Women’s studies is an interdisciplinary field that takes the study of women and gender as its subject. The women’s studies program has three purposes:

  1. It introduces students to the experiences and achievements of women, and their treatment by society here and now, as well as in earlier historical times and in other geographical places.
  2. It examines gender as a social construct by taking it as the primary focus of analysis and raising questions about its impact on traditional disciplines. This enables students to examine the content of other courses in new ways.
  3. It promotes interdisciplinary understanding of women’s experience by requiring students to take collateral courses in several academic areas in the humanities and the social sciences and by providing an integrative seminar.

For a minor in women's studies, students take six courses. WS 101, Introduction to Women's Studies and WS 301, Seminar in Women's Studies, are required. WS 301 should be taken during the junior or senior year. The other courses should include at least three different disciplines and be selected from the following:

Course Title Credits
WS 100 Rape Crisis Victim Advocacy 1
WS 101 Introduction to Women's Studies 3
WS 210 Human Sexuality 3
WS 219 Women in Political Thought 3
WS 232 Women in the Criminal Justice System 3
WS 235 Literature by Women 3
WS 244 Psychology of Prejudice 3
WS 250 Gender & the Law 3
WS 255 Sociology of the Family (UC) 3
WS 262 Psychology of Women (UC) 3
WS 285 Protest & Change 3
WS 287 Women & Public Policy 3
WS 301 Seminar in Women's Studies 3
WS 304 Sociology of Gender 3
WS 308 U.S. Women's History 3
WS 309 Women in America, 1920-Present 3
WS 310 Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Gender, Sex & Sexuality 3
WS 311 Diversity in the Media 3
WS 315 Women Artists 3
WS 330 Philosophy and Gender 3
WS 335 Images of Women in Psychology & Literature 3
WS 338 American Literature by Women of Color 3
WS 345 Media Users & Audiences 3
WS 370 Intimate Partner Violence Seminar 3

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