Bachelor of Arts in Women's and Gender Studies

The Women’s and Gender Studies Program is a cross-disciplinary program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The program offers students opportunities to analyze issues concerning women, gender, and sexuality in diverse cultural contexts and to investigate a variety of disciplines from feminist perspectives. The field of women's and gender studies creates an understanding that interrelated factors--e.g., race, ethnicity, class, age, disability, gender identity, religion, national origin, and sexual orientation--inform knowledge of women’s history, culture, and social roles.

Women’s and Gender Studies seeks to improve critical thinking and to provide students with the intellectual means to question prevailing assumptions. It encourages students to explore the contexts and ideological origins of knowledge and to examine the relationship between knowledge and power in society. By promoting social justice and inclusion, this area of study focuses on the connections between personal experience and political activity, and validates student contributions and voices.

Graduates from this program are skilled in critical thinking, research methods, and effective communication. Because they have developed a thorough understanding of gender, race, and class, graduates work effectively with employers, colleagues, and clients to analyze and solve complex social problems. Women's and Gender Studies students also acquire strong backgrounds for careers in areas such as counseling, education, human resources, international development, public policy, politics, business, and law. The program includes core and cross-listed courses in anthropology, history, economics, English, history, health and human performance, political science, psychology, religion, sociology, speech communication, and world languages and cultures. An undergraduate major requires a minimum 2.00 GPA in the 34 credits of core and cross-listed courses.