Binghamton University welcomed premier women’s history scholars from across the northeast on Saturday for the 2012 Upstate New York Women’s History Organization Conference.

The day-long conference hosted scholars from schools including Penn State, Colgate, Yale, Seton Hall and Syracuse, in addition to Binghamton.

The presentations covered eight topics: Dressing Women’s Bodies; Colonized Voices, Colonial Struggles; Reinterpreting Suffrage; Reading and Writing Gender; Sex and State Regulation; Thinking Nationally, Acting Locally: State Suffrage Campaigns in the U.S.; New Strands of Second Wave Scholarship; and Gender and the Language of Family.

Graduate students and distinguished scholars presented and commented on one another’s work, with the goal of showcasing the research of academics from the women’s studies community.

About 80 people were in attendance, according to Giusi Russo, managing editor of the Journal of Women’s History, who helped organize the conference.

“It was a great event and a great way to advertise women’s history to the rest of the University,” Russo said.

A panel of distinguished academics, including five from Binghamton, was also present to comment.

Rebecca Edwards, a history professor at Vassar College, served as a commentator during the Reinterpreting Suffrage session.

“I think that it was a great event, especially to have the opportunity to hear what other people are working on and provide my own input,” Edwards said.

Russo said that the panel was well-received.

“My impression is that people were very satisfied with the panel,” Russo said. “I think it was very well-organized. We covered all of the bases.”

Susanne Klausen, recipient of the Journal of Women’s History best article prize in 2011 and associate professor of history at Carleton University in Ontario, delivered the keynote address.

Graduate students who attended the conference had the opportunity to interact with leading women’s studies professors and scholars.

“The day was really exciting as a graduate student,” said Tiffany Baugh, a first-year graduate student at BU with a concentration in women, gender and sexuality. “It was just really welcoming.”

Sara Fieldston, a third-year graduate student at Yale University who presented her paper, “Building a Family of Nations: American Voluntary Agencies and Children Overseas During the Cold War Era,” echoed that sentiment.

“I enjoy small conferences like this because they really give you a chance to talk to people in your field,” she said.

Nancy Appelbaum, associate professor and chair of the history department at BU, told Pipe Dream she was proud of the efforts of the University.

“The quality of the papers presented was extremely high,” Appelbaum said. “I think the event has been a tremendous collective effort [from] the editors and other faculty members, especially graduate students. I have been very impressed … it really showcases how strong the women’s history program is at Binghamton, and how it is really expanding internationally.”