Program of Study
The field of Women’s Studies has become an important part of university education in the last four decades. Women’s Studies focuses on the social construction of gender and explores the roles and contributions of women and men in societies around the world, past and present. Women’s Studies also seeks to understand how gender is related to other aspects of social identity and stratification, including race, ethnicity, culture, social class, sexuality, nationality, religion, ability, and other factors that have dramatically shaped women’s and men’s lives.
Women’s Studies majors include both male and female students. Students in our courses receive a quality liberal arts education. They learn about a wide range of academic approaches that have emerged in such diverse areas as literature, psychology, economics, the sciences, sociology, history, anthropology, the arts, communication, and many others.
Women’s Studies students develop important skills in:
- Leadership
- Analytical thinking and problem solving
- Writing proficiency and expertise
- Applied learning
- Community involvement
- Public speaking
- Collaborative work with others
- A deeper understanding of diverse perspectives and cultural backgrounds
Women’s Studies majors pursue careers or graduate education in many different fields, including the law, education, social services, business, counseling, the arts, public administration, and medicine.
Student Learning Outcomes
Women’s Studies faculty employ innovative and varied pedagogical practices to deliver a curriculum that:
- Acknowledges women’s past and present contributions to culture and society in the United States, the region, and around the world;
- Offers both interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary approaches to the fields of women’s and gender studies;
- Centers the study of women with attention to racial and cultural differences, class, sexual identities, religion, disabilities, and geography;
- Fully explores the diversity in women’s experiences, past and present, using the concept of gender to identify progress and problems, and thereby problematizes our understandings of those experiences; and
- Values the relationships between theory, social action, and the quest for change.
Students who graduate with a B.A. in Women’s Studies will be able to:
- Recognize and explain women’s role in and contributions to the economy, politics, the arts, culture, and society in the United States and around the world.
- Analyze critically the historical and present day construction of gender in diverse cultural contexts.
- Integrate the analysis of race and ethnicity, class, sexual identifies, culture, religion, ability, and geography into explanations of women, gender, and power relations in the contemporary world.
- Use effect oral and written communication skills to communicate information and arguments about women and gender relations.
- Use the research skills needed to find, analyze, and apply multiple sources of information about women and gender across an array of research topics and academic disciplines.
- Apply knowledge of multiple feminist approaches to analyze and evaluate the basic assumptions and arguments used in the study of women and gender construction.
- Discover interpret, and imagine the relationship of women’s and gender studies scholarship to problem solving and activism in the real world.
Special Conditions for the Bachelor of Arts in Women’s Studies
All courses counted toward the Minor and the Major, including Preparation for the Major, must be completed with a grade of C (2.0) or better.
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