2023-2024

Women's Studies (Minor)

History and Political Science Department

 

Anne Henderson, Ph.D., Coordinator
Jen Erdman, Ph.D.

 

Degrees offered

Minor

Campuses

Main Campus

The Women's Studies Minor is offered to traditional undergraduate  students. It is an interdisciplinary program that examines women's lives, perspectives and experiences. Through scholarship by and/or about women and the study of feminist theories and research methodologies, the student develops an intellectual framework through which to examine gender as a social, cultural and historical construct.

Summary

Students will explore the way gender interacts with other socially constructed categories such as race, class, nationality, sexual orientation as well as with other dimensions of identity (including religion, ethnicity, and age) that have often been used as the basis for discrimination. Students also will be encouraged to examine and understand the impact of these categories on their own experiences, and will be prepared to participate in the processes of social change that would promote the full development of all women and men.

A Minor in women's studies can benefit students in a variety of careers including art, business, communication, counseling, education, health, journalism, law, music, politics, psychology, public policy, religion, social services and sports.

Requirements

The Minor in Women's Studies consists of seven courses and 21 credits, including IDS-150 Introduction to Women's Studies and IDS-440 Seminar in Women's Studies. Of the five remaining courses, all must be at the 200-level or above, and three of the five must be at the 300/400 level. (See program of study, following.)

Courses taken to fulfill General Education Requirements, and two courses from the student's Major, may be counted toward the Women's Studies Minor.

A student wishing to Minor in Women's Studies is encouraged to meet with the Program Coordinator to design an appropriate Program of Study to complement her Major and to receive information about course cycling.

Program of Study

       Required Courses:

       IDS-150 Introduction to Women's Studies
       IDS-440 Seminar in Women's Studies

       Five of the following courses, at least three at the 300/400 level:

       ART-315 Explorations of Women in Art
       BUS-451 Women in Leadership
       COM-330 Women in Film
       COM-382 Gender and Communication
       ENG-243 Literature by Women
       ENG-275 American Women Writers
       HIS-261 Winning the Vote: The History of Women's Suffrage in America
       HIS-290/POL-290 Women in Islamic Societies
       HIS-309 Women in American History
       HIS-323 Black Women in American History
       HIS-352 Honors: Educating Women in the U.S.
       HIS-355 Women and Work: The American Experience
       HIS-402 Honors: Women, War and Peace
       HIS-303/LCL-303 Women in the Ancient World
       MUS-320 Women in Music
       PED-301 American Women in Sports History
       PHL-323 Feminist Philosophy
       POL-324 Women, Politics and the Law
       PSY-209 Social Psychology
       PSY-375 Sex and Gender
       RST-305 Marriage and the Family
       RST-355 Women in the Present and in the Judeo-Christian Tradition
       SOC-202 Sociology of the Family
       SOC-271 Honors: Sociology of Gender Roles

See course descriptions in Departmental Listings.