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 webpage, Women's Studies handbook and career information package

Student organization: Student Women's Association

For Information: Contact the Women's Studies Program at 216-687-4674

An interdisciplinary field of inquiry, women's studies encourages students to consider ways to restructure social institutions and interactions for a more democratic society and a stronger economy. By addressing past and present social disparities, women's studies promotes intellectual and practical problem-solving, on both the individual and societal levels. Women's studies helps students develop written and oral communication skills and the analytical and critical thinking skills needed to prepare them for leadership and a variety of careers in an increasingly diverse economic and political environment. Women's studies students will develop these skills while receiving a well-rounded liberal-arts education. These skills will prepare graduates for graduate work in women's studies, or related fields, for career opportunities in the changing work force, and for the competitive economic and social realities of the 21st century. Women's studies enables students to:

* transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries to analyze the role of gender in shaping human societies of the past and the present
* discover and communicate new knowledge and encourage new research in neglected areas
* develop a more balanced and accurate interpretation of existing knowledge
* comprehend the crucial intersection of race, class, and gender in the global society and in their own lives
* develop the critical and analytical, transferable skills required for success in our rapidly changing economy.