Associate Dean of the College Linda McKinnish Bridges named interim director of women’s studies

“My goal during this interim is to encourage the development of the women’s studies program here at Wake Forest as a place of lively, vigorous intellectual exchange and to prepare the way for a new director to begin work next spring,” said Bridges.

She was named to the temporary position after the previous director of women’s studies, Associate Professor of Sociology Cheryl Leggon, left the university this summer. Bridges said she hopes many faculty members will consider applying for the position.

Currently, 398 students are enrolled in women’s studies courses. Thirteen students have declared women’s studies as a minor.

Bridges is also a visiting professor of New Testament and Greek at Wake Forest’s Divinity School. A graduate of Bryn Mawr’s Institute for Women in Higher Education, she established the Center for Women’s Leadership in Richmond, Va., in 1994, and has written articles on women and leadership. She is the author of the book, “The Church’s Portraits of Jesus,” and her commentary on the Thessalonian Correspondence will be published this spring.

A native of Henderson County, she is a graduate of Meredith College and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.