Bachelor of Arts in Women's Studies

Women's Studies offers a cohesive framework of inquiry for the examination of women, gender, and sexuality in the U.S. and around the world, as they relate to other social categories, such as race, class, disability, nationality, and ethnicity. As an interdisciplinary field, Women's Studies takes into account social, historical, and cultural variables in its study of women's material and cultural experiences as a social group; the examination of the workings of gender as an analytical category, identity, and social force; and the social, political, and cultural functioning of sexuality. Women's Studies also seeks to transform traditional fields of study by incorporating new methodologies, data, theories, and frameworks developed by feminist scholars. The Women's Studies Program offers an undergraduate major and minor that can be taken by students in the College of Liberal Arts or by students in other colleges. The certificate in Women's Studies is available only to students outside the College of Liberal Arts. In preparation for graduate school, Women's Studies majors have the opportunity to graduate with distinction in the major after completing an honors thesis. The Women's Studies Program offers students the opportunity to study women, gender, and sexuality through an interdisciplinary curriculum taught by faculty from various departments across the university. Students learn to apply the methods and theories of social scientists, historians, philosophers, and literary critics to the study of women's experiences, as well as gender and sexual identities. They explore a growing body of feminist theories that revise our understanding of gender, society, and culture. We encourage students not only to understand the importance of class, race, sexuality, physical ability, and gender to people's lives intellectually, but also to actively learn through their experiences in their fieldwork (internship) placement. After graduation, Women's Studies students enter professional schools in law, medicine and business; take graduate degrees in the humanities and social sciences; and pursue careers in health, counseling, teaching, and public advocacy.