Course Guide Resources
Core Courses for Women's Studies PhD Programs
The three joint doctoral programs in Women’s and Gender Studies all have the same core Women’s and Gender Studies course requirements. Additional course requirements are stipulated by each joint program outline.
WGS 501: Proseminar in Women’s and Gender Studies (1 credit)
This course introduces students to graduate study in the joint Women’s and Gender Studies PhD programs. It is intended to give new students a place to form community, to meet Women’s and Gender Studies faculty, to think about Women’s and Gender Studies as a discipline and the nature of interdisciplinary study, and to begin to discuss professional issues.
WGS 502: Feminist Exposures: Introduction to Faculty Research Interests (1 credit)
This course provides students with a general overview of Women's and Gender Studies faculty research. Each session will include brief presentation by Women's and Gender Studies and Women's and Gender Studies-affiliated faculty, who will discuss their ongoing and/or future project(s). The seminar's aims: to provide an opportunity for students from all of our joint programs to learn about the wide range of research being down by departmental faculty (many of whom are not affiliated with our three, partner programs); to facilitate future conversations/engagement; enable faculty to meet our diverse student population.
WGS 530: Feminist Theory (3 credits)
This course provides an interdisciplinary exploration of various schools of feminist thought. It examines ways in which feminist scholars across the disciplines have theorized power and difference with regard to gender, race, sexuality, class and nation. It also explores the relationship of particular theories to both the production of knowledge and political practice.
WGS 601: Approaches to Feminist Scholarship in the Humanities, or
WGS 602: Approaches to Feminist Scholarship in the Social Sciences
These courses are designed to examine various methodological issues in feminist scholarship in relation to paradigms developed by the disciplines. Students in English and History will usually enroll in WGS 601; students in Psychology will take WGS 602.
WGS 891: Advanced Research
WGS 891 is an advanced interdisciplinary research project conducted under the guidance of an individual faculty member in the context of an interdisciplinary committee. Discussion of the project at an oral exam serves as the preliminary examination in Women’s and Gender Studies. WGS 891 is meant to provide a bridge between coursework and work on the dissertation; it is also meant to integrate knowledge and methods acquired from both Women’s and Gender Studies and the discipline.
Additional coursework: 9 credit hours
Joint students take nine hours (typically three courses) of Women's Studies graduate coursework in addition to their three core courses. These are chosen from among Women’s and Gender Studies offerings and courses cross-listed with Women’s and Gender Studies and other departments. Courses cross-listed with your own department may be used to fulfill this requirement. At least one of the additional courses must be an interdisciplinary course and must include substantial coverage of theoretical issues. Students are encouraged to include courses that focus on sexuality studies, global feminisms, and feminist pedagogy.
Recent Elective Courses in Women's Studies
- WGS 519: Queer Women in the 20th Century
- WGS 531: LGBTQ Studies
- WGS 590: Disability Studies
- WGS 603: Feminist Scholarship on Women of Color
- WGS 604: Feminist Practice
- WGS 606: Transnational and Multicultural Feminisms
- WGS 621: Readings in United States Women's, Men's and Gender History
- WGS 655: Psychology of Women
- WGS 698: Queer of Color Critique
- WGS 698: Feminist Pedagogy
- WGS 698: Feminist Science Studies
- WGS 698: Readings in Sadomasochism, Fetishism, and Leather
- WGS 698: Passing as an Analytic Concept
- WGS 698: Writing for Publication
- WGS 698: Gender and Diversity in Organizations
- WGS 698: Discourse Analysis
- WGS 698: Strange Gay Films
- WGS 698: Gender and Sexuality in Medieval France
- WGS 720: Gender and Sexuality in the Visual Arts
- WGS 801: Feminism, Posthumanism, and the Humanities
