About Wendy Bashant

For over 20 years, Wendy Bashant has worked directly with students in the college setting. After obtaining her B.A. in Literature with a Music concentration from Middlebury College, Wendy Bashant attended the University of Rochester, where she received her Ph.D. in English Literature. Taking a position as an English Professor at Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Dr. Bashant focused much of her energy on gender studies and the empowerment of women. In addition to serving as the college’s President of Phi Beta Kappa, Wendy Bashant was a member of the Committee on Women’s Concerns for the Associated Colleges of the Midwest from 1991-1994, and served as the committee’s Chair for the last year of her tenure.

As faculty founder and coordinator of Strata, the first women’s honors society at Coe College, she went on to establish CESAW (Coe’s Egalitarian Society for the Advancement of Women), the college’s organization that promotes gender equity on campus. During the course of her career, Wendy Bashant has received numerous awards that recognize her academic and pedagogical contributions to her field, including the Iowa AAUW Distinguished Faculty Award, a state award given for promotion of gender awareness in Iowa Universities and Colleges (April 2005) and the J. Preston Cole Grant for Curricular Innovation (Spring 2001). An avid harp player and frequent traveler to Thailand, Wendy Bashant enjoys reading and writing poetry. Her published works include entries in several anthologies, including “Languor” in Jane’s Stories: An Anthology by Midwestern Women, “Blue Baby” in Mediphores, and “Mozart in Moab” Quantum Tao.

At New College, Florida’s public honors college in Sarasota, Wendy Bashant started in the position of Dean of Students in July of 2005. She manages numerous departments, including Student Activities, Community Engagement, Counseling and Wellness, Diversity and Gender, and Student Government. Supporting students is Wendy Bashant’s central role. She thus works in multiple ways to encourage them to complete the College’s demanding academic program. At New College, students are evaluated using a grading system that is not pass/fail. Students receive a designation of satisfactory or unsatisfactory and then a fairly in-depth narrative evaluation to explain the evaluation. Faculty are instructed that a “satisfactory” indicates the student received a “B” or higher. As the only independent honors college, New College holds the students to exceptionally high standards. Wendy Bashant believes that this sort of innovation requires constant student support: their success depends on strong mentorship and advice. As a leader and curricular innovator, Wendy Bashant has played a tremendous role in the success of her students.