Patricia Cooper is the former Chair of the Gender and Women's Studies Department. She teaches courses on women and spirituality, gender and work, the history of sexualities (U.S.) and the history of women (U.S.). Her research focuses on race, gender, and work, and she is currently writing about the Pew family's segregated shipyard during World War II as well as the movement for "Fair Employment" in Philadelphia before the 1960s. New research focuses on women and spirituality and its relationship to social justice activism. Her publications include her book, Once A Cigar Maker: Men, Women, and Work Culture in American Cigar Factories, 1900-1919, and articles in Feminist Studies, the Journal of Social History, Technology and Culture and the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, along with essays in various anthologies including Ava Baron, ed., Work Engendered: Toward a New History of American Labor.
