The Women's Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences, offers a course of study that leads to the Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies. The program has affiliated faculty members from more than 20 different programs in the social and behavioral sciences, humanities, and health sciences. The program is designed to allow students working toward a degree in departments such as English, History, Philosophy, Psychology, or Sociology to draw on faculty whose work deals with gender issues in a wide range of disciplines. Since Women's Studies has affiliates in nearly every department in the social sciences and humanities, the certificate program offers graduate students the opportuni-ty for an unusually rich interdisciplinary experience.

The program is particularly strong in feminist theory, with faculty affiliates from the departments of Philosophy, English, Art, History, Comparative Studies, and Hispanic Languages and Literature offering courses in this area. Other areas of concentration include European and Latin American women's history, women in British, American, and Carribean literature, women in the Third World, women in science and medicine, and queer studies.

Normally, students begin their work in the program with a seminar in feminist theory and conclude the requirements with a teaching practicum in women's studies that considers research methods, pedagogy, epistemology, and curriculum development. Additional courses can be chosen from a list of seminars offered by faculty affiliates on an intermittent basis; these cover such topics as the psychology of women, modern British women writers, constructions of the body, women in American history, feminism and modern drama, women and social movements, music and gender, the history and literature of reproduction, anthropological perspectives on women, and the sociology of gender. Where courses are not available for a particular topic, students may arrange directed readings with an affiliated faculty member. Students may also count a relevant course offered in their home program toward the certificate.

It is expected that most students can fulfill the requirements for the Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies while working toward the master's, doctoral, or other degree. Students should consult with their home program to determine whether the credits earned in the certificate program can be used toward their degrees. Eight teaching assistantships are typically available for student support. Since most students receive program support in their early years, these are usually assigned to advanced students. Students may also apply to Women's Studies for admission to a free-standing graduate certificate.
 

Admission

Admission to The Graduate Certificate Program in Women's Studies is open to any full-time student enrolled in a graduate degree-granting program, or to free-standing certificate students, who have completed their B.A.s. For applicants already admitted to the University, admission involves filling out a brief form. The forms and additional information are available through the Women's Studies office. For admission to the free-standing Graduate Certificate Program in Women's Studies, students are required to have earned a bachelor's degree and to have the intellectual skills to do advanced work in Women's Studies. The follow-ng material is required:

A. An official transcript of undergrad-uate record culminating in a bachelor's degree;

B. A minimum grade point average of 2.75 (B-) in all undergraduate coursework;

C. Letters of recommendation from three previous instructors;

D. An official report of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test results;

E. Acceptance by the Womer Studies Program and the Grad School.
 

Requirements for the Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies

The Graduate Certificate Program in Women's Studies is designed to provide an interdisciplinary course of instruction for students already enrolled in a graduate degree-granting program or to those admitted to a free-standing Graduate Certificate Program. To earn the certificate, students must complete a minimum of 15 graduate credits in courses approved for the Certificate Program. Credits earned toward a graduate degree in another program or department may be applied toward the Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies. Students should consult with their home programs to determine whether credits earned for the certificate can be applied to the master's or doctoral degree. Teaching assistantships may be available for advanced students. 

Minimum Requirements for the Certificate

A. WST 600 History and Methods of Women's Studies;

B. One course in feminist theory (WST 601 Feminist Theory or WST 602 Social Perspectives on Feminist Theory);

C. An interdisciplinary research colloquium (WST 699 Practicum in Women's Studies). The syllabus developed in this course will be evaluated by the instruc-tor, who will normally be the director of the Women's Studies Program;

D. The remaining six credits may be chosen from the list of approved Women's Studies graduate courses. A number of these courses are cross-listed or offered by faculty in other departments. At least three of the six credits must be taken outside the student's Ph.D. department. No more than three credits of WST 690 may be applied to the degree. 

Courses

WST 510, 511, 512 Gender and Culture

A variable topics course on th emany ways in which culture and gender interact. Possible topics include women in multiethnic America, women in the labor movement, and women and social policy.

Prerequisite: Permission of instructor
Fall or Spring, 3 credits, ABCF grading
May be repeated for credit
 

WST 599 Gender and Health

This course explores gender differences in physcial and mental health through the study of psychology, sociaology, medicine, and epidemiology.

Fall or Spring, 3 credits, ABCF grading
May be repeated for credit
 

WST 595 Reading Colloquium in Women's History

A topics course with such subjects as women in social movements, the place o gender in particular historical circumstances, imperialism and women, changing views of sexuality, or relations between family policies and other political programs. This course offered as both HIS 595 and WST 595.

Fall or Spring, 3 credits, ABCF grading
 

WST 599 Directed Readings in Women's Studies

Students study any subject not ordinarily covered by a course offering if the reading course is supervised by a member of the Affiliates Network and approved by the director of the Graduate Certificate Program in Women's Studies. May be repeated as topic varies, but only three credits count toward the certificate.

Prerequisite: Permission of instructor
Fall or Spring, 1-3 credits, S/U grading
May be repeated for cr
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WST 600 History and Methods of Women's Studies

A study of the emergence of modern Western feminism provides the context for an analysis of the formation of Women's Studies as an area of pedagogy and research. The course investigates the concepts and methods appropriate to interdisciplinary research on women and gender, and how these approaches define Women's Studies as a new area of knowledge. The effects of this interdisciplinary research on assumptions and methods in the traditional disciplines will be analyzed.

Prerequisite: Admission to the Graduate Certificate Program in Women's Studies 
Fall or Spring, 3 credits, ABCF grading
 

WST 601 Feminist Theory

This course covers critical works of feminist theory in the humanities. Readings focus on significant works that deal either with the theory and practice of feminism or with femi-nist methods of scholarship.

Prerequisite: Admission to the Graduate Certificate Program in Women's Studies 
Fall or Spring, 3 credits, ABCF grading
May be repeated for credit
 

WST 602 Social Perspectives on Feminist Theory

This course introduces students to the main currents of feminist social, political, and intellectual theory. It will explore theories and texts and the linkages between develop-ing feminism and such fields as economics, sociology, history, and philosophy.

Prerequisite: Admission to the Graduate Certificate Program in Women's Studies Fall or spring, 3 credits, ABCF grading
 

WST 610, 611 Advanced Topics in Women's Studies

A variable topics seminar course in women's studies for the advanced student. Topics might include feminist peace politics, women in Third World cinema, feminist theology, or feminist philosophy. Course may be repeated as topic varies.

Fall or spring, 3 credits, ABCF grading May be repeated for credit
 

WST 690 Advanced Readings in Women's Studies

Advanced students read on any subject not normally covered by a course offering with any member of the Women's Studies Faculty Affiliates Network. Permission of the instructor and of the director of the Graduate Certificate Program in Women's Studies required.

Fall or spring, 1-3 credits, ABCF grading May be repeated for credit
 

WST 699 Practicum in Women's Studies

An interdisciplinary colloquium. The syl-labus developed in this course will be evalu-ated by the instructor, who is usually the director of Women's Studies.

Prerequisite: A graduate feminist theory course
Co-requisite: Co}pletion of the requirements for the Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies
Spring, 3 credits, S/U grading
 


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