Women Studies At-a-Glance

Admission to the major: Requires good academic standing in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

Minimum hours required for the major: 38 distributed in three fields

Minimum hours required for the minor: 16 distributed in three fields

Awards: Lanette S. Flower Scholarship, Ruth Ratner Miller Scholar, WEAL Scholarship

Advising: Individual faculty adviser, Internet Web page, Women's Studies handbook and career information package

For the first time in history, individuals must be prepared to pursue sequential careers. To thrive in the 21st century students need academic credentials, transferable skills, critical & analytical thinking abilities, and the ability to comprehend information from a global perspective. A degree in Women’s Studies prepares women and men for the sequence of careers that will be the hallmark of personal success in the 21st century. Women’s Studies provides academic credentials and transferrable skills that will serve students for a lifetime.

Women’s Studies is an interdisciplinary field offering academic preparation in liberal arts and social sciences.Students earn a B.A. having majored, double-majored or minored in WST.Transferable skills enable students to enter the workforce immediately, or to pursue graduate studies in dozens of disciplines.

Transferable Skills: WST students learn the critical writing, speaking & research skills of many academic disciplines. Students identify, find & interpret information from fields as diverse as philosophy, sociology, psychology, religion & anthropology.

Critical & Analytical Thinking: WST teaches students to discover and communicate new knowledge about women. WST students reinterpret existing knowledge about women’s abilities, values and interests. WST students develop balanced interpretations of gender differences & similarities as they arise outside academia. Students learn to evaluate information presented about women in science, literature, art, marketing, politics & other fields. In the WST Practicum students integrate learning with workplace and/or volunteer experience.

Global Perspectives: WST students understand how gender roles shaped human societies. Because gender differences transcend race, religion, nationality & species, WST students recognize gender issues arising in international trade, migration, law & the environment.

To earn a Women's Studies major, students must take a minimum of 38 semester hours in Women's Studies courses. Courses are to be distributed over three departments with at least 6 credits in the humanities and 6 credits in the social sciences. Independent study (WST 496) may be included as part of the major. A grade of C or better must be earned in courses used to fulfill requirements for the major. Students are encouraged to use this framework to develop a more specialized Women's Studies curriculum based upon their particular career interests.

Required Courses

• WST 151 Introduction to Women's Studies
• WST 351 Practicum in Women's Studies
• WST 495 Advanced Seminar in Women's Studies