The Department of Sociology reluctantly announces the retirement of Professor Ginna Husting, and asks you to join us in wishing her well in her new role as Professor Emerita.
“Ginna’s contributions, with over 24 years of service to Boise State, cannot be overstated,” wrote Sharon Paterson, professor and chair of the department. “Most significantly, she has been Director of Gender Studies since 2011, guiding that program through difficult times. Gender Studies is, on all campuses and even in the best of times, devalued relative to its centrality in our lives. It has taken extraordinary effort and personal sacrifice to cultivate this as a center for education, research and community.”
Throughout Husting’s internationally acclaimed career, she looked at how systems of inequality and domination shape self, emotions and subjectivities. She applied her expertise in the work of Hannah Arendt to, among other things, the problems of digital capitalism. She also produced some of the foundational work in the now rapidly growing interdisciplinary study of conspiracy theories. Her scholarship will continue to inform and inspire future research. Known for both empathy and rigor, the needs and interests of her students motivated her work.
Paterson shared that, “in courses like Feminist Theory, Social Inequality, Environmental Sociology, Science and Technology and many more, her students have not just been exposed to theories and skills, but they have learned about themselves and their place in the world. As her students contribute to their families and communities throughout their lives, her impact on her students will reverberate across generations.”
“Professor Husting’s contributions will continue to shape this campus, scholarship, and the lives of those who have worked with her and learned from her. We can’t thank her enough for everything she has done to advance the mission of Boise State University,” wrote Paterson.
The Department of Sociology invites the university community to share messages with Ginna using Kudoboard (no registration required, enter as a guest). The department intends to share these with Husting soon.