The Center for Women’s Research and Public Policy is located in historic Orr Building on the campus of Mississippi University for Women, the nation’s first publicly-funded institution for the advanced education of women. The university has been co-educational since 1982.

The Center is open Monday through Friday, and offers the campus and community an extensive resource library of books and DVDs on a wide variety of topics affecting women and girls, including education, health, biology, history, psychology, literature, politics, and law.

The Center provides opportunities for multidisciplinary approaches to the study of women in both traditional and non-traditional roles.  Research and programming focus on all issues affecting women and girls, and particularly on the history of MUW and women’s education. 

The Center offers students the opportunity for hands-on primary research in women’s studies and women’s issues, including collecting oral histories, editing diaries, and preserving and organizing letter collections.

Since the Center’s Director is also the Director of Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, students are advised about Women’s Studies course selections and and are guided in planning independent study and research projects in Women’s Studies.

The CWRPP coordinates women-centered programming with other MUW campus units, such as the Ina E. Gordy Honors College, and the Common Reading Initiative. The Center continues to play an active role in hosting the Mississippi NEW Leadership Program during the summer.

Off campus, the Center often partners with The Columbus-Lowndes Bateman Library, The Girls Scouts Heart of the South Board, The Columbus Arts Council, The Southern Literary Trail Tri-State Organization, and The Mississippi Humanities Council.