Undergraduate Bulletin > Women's and Gender Studies Program > Major

Women’s and Gender Studies Major (WGST)

Student Learning Goals

1. To explain how gender is produced within social institutions and how these institutions affect individual lives.
2. To discuss histories of feminism as a social movement and feminist theories of social transformation.
3. To explain theories of embodiment, such as how bodies are constituted within social and biological discourses, or the relationship between embodiment and subjectivity, consciousness, and agency.
4. To critique how hegemonic feminism includes and/or excludes different theoretical perspectives, such as theories of racial formation and theories of sexuality.
5. To analyze the mutual constitution of gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, nationality, and religion.
6. To explain gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, nationality, and religion from the perspective of postcolonial and transnational frameworks of analysis.
7. To identify how feminist theories are constructed and enacted both inside and outside of the classroom.
8. To identify the intellectual paradigms and political perspectives of different modes of knowledge production or interdisciplinary methodologies.
9. To analyze scholarship and a variety of media in order to create original arguments in writing.
10. To apply different modes of feminist praxis, such as fieldwork, performance, or research.

Requirements

I General Education Core Requirements (GEC)

See complete GEC requirements and approved course listings for all categories.

Core Category	S.H.
Students may select courses for:
Literature (GLT)	3
Fine Arts (GFA)	3
Historical Perspectives on Western Culture (GHP)	3
Mathematics (GMT)	3
Natural Sciences (GNS) one must be a laboratory course; each must have a different departmental prefix	6–7
Reasoning and Discourse (GRD) ENG 101 or FMS 115 or RCO 101, and one additional GRD course	6
Social and Behavioral Sciences (GSB)	6
Department specifies courses for:
Philosophical, Religious, Ethical Principles (GPR) required: WGS 350	3
One additional GLT course (student may select)	3
Social and Behavioral Sciences (GSB) required: WGS 250 and two other GSB courses	9

 

II General Education Marker Requirements

See details and courses. It is possible to meet all GE Marker Requirements while completing the GE Core requirements or courses required by the major/concentration.

 

III College of Arts and Sciences Additional Requirements (CAR)

See requirements and approved courses.

Category	S.H.
Historical Perspectives on Western Culture one GPM (Premodern) or GMO (Modern) course, depending on category used to satisfy GHP requirement	3
Natural Sciences any GLS or GPS course	3–4
Social and Behavioral Sciences (GSB) any additional GSB course with a different departmental prefix	3
Foreign Language (GFL) intermediate-level proficiency in one language, demonstrated by placement test, or completion of course work through course number 204	0–12
Writing Intensive Courses (WI) a total of four WI courses

 

IV Major Requirements

Minimum 27 semester hours above the 100 level

Core Requirements (9 semester hours)

The following courses are required of all majors: WGS 250*, 350*, 490

*WGS 250 satisfies one GSB; WGS 350 satisfies one GPR.

Electives (18 semester hours)

18 s.h. of approved courses from among the following:CED 574; ENG 331, 332, 531; HDF 407; HEA 260, 333; HIS 304, 328, 329, 359, 551; KIN 532; MST 325; NUR 330; PSC 335, 336; PSY 346; REL 309, 310; SOC 329, 354/MGT 354; SPA 222; TED 555; WGS 333, 400*, 450, 460, 490

Special topics courses or sections with central focus on women and gender may be approved by the Director of WGS for elective credit.

Please note that these courses are equivalent; students should select only one: SOC 354 or MGT 354

*Only two Independent Studies equivalent to six (6) semester hours may be taken toward the Women’s and Gender Studies major.