Women’s and Gender Studies Minor

Faculty:

Director: Assistant Professor Kane

Steering Committee: Associate Professors Davis, Tillman; Assistant Professors Clements, Firestone, Fryett, Menzies

Associated Faculty: Professors Geisz, Hidalgo-Calle, McGraw Groh, Ochshorn, Plays; Associate Professors Bacci, Hardin; McAlister; Assistant Professors Cooper, Harder, Pompeian, Sumerau

The Women’s and Gender Studies Program is dedicated to promoting research and scholarship about women and gender through an approach that embraces the foundational notion that gender and sexuality are informed by various social categories, including those that are cultural, political, and economic. Through an interdisciplinary framework – including the fields of Art, Communication, History, Language, Literature, Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology – we foster a critical space from which to examine the intersections of oppression, inequality, and discrimination in relation to race, class, age, nation, and ability. Supported by feminist and queer theories among other paradigms, this Program advocates for research and activism in the name of social justice while working to combat sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, racism, classicism, and ethnocentrism. Courses offered engage a variety of viewpoints (including authors of varying social classes, abilities, nationalities, genders, and sexual orientations) and a variety of focuses (including women film directors and the history of sexuality). We also look to broader elements such as global networks of women and transnational feminist movements. 

Students who enroll in Women’s and Gender Studies courses will:

1. Compare and challenge notions of gender, gender identity, and sexuality as they are informed by and as they function in various social, economic, cultural, and political contexts. 

2. Compare and challenge notions of gender, gender identity, and sexuality as they intersect with race, ethnicity, nationality, class, age, and ability in these different contexts. 

3. Learn and employ intersectional frames of analysis in academic research, creative expression, collaborative scholarship, advocacy, and activism. 

 

Degree Requirements

Requirements for Women’s and Gender Studies Minor

WST 383

Women's Studies

4

Select Four from the Following Courses

ART 323	Women in Art	4
COM 370	Women, Film and Popular Culture	4
COM 435	Women Directors: Theory and Criticism	4
HIS 212	Witchcraft and Magic in the Early Modern Atlantic World	4
HIS 215	Women in American History	4
HIS 229	History of Sexuality	4
LIT 238	Women's Literature	4
PHL 205	Feminist Philosophy	4
PHL 399	Philosophy of Sex	4
PSY 404	Human Sexual Behavior: Seminar	4
SOC 307	Families in Global Perspective	4
SOC 320	Sociology of Gender	4
SPA 441	Hispanic Women Writers	4
WST 125	Introduction to Women's Studies	4
WST 290	Special Topics	4
WST 383	Women's Studies	4
WST 360	Special Topics
Total Credit Hours:		20

(Eight of the 20 credit hours must be at the 300 and 400 levels, including WST 383, which is a required course for this minor.)

Total Credit Hours: 20

Additional courses approved by the program director of Women’s and Gender Studies and by the Curriculum Committee may be used to satisfy the Women’s and Gender Studies minor.