WGST Events | Women's & Gender Studies | University of Nebraska at Omaha

No Limits!: What's Reality?

No Limits! 2026

THEME: WHAT'S REALITY?

No Limits is an interdisciplinary student conference on issues related to women, gender, and sexuality and is sponsored by the Women's and Gender Studies Programs at UNO, UNK and UNL. It is held annually in early March and it rotates between the campuses at Lincoln, Kearney, and Omaha.

In order to keep this event accessible to all participants, No Limits charges no conference registration fee. It is entirely supported by donations from academic departments and units within the University of Nebraska and the fundraising efforts of student organizations.

Attendees listen to a speaker at No Limits! — History

The conference began in 1994 with a group of dedicated students who wanted to create an unquestionably interdisciplinary conference able to accommodate both traditional and non-traditional topics and presentations. Since that time the conference has remained student-oriented, open to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as recent graduates.

Over the decades, No Limits has hosted hundreds of presentations from students and community members involved in Women's and Gender Studies in numerous academic departments and community groups. Further, No Limits encourages creative presentations, including artwork, performances, and the reading of original work.

No Limits has also hosted many renowned scholars, writers, performers and activists, including SJ Sindu, Lindsey Churchill, Shireen Ghorbani, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Meenakshi Gigi Durham, Mary S. Hartman, Shireen Roshanravan, Obioma Nnaemeka, Janet Kourany, tatiana de la tierra, Judith Cofer Ortiz, Nomy Lamm, Toi Derricotte, and Lourdes Portillo.

Previous Conferences

Be a part of No Limits! 2026

How do I take part?

Registration and proposal submission forms will be posted soon!

What can I expect?

No Limits! features student presentations, as well as a keynote speaker. This year's keynote is presented by UNO Associate Professor Stevie Seibert Desjarlais.

During her talk, "Here for All the Reasons: Why We Watch the Bachelor," Dr. Seibert Desjarlais will discuss one of the longest-running reality TV behemoths, The Bachelor franchise, and the extensive fan discourse surrounding it. The recent failed attempt by the franchise to create a crossover season with the newer, more social-media embedded show, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, spurred many complex conversations online and off. Controversy has long dogged the franchise, though, as Dr. Seibert Desjarlais will address. Yet viewers keep showing up—for the show itself, for the discourse, for the monocultural experience, and for the community. Dr. Seibert Desjarlais will dive into how this media property unintentionally provides a shared space in which to wrestle with big questions regarding politics, identity, and interpersonal relationships, and how culturally and academically useful this type of discourse community can be.