Oral History Interview, Tracy Lemaster (2553)

Abstract

In her June 2025 interview with Edwin Elizabeth Thomas, Tracy Lemaster discusses her 15-year career with UW-Madison’s Gender & Women’s Studies (GWS) Department. She began as a TA, with professor Susan Friedman being a significant mentor during her graduate studies. Her joint appointment is in the English department. She shares that her intersection with GWS is new and riskier than the work of most other literary scholars who pursue a historical tradition. She cites this interdisciplinary work as a major influence in her teaching and research ever since. Lemaster also touches on the department’s evolution since she first started, including debates on the department’s name and faculty diversity. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the GWS @ 50 Oral History Project of the UW-Madison Archives & Records Management oral history collection.