Women’s Studies is an interdisciplinary field of research and teaching that places gender at the center of inquiry, coordinated by the Department of English. 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. Women's Studies offers a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s Studies, and minors in Women’s Studies and Queer Studies. Students interested in declaring a major or minor should contact the director, Pamela Thoma, associate professor of English.

Student Learning Outcomes

• Recognizes and summarizes impact and intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality.
• Identifies and articulates one's social location in a complex, structurally unequal, and often contradictory world. 
• Displays familiarity with multiple perspectives, employs other interpretations, and considers a range of human experiences in analysis.
• Identifies and assesses social norms and assumptions and envisions alternative social norms and practices.
• Asks critical questions and formulates a relevant research plan; accesses information tools to get relevant answers.
• Articulates and utilizes the basic tools and texts of the interdiscipline. 
• Examines the influence of historical context on the formation of local, national, and global political and social narratives.
• Demonstrates active and critical verbal and/or written discussion of issues from scholarly sources.