Women’s and Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary department offering an undergraduate major and a minor, a combined BA + MA, a Master of Arts (MA), and a four-course Graduate Certificate. We also offer a joint MA/MSW Program in Women's and Gender Studies & Social Work (MSW).
Through feminist and gender-based theories and methodologies, the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies offers critical analyses, reflections, and contributions to knowledge. The WGS curriculum examines the interconnectedness of systems and structures of power, including gender, race, class, sexuality, age, ability, culture, religion, and nation, thereby addressing issues of power, resistance, and social transformation. In addition, the emphasis on critical theory and analysis allows for work that interrogates feminist discourses as well as those of other disciplines in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
The interdisciplinary Women's and Gender Studies major and minor combine courses taken in the Department of Women's and Gender Studies with approved elective courses offered in other departments and programs around the university. Courses are offered regularly by many departments in the college of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences –in the social sciences, and in the humanities—as well as by the other colleges and schools throughout the university.
Many students decide to combine a Women's and Gender Studies major with a second major in another discipline. A double major is a rich educational experience and is easy to accomplish. To do so, if WGS is the 2nd major, students can double count courses that fulfill both Women's and Gender Studies and Liberal Studies requirements. Students can also double count two of the courses that fulfill the requirements of both majors. We now have a combined BA + MA program that allows students to get both an undergraduate and graduate degree in five years. Students must apply during their junior year for this program.
A major, double major, minor, and/or MA in Women’s and Gender Studies prepares students for graduate study in many fields (law, social work, sociology, psychology, history, art and art history, communication, Latin American/Latino Studies, African and Black Diaspora Studies, International Studies, among many others) as well as for careers in the public and private sectors, including social services, social justice, public policy, education, media and popular culture, advocacy, creative arts, counseling, and more.
Students who would like to know more about the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies are invited to speak with the department chair, and other faculty members of the department (5th Floor of Schmitt Academic Center) and/or visit the Department of Women's and Gender Studies website.
Faculty
Beth Skilken Catlett, PhD
Associate Professor
Ohio State University
Laila Farah, PhD
Associate Professor
Graduate Program Director, Women's and Gender Studies
Southern Illinois University
Rocío Ferreira, PhD
Associate Professor
Department Chair, Women's and Gender Studies
University of California, Berkeley
Heather Montes-Ireland, PhD
Assistant Professor
Indiana University
Sanjukta Mukherjee, PhD
Associate Professor
Syracuse University
Ann Russo, PhD
Professor
Director, The Women's Center
University of Illinois, Urbana