Institute for Research on Women and Gender

**Our Mission** IRWG's mission is to support and encourage research, especially interdisciplinary research, on women, gender and sexuality at the University of Michigan. Our research vision is interdisciplinary and broadly inclusive of the creative and performing arts as well as the humanities, social sciences, and the sciences. **The Institute:** - provides direct funding to U-M faculty research efforts focusing on women, gender and sexuality, especially those that are collaborative and interdisciplinary - offers administrative coordination, stimulation and support for extramural research proposals - facilitates communication about scholarship on women, gender and sexuality to the U-M campus and public through publicity, events, and intellectual dialogues **History of IRWG** The Institute for Research on Women and Gender was established in 1995, after several pioneering Women's Studies faculty members, including Professor Abigail Stewart (Psychology and Women's Studies), organized themselves and approached President James J. Duderstadt with a proposal to establish a new University "structure" to meet unmet needs and fulfill the President's goals, as outlined in his [Agenda for Women](https://record.umich.edu/articles/michigan-agenda-for-women/).