Majors and Minors

Requirements for Major

Eight units as well as a senior capstone experience (one-half or one unit). The requirements for each track are described below.

Women’s Studies Emphasis	Gender Studies Emphasis

Required Courses	Required Courses
WGS 106: Introduction to Women’s Studies WGS 360: Feminist Theory Capstone Experience: directed study, Honors thesis, practicum, or internship	WGS 116: Introduction to Gender Studies WGS 360 or A&S 333 Capstone Experience: directed study, Honors thesis, practicum, or internship

A senior exit interview will be used for assessment purposes.

Six different courses, at least one from each of the following lists. The six courses must be selected in consultation with the program director or the faculty member in the program.

Institutions or Knowledge Systems

This requirement emphasizes the study of the systemic nature of gender or of the critical perspectives brought to a discipline by feminist theory or gender theory.

Anthropology and Sociology 333: The Sociology of Sex and Gender, Melzer (if not taken as the theory requirement)
Anthropology and Sociology 360: Intimate Violence, Melzer
Biology 368, 368L: Behavioral Ecology, Staff
Communication Studies 207: Communicating Gender, Erlandson
English 363: Literary Theory, Collar
Religious Studies 320: Gender and Biblical Interpretation, McWhirter
Science 205: Women and Ethnic Minorities in Science, Schmitter

Representations

This requirement emphasizes feminist approaches or gender study approaches to the examination of gender in representations; this requirement also can involve the recovery and examination of representations that previously had been invisible due to gender bias.

Art History 310: Women and Art, Wickre
English 330: The Novel and the New: British Fiction, Behn to Bronte, Miller
English 340: The Twentieth Century in “English” Literature, Collar
English 341: Contemporary Literature, Collar
English 345: Renaissance Women's Writing, MacInnes
English 347: The Age of Satire, Staff

Global Perspectives

This requirement emphasizes the importance of gaining knowledge far from one’s own subject position. For this unit, students must choose a course outside their own cultural and geographical experience.

For U.S. students, some options:
History 301: Gender and Sexuality in the Hispanic World, Kanter
History 365: Women, Society and Gender in East Asia, Staff
Political Science 372: Gender, Sex and International Politics, Walling

For international students, some options:
Anthropology and Sociology 333: The Sociology of Sex and Gender, Melzer (if not taken as the theory requirement)
History 340: History of Women in the U.S., 1877 to Present, Franzen

Historical Contexts

This requirement emphasizes the study of women or gender in specific and detailed historical context(s) or the study of the methodology of women’s or gender history.

Economics and Management 305: Women in Business and Leadership, Baker
English 220: The Making of Modern Masculinities: British Literature and Manliness,
1660-1914 , Staff
English 243: Women and Literature, Lockyer
English 285: Gay and Lesbian Literature, Staff
English 338: Eighteenth-Century Culture Shocks: Race, Class, and Gender in Eighteenth-
Century Britain, Staff
English 344: The Age of Elizabeth, MacInnes
English 345: Renaissance Women's Writing, MacInnes
English 347: The Age of Satire, Staff
French 320: French Women Writers and Feminist Criticism, Guenin-Lelle
History 301: Gender and Sexuality in the Hispanic World, Kanter
History 340: History of Women in the U.S., 1877 to Present, Franzen
History 365: Women, Society and Gender in East Asia, Staff
History 390: Modern Germany, Cocks
History 395: The Irrational in History, Cocks

Self Making

This requirement emphasizes the feminist and gender studies examinations of processes and narratives that transform beings into gendered humans.

Anthropology and Sociology 230: Men and Masculinities, Melzer
English 220: The Making of Modern Masculinities: British Literature and Manliness,
1660-1914, Staff
English 246: Immigration and Literature, Collar
Psychology 251: Child and Adolescent Psychology, Elischberger
Women's and Gender Studies 240: Sexualities, Histories and Culture, Franzen

Requirements for Minor in Gender Studies

Five units, including: WGS 116, Introduction to Gender Studies; one from Anthropology and Sociology 332, 333 and WGS 360, Feminist Theory; three additional courses from the electives listed below, at least two of which must be at the 300 level or higher: Anthropology and Sociology 230, 332, 333, 360, Biology 368, English 211, 220, 285, 337, 341, 344, 347, 351, 363, 370, History 308, 377, Religious Studies 320.
Elective courses should be selected in consultation with a women's and gender studies faculty member and reported to the Women's and Gender Studies Program chair.

Requirements for Minor in Women's Studies

Five units, including WGS 106, Introduction to Women's Studies, and WGS 360, Feminist Theory; one historical overview course; and two others from the electives listed below, at least one of which must be at the 300 level or higher: Art History 219, 310, English 243, 338, 345, French 320, History 340, 370, SCI 205, Theatre 210.
Elective courses should be selected in consultation with a women's and gender studies faculty member and reported to the Women's and Gender Studies Program chair.