Women & Gender Studies Minor

Mission

Women’s & Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary program that explores the intersections of gender, race, class, religion, sexuality, and other identities with social structures of inequality on the lives of women.  The program provides students with tools to systematically and critically analyze identity, power and privilege.  It is concerned with the global experiences of all women with an emphasis on women of the African Diaspora.  Women’s & Gender Studies provides a broad liberal arts education developing students’ critical thinking and writing skills, is inclusive of a variety of disciplinary perspectives and different modalities of learning, and is both flexible and dynamic to meet the goals of each individual student.  A minor in Women’s & Gender Studies will prepare students to interrogate and challenge inequalities, be advocates of social justice and be culturally-competent, transformative leaders in local, national and global contexts.

Program Learning Outcomes

1. Identify the major themes of womanist/feminist thought and apply those themes to other academic disciplines.
2. Analyze the ways in which the intersections of the construction of gender, race, class, sexuality and other identities shape women’s lives, relations and conditions in both theory and lived experiences.
3. Demonstrate both personal and intellectual development by describing how the intersection of a student’s own identities, history, and experiences shape his/her own perceptions, worldview and relations.
4. Articulate his/her own vision of the relationship between academic work and its impact on political change and social justice as a local and global citizens and leaders of the world.
5. Demonstrate the ability to design and complete a research project that analyzes a theme, issue or problem related to women’s and gender studies.

Assessment Artifacts:

Women’s & Gender Studies e-Portfolio - Students are required to maintain an e-portfolio, which will be introduced in the introductory course.  In addition to assignments completed in the minor being showcased in the portfolio, students will also include articles from the media which addresses the themes, issues and problems related to women’s and gender studies in which they write, analyze and apply concepts learned in respective classes.  Finally, the e-portfolio should demonstrate a student’s self-reflection and evolution about women’s and gender issues over the course of study.

Optional Research Project - The optional research project will require students to design and complete an original project.  It can be in the form of a mini-thesis or service-learning project that addresses the themes, theories, and issues relevant to the discipline.