Maureen Honey is a self-proclaimed feminist. That much is clear by looking at her office, which is peppered with images of Rosie the Riveter, women of color and feminist books and posters. Standing in that aura, it’s no surprise Honey was the University of Nebraska English professor who brought the women in pop culture program to campus in the 1980s.
“When I was in graduate school, the images in women in popular culture were just terrible,” Honey said. “I could not find good images of myself or of women.”
That’s when Honey decided to start looking at how women were portrayed in the media and the effects those images had on society, and realized women in pop culture is an area that needed to be studied.
Honey has received multiple awards for her teaching, including the Annis Chaikin Sorensen Award for Distinguished Teaching in the Humanities and the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Education, both in 2016.
Honey said she has always been inspired by people bettering their situation, which is why she enjoys teaching classes such as “Women in Pop Culture” and “Black Women Authors” the most.
“The American story is so much about people trying to better their lives and to blend a whole bunch of different cultures and languages into one big salad,” Honey said. “That is just such a beautiful picture to me.”
In her classes, Honey said she tries to incorporate reading from every major group that has struggled to improve themselves to become American.
“It’s been wonderful really to see how my students have become so open to all of these diverse voices,” Honey said. “Back when I started teaching, hardly any of my students called themselves [a feminist]. I think [this] generation has come of age thinking of feminism as normal.”
Katie Berning, a senior accounting major, took Honey’s “Women in Pop Culture” class last semester and said Honey encouraged dialogue and made students comfortable enough to share their true opinions.
“Her last name is Honey for a reason,” Berning said. “She is so sweet. She is just this little ray of sunshine, and she made us really think about our opinions and really develops you as a person.”
Honey said creating a comfortable environment for her students to share ideas is one of her goals every semester. Along with that community, she said she hopes her students take away a greater appreciation for reading, learning and humanities after her class.
It’s something she said is becoming harder and harder in a world that pulls people’s attention in so many different directions.
“I keep wanting to say, ‘Focus! Focus! Take those earbuds out, don’t multitask. Read. Appreciate. Look at art,’” she said. “I firmly believe this, because that’s where you see what it is to be alive.”
Outside of the classroom, Honey said she channels her creativity into her flower garden, her home and taking care of her four pets– three Siamese cats and a Chow Chow dog.
“We talk about pets a lot in my class,” Honey said, laughing. “They’re so grounding. There’s no pretense or anything about them; they just love you. They just are who they are, no apologies. I like that happiness, because a happy animal is just such a joy to see.”
