Goals for the Major
Women's Studies seeks to incorporate perspectives from across the broad spectrum of the humanities and social sciences and to present the full range of feminist political and theoretical stances. Our curriculum gives students various opportunities to study women, to develop a gender and/or sexuality analysis, and to critically conceptualize both the history and intellectual formation of feminism as a political movement and knowledge project.

The upper division core sequence is designed to give students a way to place Women's Studies in historical, political, economic, and theoretical perspective. It creates an opportunity to study major intellectual traditions in feminist thought and to engage the strengths and limitations of the field's own formation.

Learning Objectives, Program Methodologies and Assessment

To major in Women's Studies, a student must take a minimum of ten courses.

Required Courses:
WST 90 Gender and Everyday Life
WST 195 Senior seminar

Three of the following:
WST 160 Feminism in Historical Context
WST 161 Money, Sex, Power
WST 162 Gender and Popular Culture
WST 163 Interpreting Bodies: Identity and Beyond
WST 164S Race, Gender and Sexuality

The remaining five courses are electives and can be chosen from the list above, the Recommended List or other WOMENST offerings.

Students may take no more than two independent study courses, which must be approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies. In addition, students may petition for credit for courses offered in other departments and programs, with clear documentation of their intellectual value to the overall goals of the major.

The Undergraduate Major Worksheet (pdf) can help you keep track of the courses required for your major.

If you are wondering what you will do with your major after graduation you should check here.

WST 160 Feminism in Historical Context
WST 161 Money, Sex, Power
WST 162 Gender and Popular Culture
WST 163 Interpreting Bodies: Identity and Beyond
WST 164S Race, Gender, and Sexuality

In addition, students take two elective courses which can be chosen from the list above, the Recommended List or other WOMENST offerings.

The Undergraduate Minor Worksheet (pdf) can help you keep track of the courses required for your major.