Barrie Thorne – who was until recently Professor and Acting Chair of Gender & Women’s Studies and Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley – has been active in the collective effort to bring feminism into the US academic world. She has fought relentlessly for over 40 years to promote women and gender studies in higher education. This creative sociologist is also a much appreciated teacher and mentor. Laurence Bachmann interviewed her on campus in February 2012, a few months before she retired.