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Giese served as director of the Michigan Project on Equal Education Rights (PEER), a division of the National Organization for Women's Legal Defense and Education Fund, from 1978 to 1984. The collection also contains files on Michigan women in high school athletics, vocational education courses, math classes, and science classes. Other files relate to legal cases on sex discrimination, the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame, and all-male academies in Detroit.

The papers of Elizabeth Giese have been divided into six series: Biographical File, PEER Files, Subject Files, Legal Cases on Sex Discrimination, Women's Rights Organizations, Math and Science, and Vocational Education. The bulk of the material in this collection relates to the activities of Michigan PEER. However, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish materials related to Giese's role as a citizen, activist and consultant from materials collected in her official capacity as an employee of Michigan PEER. The organization of the collection occasionally reflects this fact. Some of the series, and some individual files, are organized around particular subjects, rather than Giese's professional or personal activities.

A race desegregation assistance center based at the University of Michigan, the Program for Educational Opportunity was established by funding through the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The program was expanded to encompass race, gender, and national origin equity in public schools in the Great Lakes region. Includes reports, brochures, pamphlets and other material relating to racial segregation and racial and sex discrimination in education.

The Publications series of the Programs for Educational Opportunity measures 3 linear feet and covers the period from 1973 to the present. This series is divided into two subseries: Unit Publications and Sub-Unit Publications.

A race desegregation assistance center based at the University of Michigan, the Program for Educational Opportunity (PEO) was established by funding through the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The program was expanded to encompass race, gender, and national origin equity in public schools in the Great Lakes region. The PEO ceased operation in 2011. Administrative files, topical files, workshop and task force material, handbooks, and material pertaining to desegregation and equality in public schools in Ann Arbor, Detroit, and elsewhere in Michigan and the Great Lakes region. Materials include reports from school districts, histories of desegregation, and recordings of conferences/workshops (1970-1993) including speakers Charles D. Moody, Junious Williams, Edward H. Steinman, and other notable individuals.

The records for the Program for Educational Opportunity, 1969-2002, (36.2 linear feet) are divided into twenty-two series: Administrative, Correspondence, Committees and Task Forces, Conferences and Workshops, Handbooks, Reports, Desegregation, Project for Fair Administration of School Discipline (PFASD), Public Schools, Topical Files, Administrative, Conferences, Center for Sex Equality in Schools (CSES), Desegregation Assistance Center, PFASD, Public Schools, Topical Files, Programs, Reports, CSES, Topical Files, and Recordings of Conferences and Workshops. All folders within series are arranged alphabetically. Series titles repeat due to multiple transfers of material received at different times.

Researchers of desegregation efforts and the controversy of school discipline will find many valuable resources in the record group such as research reports, case studies, and conference materials. Also well documented is the Ann Arbor Area School District within the general Public Schools series which includes information on various programs within the district, records from the Board of Education, community surveys, and statistical data on staff and students. The Conferences and Workshops and Committees and Task Forces are also series that are particularly well documented; included are conference and workshop materials, reports, and in some cases, evaluations. The Recordings of Conferences and Workshops (1970-1993) includes 515 audiovisual recordings and covers topics such as human relations training, recruiting minority staff, combating racism and sexism in the curriculum, multi-cultural education, student rights and discipline, and the development of staff counseling skills.

Sandra S. Cole is a sexologist and professor (retired) at the University of Michigan School of Medicine. This collection documents Cole’s transgender advocacy, including the University of Michigan’s Comprehensive Gender Services Program, the inclusion of gender identity in the non-discrimination policies of the University of Michigan and the City of Ann Arbor, and her presentations, public appearances, and consultation work on transgender issues in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The Sandra S. Cole papers document Cole's work on behalf of the transgender community at the University of Michigan and in Ann Arbor. A number of the papers in the collection are photocopies of items held by the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at Indiana University. The collection consists of four series: Comprehensive Gender Services Program, University of Michigan Non-Discrimination Policy, Lectures, Public Appearances, and Consultation Work, and Transgender Reference Materials.