The Graduate Specialization in Women and Gender is designed for completion by either master’s or doctoral students. The graduate specialization is administered by the Women’s Studies Program in the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Science. Women’s Studies collaborates with the Women and International Development Program in the College of Social Science to foster the study of women and gender across disciplines and national borders. This coordination will be of particular interest to graduate students in the departments or programs of Agricultural Economics, American Studies, Anthropology, Educational Administration, English, Family and Child Ecology, French, German, History, Journalism, Labor and Industrial Relations, Music, Nursing, Philosophy, Psychology, Romance and Classical Languages, Sociology, Social Work, Spanish, Teacher Education, and Women’s Studies.
The graduate specialization in Women and Gender is designed to provide opportunities for graduate students to obtain a comprehensive, cross/interdisciplinary academic experience in women and gender and to foster the growth of interdisciplinary research and teaching on women and gender. Emphasis is given to understanding the diversity of women’s lives nationally and globally.
The graduate specialization is open to graduate students with adequate undergraduate preparation in women and gender. The specialization should complement advanced, discipline-based degrees by providing an interdisciplinary, feminist component. All students are encouraged to develop competence in the foreign language most relevant to their field of work and area of interest.
Graduate students who are interested in enrolling should contact the Women’s Studies Program.
With the approval of the Women and Gender Graduate Coordinating Committee, courses that are used to satisfy requirements in the student’s graduate degree program may also be used to satisfy the requirements for the Graduate Specialization in Women and Gender.
Requirements for the Graduate Specialization in Women and Gender
The student must complete 18 credits of course work distributed as follows and as approved by the Women and Gender Graduate Coordinating Committee.
- Women’s Studies 401.
- Fourteen additional credits in courses with women and gender content selected from at least three disciplines. At least 9 credits must be at the 800-level or above. One discipline must be in a college outside the student’s primary college.
A list of approved courses is maintained by the Women’s Studies Program. Courses not on the list of approved courses may be acceptable for the specialization depending on specific course content.
Upon completion of the requirements for the Graduate Specialization in Women and Gender, the student should contact the Director of the Women’s Studies Program and request certification for the completion of the specialization. After the certification is approved by the Director of the Women’s Studies Program and the Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, the Office of the Registrar will enter on the student’s academic record the name of the specialization and the date that it was completed. This certification will appear on the student’s transcript.