 he is an aries and his dream is to be the first out of his family to graduate college. His goal is to open up his own training facility to help all athletes develop their skills and teaching them about life. If he is fortunate to make it to the NFL he wants to give back to the less fortunate. He loves putting a smile on people faces and having fun he wants to make a difference in this world.

Meredith Cook

Meredith Cook is a junior majoring in political science at Iowa State University.

Olivia Erickson

Olivia Erickson is a senior at Iowa State University majoring in Child, Adult, and Family Services. Olivia has taken many classes in area of Human Development and Family Studies, with an emphasis in youth and young adults. She plans to work in the field of social work for a few years once she graduates and then go to graduate school. She enjoys volunteering outside of school, helping others, and has a passion for animals.

Ashley Labarge

Ashley Labarge is a senior majoring in communication studies at Iowa State University.

Brittany Syvixay

Brittany Syvixay is senior majoring in public relations and minoring in psychology. She has taken classes in areas such as advertising, marketing, journalism and design. She has accepted a position at Cumulus Media after graduation. She is also interested in health, fitness and blogging.

Chelsea Bothun

Chelsea Noelle Bothun is a twenty-four year old senior at Iowa State University. She is majoring in journalism and mass communication, and is a psychology minor. She wanted to take women studies, because as a woman looking to pursue a career after graduation, she wanted to understand how women are perceived in the corporate world. After graduating, she would like to find a job in media relations. When she is not in school, Ms. Bothun enjoys hanging out with her family and traveling. She and her husband are expecting their first child in October.

Delanie Downey

Delanie Downey is a senior majoring in English and minoring in Women’s Studies. She has taken classes in areas such as: 19th Century literature and creative writing, as well as sex and gender portrayals within the media. Delanie would like to use her knowledge earned at Iowa State to establish her presence as a writer. She is also interested in film and photography, passions that help to form more avenues to express her beliefs and creativity.

Dexter Hopp

My name is Dexter Hopp. I am a senior in English here at Iowa State University. After graduation, I plan on finding an editing job. In my spare time, I love playing and cuddling with my two German shepherds, as well as reading fiction novels!

Emily Kimpston

Emily Kimpston is a senior at Iowa State University. She is studying statistics and is planning to go to graduate school after this year. She usually takes classes in statistics and mathematics. This summer Emily is working in childcare with third graders because she loves kids. She has enjoyed the various readings and assignments for this class because she finds it very interesting to learn about women in society.

Hado Min

Hado Min is a 3rd year student at Iowa State University. She is majoring in liberal studies. At first, her major was food science, but she changed into liberal studies because liberal studies has an advantage that student can learn various subjects at one time. She took liberal arts classes and science classes at the same time. She took art history class, biology, world food problem issues and so on. She would like to get a job related to translation after the graduation of university. Because liberal studies learn various subjects synthetically at one time, it can help a lot in translating various kinds of books. Her home country is Korea, so she might be usually working on translating English-Korean. Non-academically, she likes to listening to music or riding bike. Academically, she tries to read many books so it can help on her job career.

Mariah Calderon-Cody

Mariah Calderon-Cody is a student at Iowa State University and her current major is in desgine currently is choosing a minor in psychology. She had graduated high school September 9th 2009 at the age of 17 with learning disabilities. Mariah started off at a community college in Des Moines Iowa when she was 18 for about 2 years. Later on she contained her education on January 13, 2014 and stated going to Iowa State University. In July 16th. Throughout the school year Mariah Calderon had to struggle being pregnant, going to school and being in bad situations, but that did not stop her from her education. 2014 Mariah Calderon-Cody became a mother to Lliam Calderon that is currently one year old. March 25 2015 Mariah moved to North Carolina with her son and is still doing her education online and plans to graduate with in the next couple of years.

Alexis Jackson

Alexis Jackson is a senior majoring in psychology and minoring in sociology. She has taken classes in areas such as: psychology, sociology, and biology and would like to attend graduate school to pursue a Master's degree in sports psychology after graduation. She is also interested in reading classics, staying active by running, and volunteering.

Megan Rice

Megan Rice will soon be graduating from Iowa State University with her Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and with a minor in management. Throughout her college career she has achieved a particular passion for women’s studies particularly gender equality in politics and would like to continue to volunteer for female candidates’ campaigns. Megan will be continuing as the communication and events coordinator for the Ankeny Area Chamber of Commerce after graduation. She also plans to carry on her affinity for women’s politics as well as Iowa State University Sports after graduation.

Justin Schwebke

Justin Schwebke is a senior majoring in Agriculture and Society at Iowa State University. He has taken courses in areas such as: Agronomy, Design, and Political Science. He would like to work in Agricultural Communications or Public Relations after graduation. He is also interested in: backcountry hiking, camping, snowmobiling, and traveling.

Brianna Voigts

Brianna Voigts is a sophomore majoring in chemical engineering at Iowa State University.

Lucrecia Allen

Lucrecia A. Allen is currently a senior at Iowa State University, majoring in Liberal Studies. She has taken courses in women’s studies, business, and leadership. Lucrecia served her country in the United States Air Force for nine years. She is interested in public service and would like to serve her community further by attending the Northeast Texas Police Academy after graduation

Kimberely Arundale

Kimberly N. Arundale lived the first four years of her life in Federal Way, Washington, but has been raised in Marion, Iowa. There, she was exposed to her father’s work as an engineer and several engineering programs in her school, including Project Lead the Way. After interning for the same company her father works for - Rockwell Collins - and taking a year of general education courses at Kirkwood Community College, she began to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering at Iowa State University. Currently, she holds Junior status and has another co-op with Rockwell Collins to add to her tool belt. In addition to her engineering major, she is pursuing the Leadership Certificate at Iowa State. She actively participates in volunteer work with her church, including trips in the summer to New Orleans, where her church participates in rebuilding the community of the Ninth Ward. In the future, Kim plans on living and working overseas, then moving closer to family later in life. Other future goals include attaining a Master’s Degree, continuing missionary and volunteer work, and owning as many horses as she can afford.

Laura Jordan

Laura Jordan is a senior majoring in liberal studies at Iowa State University.

Jaypee Philbert

Jaypee Philbert is a junior majoring in pre-liberal studies at Iowa State University.

Victoria Ridout

Victoria Ridout is currently a senior in biochemistry at Iowa State University. She is enrolled in the combined BS/MS program and has an emphasis for pre-dental. In addition to her job as a student, she also works under Dr. Gustavo MacIntosh and studies the degradation of RNA located in the vacuoles of the model plant Arabidopsis Thaliana. Ever since she was young, she was fascinated by the mysteries of science. Victora’s high school offered a program that allowed her to take community college courses in accordance to her high school classes. She took a pre-nursing course where she cared for patients in both a nursing home and hospital. This course opened her eyes to the variety of healthcare professions and helped mold her choice to become a biochemistry student. Victoria hopes to finish her combined BS/MS program next fall and enter dental school the following fall semester afterwards.