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Women's Studies

College of Liberal Arts


 

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  Women's Studies
  Requirements and Core Courses
  Careers in Women’s Studies
  Scholarships and Financial Aid
  Related Fields of Study That Might Interest You
  Contact Information

Women's Studies

Women's studies is an interdisciplinary field of research and teaching that places gender at the center of inquiry. Central to the consideration of gender are the ways class, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, age, and ability shape the female and male experience. Students learn how female and male social roles affect personal lives, artistic expression, work, social relationships, institutional structures, the production of knowledge, and national and international political and economic relations.
Offered at WSU: Bachelor of arts, minor
Available at: Pullman

Requirements and Core Courses

—Bachelor of Arts in Women’s Studies

A bachelor’s degree in women’s studies requires a minimum of 39 hours of credit, 18 in the required core, including:
W St 200—Gender and Power: Introduction to Women’s Studies
W St 300—Intersections of Race, Class, Gender, and
     Sexuality
W St 332—Global Feminisms
W St 410—Internship
W St 484—Lesbian and Gay Studies
W St 481—Theoretical Issues in Women’s Studies
     or W St 485—Theoretical Issues in Lesbian and Gay Studies
Additional women’s studies courses (21 additional credits)
Six hours of credit in arts and humanities
Six hours of credit in social sciences
Three hours of credit in race/ethnicity
Six hours of elective credit

MINOR IN WOMEN’S STUDIES
The minor requires a minimum of 16 hours of credit, including:
W St 200—Gender and Power: Introduction to Women’s Studies
W St 300—Intersections of Race, Class, Gender, and
     Sexuality
W St 481—Theoretical Issues in Women’s Studies
     or W St 485—Theoretical Issues in Lesbian and Gay Studies
Seven additional hours of credit from women’s studies courses

NOTE: A maximum of three credits of W St 499 and four credits of Special Topics (includes 301, 311, and 321) may be applied towards a minor. Any substitutions must have written consent of the chair.

WOMEN’S STUDIES COURSES
W St/CES/Crm J 105—Realizing Justice in a Multicultural Society
W St/Soc 150—Marital and Sexual Lifestyles
W St 200—Introduction to Women’s Studies
W St/H D 204—Family Systems: Understanding Family Interaction
W St 210[H]—Sexualities and U.S. Popular Culture
W St/Anth 214—Gender and Culture in America
W St/Hist/Engl 216—Main Currents in American Culture
W St 220—Gender, Culture, and Science
W St/Psych 230—Human Sexuality
W St/CES 235/Hist 205—African American History
W St/CES/Hist 255—Chicano/a History
W St/Hist 298—History of Women in American Society
W St/CES/Soc 300—Intersections of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality
W St 301—Topics in Women’s Studies
W St/Soc 302—Contemporary Masculinity and Men’s Issues
W St/Pol S 305—Gender and Politics
W St 306/Engl 308—Introduction to Literary Criticism
W St/F A 308—Women Artists I, Middle Ages-1800
W St/Engl 309—Women Writers
W St/F A 310—Women Artists II, 20th Century
W St 311—Topics in Women’s Studies
W St/Phil 312—Philosophy and Feminism
W St/Mgmt 315—Women in Management and Leadership
W St/Anth 316—Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective
W St/H D 320—Resource Management and Problem Solving
W St 321—Topics in Women’s Studies
W St/Psych 324—Psychology of Women
W St/Pol S 330—Women and the Law
W St 332/Anth 317—Global Feminisms
W St/Hist 335—Women in Latin American History
W St/Hist 337—Women in the Ancient World
W St 338[D,H]—Women & Popular Culture
W St 340—Third-World Women and Film
W St/Hist 350—European Women’s History
W St/Soc 351—The Family
W St/Mus 363—Women and Music
W St 369—Queer Identities in Contemporary Cultures
W St/CES 372—Native American Women in Traditional and
     Contemporary Cultures
W St/Phil 375—Women and Ethics
W St/CES 372/Anth 312[D,H]—Native American Women
W St/Hist 380—History of Medicine
W St/Engl 382—Modern American Literature
W St/Soc 384—Sociology of Gender
W St 391—Seminar in Women’s Studies
W St/Hist 398—History of Women in the American West
W St/Anth 402—Cross-Cultural Gender and Kinship
W St/Crm J 403—Violence Towards Women
W St/F A 405—Contemporary Art
W St 406—Women and Work
W St/Zool 407—Biology of Women
W St/CES 408—Critical Race Feminism
W St/Engl 409—Women Writers in the American West
W St 410—Internship
W St/CES 411—Asian Pacific American Women
W St/Hist 421—The Frontier and the American West
W St/CES 435—African American Women in U.S. Society
W St/CES 454—La Chicana in U.S. Society
W St 460—Gender, Race, and Nature in American Culture
W St/Com 464—Gender and the Media
W St 481—Theoretical Issues in Women’s Studies
W St/Soc 484—Lesbian and Gay Studies
W St 485—Lesbian and Gay Theory
W St/H D 487—Gender and Families
W St 499—Special Problems

NOTE: Students must meet course requirements outlined in the General Catalog to graduate.

Careers in Women’s Studies

Graduates in women’s studies often work for nonprofit organizations as child advocates, homeless shelter coordinators, or web designers, for example. But they also work in the private sector in human resources, marketing, or administration. Finally, a women’s studies bachelor’s degree is excellent preparation for graduate school in the social sciences and humanities, law school, and other professional training. Since many women’s studies majors are double majors, they often combine traditional disciplinary training with an emphasis on diversity issues, a combination very attractive to employers.

Scholarships and Financial Aid

The Department of Women's Studies offers several undergraduate scholarships each year from the Pauline Thompson and Joanna Busek scholarship funds for women's studies. Applications are available in the Women’s Studies office, usually by March. In addition, students can apply for University-level scholarships and for more than $50,000 in scholarships awarded by the College of Liberal Arts.

Related Fields of Study That Might Interest You

American studies
Asian studies
Comparative ethnic studies
Film studies
Foreign languages and cultures

Contact Information

Department of Women's Studies
Wilson Hall, Room 10
PO Box 644007
Pullman, WA 99164-4007
womensstudies@wsu.edu
509-335-1794
 

Strengths of the Program

  • The women’s studies department emphasizes collaborative learning and critical thinking in a global and activist context, one that gives students ownership over their education.
  • Women’s studies students tend to be people who want to make a difference in the world. Their personal goals and intellectual development is of major importance to our faculty.
  • Our women’s studies internship is constructed to give students the opportunity to work in an agency or on a special project relevant to their long-term activist and/or career goals.
  • Women’s studies has close relations with the Comparative Ethnic Studies department, the Women’s Resource Center, and the Gender Identity/Expression and Sexual Orientation Resource Center.
  • Women’s studies faculty teach graduate courses through the American studies master’s and doctoral degree programs.
  • Our faculty work in a number of exciting new research areas: theories of identities and bodies, women and the environment, queer theory, Third-World feminism, and critical race feminism.
Office of Enrollment Management, PO Box 641067, Washington State University, Pullman WA 99164-1067, 888-GO TO WSU (888-468-6978), Contact Us