Carly Riley has been interested in women’s rights since she can remember.

Riley, a senior English major with a minor in professional writing and women’s studies and president of the Women’s Studies Student Club, is being named Outstanding Student in Women’s Studies.

She will be honored at the Women’s Studies Program Awards Reception at 6:30 tonight in the Tarble Arts Center Atrium.

It is the first year that this award has been in effect.

“I’ve been interested in women’s rights since I was a little girl,” Riley said. “My parents and grandparents are feminists and taught my brother and me about equality and the importance of women’s rights.”

One class in particular made Riley more aware of inequalities regarding women, she said. It was in the class Women, Men and Culture that made her think about women’s rights more in college.

“Two years ago, I took Women, Men and Culture, which was one of the two required courses for the minor, and became more and more interested in the history of women and feminism and became more globally aware of things going on presently,” Riley said.

It was clear to Riley’s family that she was becoming more interested in women’s studies.

“Carly got interested in women’s studies when she went to college and enrolled in a women’s studies class,” said Glendora Lanning, Riley’s grandmother.

The reasons why Riley was interested in women’s studies were becoming known to people around her.

“Carly was concerned about men and women in the workplace,” Lanning said.

Classes Riley has taken have increased her interest in women’s rights. A lot of the classes required for the women’s studies minor also count for general education requirements.

Riley has taken courses in other departments and saw how women are portrayed in those classes.

“Carly is one of those students because of whom we (the faculty) change our curriculum and who makes our experience as teachers enjoyable and rewarding,” said Penka Skachkova, coordinator of the women’s studies minor.

She is involved in many different campus activities that support women’s rights.

“One needs to get out of their comfort area to be able to understand inequalities in different

areas of life and that’s what Carly does. She dares to explore the unknown and to bring activism to the passive,” Skachkova said.

Riley said the most successful woman’s studies program was the “Bitch” magazine reading group, which began this year.

Being involved in both the women’s studies minor and a lot of women’s studies events, Riley has been able to have a different perspective about the world around her.

“I was inspired and excited by the class (Women, Men, and Culture), and started seeing everything with more clarity, not just from the bubble of being a student in my twenties in Illinois,” she said. “Because the state is so progressive, and my family is so liberal, it was eye-opening to see what was going on in our society for women of all walks of life.”

Graduating will not stop Riley’s love for supporting women’s rights. She will continue to support women’s rights as she has all of her life.

“I will always be an advocate for women’s rights because I am a woman,” she said. “Until we achieve full equality, I will support the movement and work to educate, inform and involve as many people as I can.”

President of the Women’s Studies Student Club Carley Riley, a senior English major, holds up text books for her Feminist Theory class while in her bedroom at University Village on Monday afternoon. (Jay Grabiec/The Daily Eastern News)

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