In the classrooms of the State University of New York system between Buffalo and Westchester County, the presence of feminist premodern studies is central to how students of all levels engage with and understand the world before and after the sixteenth century. As the historical profession continues to be subjected to funding cuts and department closures across the country, teaching courses that engage with the past in a critical way is more important than ever. For students at universities such as Binghamton University and other public institutions within the SUNY system, the classroom may be the only place that they can engage with the debates, scholarship, and discussions that are present in the field of premodern studies. As legislators across the country work to dismantle the history major and the existence of premodern classrooms, the ways that we engage with our students and expose them to our field is paramount.
As both an alumna of SUNY New Paltz and Dutchess Community College and a current PhD Candidate at Binghamton University, I have been a student and instructor inside history classrooms. In those positions, I have seen firsthand how significant it is for students in history majors/minors and general education programs to use what they are learning about the past to shape their own perceptions of the modern world. As an instructor, I have worked to directly present to my students how their understanding of the world pre-1500 is relevant to how they position themselves within the world today. Therefore, I will highlight the ways in which feminist premodern studies have shaped my own teaching and how, as a SUNY student myself, I have benefited from being taught by feminist scholars across public institutions and community colleges in New York.