Major Requirements
A minimum of 10 courses (30 credits), distributed as follows, is required for the Women’s Studies major:
1. Foundational/Praxis courses (6 credits required)
These courses provide the foundation of Women’s Studies by introducing students to the complexity of feminisms, in both theory and practice, and discussing the relationship between the two. Students must take one course from group A AND one course from group B.
2. At least 1 course (3 credits) must be taken in each of the three areas listed below
a. Area A: Historical Knowledges (material, cultural, social)
This area grounds students in the general field of women’s history. In keeping with the contemporary scholarly focus on pluralistic “histories” rather than on the more reductive and globalizing notion of “history,” this area’s approach will expose students to Western and non-Western, transnational, and transcultural histories and thus to diverse historical experiences of women. To this end, courses will not focus solely on U.S. American history, nor will they pertain exclusively to the academic field of history. Rather, this multidisciplinary area will allow students to investigate historical developments through multivalent approaches. As a result, students will attain a more complex knowledge of the evolution of women’s histories as they examine the historical evolution of the concept of “woman” across national, social, cultural, and political boundaries. Moreover, through courses featuring historical accounts of the emergence of international women’s movements and changing perspectives on gender, women, and feminist issues over time, students will gain an understanding of the richness and diversity of feminisms as well and of the historical roots of contemporary feminist concerns.
Listed courses:
GERM 320E/320F - (W,D) Sex in the City: Gender and Modernity in Weimar Germany (T)
HIST 238 - (CH,D) History of American Women: From Colonization to Mid-Nineteenth Century
HIST 239 - (CH,D) History of American Women: From Mid-Nineteenth Century to the Present
T/RS 218 - (P,D) Women in Christianity
b. Area B: Social and Behavioral Sciences:
Courses in the social and behavioral sciences will provide students with an understanding of the contemporary reality of women’s lives and gender relations and enable them to analyze the concept of gender critically. Students will use institutional, structural, and behavioral analyses to assess gender relations and women’s status in various societies. Cross-cultural, global, and intersectional perspectives will connect gender inequality to other categories of oppression and allow students to comprehend the diversity of women’s experiences. Students in these courses will gain a critical understanding of how various research tools, including quantitative and qualitative methodologies, are used to study women and gender. Students will learn how feminism has informed social research, and how social research has informed feminist theory.
Listed courses:
COMM 229 - (D) Gender and Communication
LA/WS 395 - (S,D) Women and Development in Latin America (T)
PS 216 - (D,S) Women’s Rights and Status
PS 227 - (D,S) Women, Authority and Power
PS 335 - (D) Women in the Global Community
PSYC 228 - Health Psychology
SOC 210 - (D,W) Marriage and the Family
SOC 224 - (S,D) Race and Ethnic Relations
SOC 230 - Sociology of Globalization
SOC 317 (D,W) Family Issues and Social Policy
c. Area C: Representations and Expressions (creative, literary, and visual arts)
Courses in the literary and visual arts demonstrate the various methods women have employed to achieve voice and visibility. Such efforts at representation lead to critical points about the attainment and negotiation of power and agency. These courses will also expose the reality of women’s lives and concerns, including their social and/or political views, issues of sexuality, and the relationship between the personal and the political. Analyzing multiple texts of women’s lives in such detail necessitates an examination of the cultural and/or global diversity of feminist perspectives and feminist political/social/cultural movements. Ultimately, students will emerge from these courses with an enhanced ability to express themselves critically on the subject of creative and culturally diverse texts that address women.
Listed courses:
ARTH 210 - (CA,D,W) Women in the Visual Arts
ARTH 311 - (W,D,CA) Medieval and Renaissance Women
ENLT 225 - (CL,D,W) Writing Women
ENLT 251 - (CL,D,W) Borderlands Writing
ENLT 260 - (CL,D) Women of Color: Literature & Theory (T)
ENLT 341 - (CL,W) Shakespeare: Special Topics
FREN 430 - Women Writers of the Francophone World
LIT 207 - (CL,D,W) Literature of American Minorities
LIT 221E/221F - (CL,D,W) Italian Women’s Writing (T)
LIT 323E/323F - (D,W) Topics in French and Francophone Cinema
LIT 325E/325F - (W) Gender in Italian Cinema
SPAN 430 - (CL,D) Hispanic Women Writers
3. Electives
All unclassified courses and any additional area and praxis courses beyond those required count as electives. Students must take 4 elective courses and a credit-based practicum or internship (see #4 below) OR 5 elective courses without an internship. Students wishing to specialize or concentrate in a particular area (e.g., humanities or social/behavioral sciences) may focus the remainder of their courses in a given area or discipline.
Listed courses:
CHS 337 - (W, D) Counseling Girls and Women
NURS 111 - (D) Women’s Health
PHIL 326 - (P,D) Advanced Topics in Feminist Philosophy (T)
PHIL 331 - (P) Feminist Philosophy of Science (T)
4. Practicum or Internship
Students are strongly encouraged to complete a community-based internship related to their work in Women’s Studies and/or to volunteer or work at the Jane Kopas Women’s Center.
Listed courses:
WOMN 380-381 - Women’s Studies Internship
5. Theory intensive courses
Of the 10 courses necessary for completion of the major, students must take at least one theory intensive course beyond the foundational/praxis course. Any approved area or elective Women’s Studies course may be flagged as theory-intensive, if it fits the WS criteria and has been approved for such designation by the Women’s Studies Program Steering Committee. Such courses are designated by a (T).
Listed courses:
ENLT 260 - (CL,D) Women of Color: Literature & Theory (T)
GERM 320E/320F - (W,D) Sex in the City: Gender and Modernity in Weimar Germany (T)
LIT 221E/221F - (CL,D,W) Italian Women’s Writing (T)
LA/WS 395 - (S,D) Women and Development in Latin America (T)
PHIL 326 - (P,D) Advanced Topics in Feminist Philosophy (T)
PHIL 331 - (P) Feminist Philosophy of Science (T)
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